Classic Rotary Phones Forum

Other Telephone Information => Off Topic => Phonographs, Typewriters, Vacuums, Calculators, Juke Boxes, Slot Machines & Cameras => Topic started by: Fabius on October 05, 2016, 08:16:05 PM

Title: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: Fabius on October 05, 2016, 08:16:05 PM
I was in a Goodwill a few weeks ago and there was a mom with her teenage daughter. They were looking at 2 Polaroid cameras. They where talking about what they were and their value. I offered them the use of my iPhone to Google Polaroid instant cameras and find information. They chose one and left. I looked at the one left behind but I thought the $7 price was high. When I got home I checked the internet and was surprised to find out that there is great interest in these cameras. Polaroid stopped making film for them years ago but a company bought the rights to make the film so fresh film is available.

So I've started watching them on eBay and received my first one today. Just what I need, something else to collect. But they are a cool icon of the 1970s.

Pictured is the Polaroid One Step Close up model. It is the one I received.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: WEBellSystemChristian on October 05, 2016, 08:46:09 PM
Yep, those cameras are in very high demand. Every photographer at my age desperately wants a Polaroid for the 'od school' look, including my sister.

Nice camera, congrats!
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: TelePlay on October 05, 2016, 11:14:35 PM
I see them in antique malls all the time, different models and quite a price range. During one visit, ran in to a young woman looking for nothing but those. Told her I saw one in the other aisle. She said she saw that but it wasn't her type.

Finding film for them is the challenge. Polaroid stopped making it but IIRC, a different company makes it for a handsome price.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: andre_janew on October 07, 2016, 06:05:45 PM
My dad had one of those One Step cameras.  However, it wasn't the Close Up model.  It was the regular One Step.  He had a lot of fun taking candid photos with it!
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: Dan/Panther on October 07, 2016, 06:57:29 PM
I have 2 or 3 of these in box somewhere.
D/P
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: Fabius on October 07, 2016, 09:24:14 PM
Got this one yesterday. I like the large "sonar". (Rangefinder)
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: twocvbloke on October 07, 2016, 10:03:17 PM
I never used a regular Polaroid instant camera, the closest I got was one of their i-zone things which produced 1.5x1" prints, don't think I have it any more, but to be honest, it was one of those "I really want one!!" things that got used 'til the film ran out and then resided in a drawer... ;D

And yes, mine was this lurid green model...  ;D
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: andre_janew on October 11, 2016, 06:48:01 PM
I think Kodak had an instant camera.  Theirs had a crank that you had to turn to get the picture out.  Never had one, but I understand they're rarer than any Polaroid camera!
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: 19and41 on October 12, 2016, 06:38:51 PM
I have a couple of the SX-70 cameras.  One of them I got as an open box item at the Wiesbaden post exchange in 1976.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: ..... on October 12, 2016, 08:30:25 PM
I just sold the ones I had.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15462.0
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: Fabius on October 12, 2016, 09:54:33 PM
Quote from: andre_janew on October 11, 2016, 06:48:01 PM
I think Kodak had an instant camera.  Theirs had a crank that you had to turn to get the picture out.  Never had one, but I understand they're rarer than any Polaroid camera!

I think Polaroid sued Kodak and Kodak lost and had to quite making them.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: Dennis Markham on October 12, 2016, 10:17:45 PM
I had a Kodak instant camera in the 1980's.  Kodak was forced to stop producing the instant film, (I believe) because of copyright infringement which was pursued by Polaroid.  All Kodak owners were part of a class action law suit and as settlement I remember getting some money back from Kodak.  It wasn't much but it was something.  I still have the camera packed away in a box along with others.  I started a camera collection in the late 70's.  Everyone I knew was throwing their old cameras at me.  I know I have several models of Polaroids.  Guess it may be time to dig them out again.

The image is from Google.  This is the same model camera that I have that resulted in some small settlement from Kodak.

(Edit:  Mine is actually the Model 250)
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: WEBellSystemChristian on October 13, 2016, 10:39:04 AM
It's sad to see such an incredible camera manufacturer like Kodak relegated to making throw-away cameras by the end of its life. If only they had even made an effort to go digital, they could still be a major camera manufacturer, and one of the only ones based in the US.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: jsowers on October 13, 2016, 10:57:37 AM
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on October 13, 2016, 10:39:04 AM
It's sad to see such an incredible camera manufacturer like Kodak relegated to making throw-away cameras by the end of its life. If only they had even made an effort to go digital, they could still be a major camera manufacturer, and one of the only ones based in the US.

Kodak has been making digital cameras for years. My mom bought one as her first digital camera about 2002. I don't think their cameras are very high end. Mom's even had a cradle it sat in to charge. She replaced it with a Canon EOS so she could use different lenses like her old SLR camera. A quick Google search shows lots of Kodak cameras from WalMart, Kmart and QVC. So they don't make just throw-away cameras--yet.

The Eastman part of Eastman-Kodak is the maker of Tenite, BTW.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: WEBellSystemChristian on October 13, 2016, 11:08:12 AM
Quote from: jsowers on October 13, 2016, 10:57:37 AM
Kodak has been making digital cameras for years. My mom bought one as her first digital camera about 2002. I don't think their cameras are very high end. Mom's even had a cradle it sat in to charge. She replaced it with a Canon EOS so she could use different lenses like her old SLR camera. A quick Google search shows lots of Kodak cameras from WalMart, Kmart and QVC. So they don't make just throw-away cameras--yet.

The Eastman part of Eastman-Kodak is the maker of Tenite, BTW.
Wow, I could have sworn Kodak went out of business last decade.

I didn't even know they went digital. The story I heard was that they refused to give up film, and slowly died because of that. Well, I give them credit then. At least they live on!

http://www.kodak.com/Consumer/Products/Digital-Cameras/default.htm

This is what I remember! From Wikipedia:

"Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s as a result of the decline in sales of photographic film and its slowness in transitioning to digital photography. As part of a turnaround strategy, Kodak focused on digital photography and digital printing and attempted to generate revenues through aggressive patent litigation. In January 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In February 2012, Kodak announced that it would cease making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames and focus on the corporate digital imaging market. In August 2012, Kodak announced the intention to sell its photographic film (excluding motion picture film), commercial scanners and kiosk operations as a measure to emerge from bankruptcy.

In January 2013, the Court approved financing for Kodak to emerge from bankruptcy by mid-2013. Kodak sold many of its patents for approximately $525,000,000 to a group of companies (including Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, Adobe Systems and HTC) under the name Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation. On September 3, 2013, the company emerged from bankruptcy having shed its large legacy liabilities and exited several businesses. Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging are now part of Kodak Alaris, a separate company owned by the U.K.-based Kodak Pension Plan. On March 12, 2014, it announced that the Board of Directors had elected Jeffrey J. Clarke as Chief Executive Officer and a member of its Board of Directors."
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: TelePlay on October 13, 2016, 12:30:08 PM
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on October 13, 2016, 10:39:04 AM
It's sad to see such an incredible camera manufacturer like Kodak relegated to making throw-away cameras by the end of its life.

It's not instant film but it seems Kodachrome color slide film was the gold standard in it's day and the day they stopped making/processing it was a milestone in the transition from film to digital. I have many slides, some 45-50 years old, and they still retain their original color and the resolution of each is still remarkable. When digital chips became capable of capturing images in the 12 MByte range, that allowed many pros to convert from Kodachrome to digital, IIRC. Only problem with digital is finding and paying for hard copy prints, if desired. Nice part of digital is you can take multiple images and discard those that are less than acceptable immediately. So much more convenient that taking a photo, taking the roll to a processing point and waiting a few days to find out the whole role is mostly junk. Ah, those were the days.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: 19and41 on October 13, 2016, 01:11:15 PM
Kodak's earlier digital cameras were more likely to have been of their own manufacture.  Today's cameras are most likely just branded as Kodak.  For my money, Kodak's dropping of Kodachrome signed their death warrant.  There are many products that carry the Polaroid name, but the name is all there is.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: Doug Rose on October 30, 2016, 10:06:34 AM
Janet found a Polaroid Spectra in a case with attachments yesterday at an Estate Sale. Is this something for the collector or as Christian said

"Yep, those cameras are in very high demand. Every photographer at my age desperately wants a Polaroid for the 'old school' look, including my sister."

Seems to be in nice, used condition. The attachments look like the were never used

If anyone is interest, PM me with an offer...Doug
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: 19and41 on October 30, 2016, 11:25:57 AM
The Polaroid cameras were marketed as the Polaroid Land Camera.  The process had nothing to do with the polarizing filters the company manufactured,  'Land' was for the company's co founder and the inventor of the instant photography process.  He was a interesting person in his own right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_H._Land
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: Fabius on December 05, 2016, 10:59:54 PM
Here's my small Polaroid collection Most found in a Goodwill and the rest on eBay. The one on the left under the Western Electric fan is one of Polaroid's SLR (single lens reflex) cameras. All bought on the cheap.
Title: Re: Polaroid Instant Cameras
Post by: 19and41 on December 11, 2016, 12:45:31 PM
I saw an old Polaroid J66 automatic exposure roll film camera today in a thrift store for 2.50.