The Polaroid cameras

A very, very long time ago...

The arrival of the first polaroid cameras 95, 95A, 95b

model 95 (1948)
model 95A (1954)
model 95b (1957)

Family photo Model 95, 95A, 95b by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

Anecdote: I bought the Polaroid 95A in 1977 for $24.30 CDN, I was 22 years old!
The Polaroid 95A seemed so old to me at the time, I had managed to get some film (rollfilm 42) to take black and white pictures. I was so excited to be able to make this old camera work.

Today I have owned the Polaroid 95A for more than 46 years, now 69 years old.
With time, we don't perceive things in the same way anymore. Time passes so quickly!

Polaroid has produced several versions of these behemoths, both heavy and cumbersome!

Polaroid Model 700, 800, 850, 900

Family photo Model 700, 800, 850, 900 by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

model 700 (1955-57)
model THE 800 (1957-62)
model 850 ELECTRIC-EYE (1961-63)
model 900 ELECTRIC-EYE (1960-63)

The suite for Polaroid rollfilm 42 cameras

model 150 (1957)
model 160 (1962)

And two professional models

model 110 (1952)
the model 110a (1957)

Family photo Model 150, 160, 110, 110a by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

And the little Polaroid rollfilm 31 with the J33

model 80 (1954)
model 80a (1957)
model 80b (1959)

model J33 (1961)

Family photo Model 80, 80a, 80b, J33 by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

Hi,

My experience with Polaroid has all been with the instrument models. They hang onto a screen and take a shot of what's on it for documentation. I've been using a cell phone camera since the CommuniCam for the Ericsson T68 since about 2000.

Such as:

This one with a BlackBerry Z10 I keep handy. What else can one do with a BlackBerry these days?? ;)

Sorry that I no longer have any of the old Polaroid cameras I used to use for this sort of work.

Found a pic online of such a Polaroid on an O-scope.

Once you had the instrument displaying what you wanted to show, just hang the camera on and snap! ;)

Stan

The last two "rollfilm" before the arrival of packfilm in 1963

model J66 (1961)
model J33 (1961)

Family photo Model J66, J33 by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

The only Polaroid that I ever owned:

Should have kept it ... ho hum

The Top View

Le Top Vue de top by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

Excellent presentation with this thread! I don't have any real experience with Polaroid cameras but it's very interesting to read and see anyway.

Do you have any experience with the MP4/5 or CU versions? I love some of the lenses used on those.

Yup - that has been the things I've seen before... Polaroid cameras for CRT production, oscilloscopes or even capturing traces of certain movements on nuclear test sites... if I remember correctly!

My favorite 'scope was a Tek 547, and it had a Polaroid camera permanently attached. It swung away when you weren't using it. I still remember the smell of the coating material, and my old lab notebooks still smell of it.

Very interesting - is that as in "Tektronix"? I just found out about that company today... seems like they made some fascinating stuff, somewhat similar to what Steinheil did in Germany!

Indeed. One of the bad things about my time at HP was that I couldn't use Tek scopes there.

They still do:

www.tek.com/en/products/oscilloscopes/dpo70000sx

www.tek.com/en/products/spectrum-analyzers/rsa7100b

www.tek.com/en/products/arbitrary-waveform-generators/awg70000

Back in the day when I was a real engineer my Section bought a Polaroid IR sensor to measure the individual temperatures of hot-end rotor blades in a gas turbine while it was running.

Hi,

I was always able to pick and choose between HP and Tektronix. I'd hate having to be all-in any one camp. That instrument I took the cell phone screen shot of is an HP Modulation Domain Analyzer showing the RF output frequency swing of a transmitter when the power amplifier kicks only. One of those pesky-to-get measurements. And HP made a box for that kind of work. Tek did not. The measurement can be made with other equipment, but I'd hate to have to! ;)

Easy as it is to capture with a phone cam, I miss the Polaroid.

Stan

When I was at IBM, it took some justification to get a Mac for some imaging work, but I did it. At HP, Tek was the enemy.

Polaroid rollfilm are becoming increasingly rare!
Reproduction becomes difficult, and another species, which is threatened with extinction!

Baby Polaroid

Baby by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr

The Empire Strikes Back

The arrival of the film pack and color for Polaroid in 1963, marks an important turning point.

Model 100's, 200's, 300's, 400's

Model 100's, 200's, 300's, 400's by Marc Aubry, sur Flickr