Polaroid SX-70

The Polaroid SX-70 is a folding single lens reflex Land Camera which was produced by the Polaroid Corporation from 1972 to 1981. The SX-70 helped popularize instant photography.

History

In 1948, Polaroid introduced its first consumer camera. The Land Camera Model 95 was the first camera to use instant film to quickly produce photographs without developing them in a laboratory. Although popular, the Model 95 and subsequent Land Cameras required complex procedures to take and produce good photographs. The photographic paper for each picture had to be manually removed from the camera and peeled open after 60 seconds to reveal the image which needed to be hand coated with a chemical stabilizer for preservation. The picture required several minutes to dry and the process could leave developing chemicals on the hands. The instructions for the Model 20 Swinger, introduced in 1965, warned that, if not followed, "you're headed for plenty of picture taking trouble".

Pictures from the SX-70, by contrast, ejected automatically and developed quickly (fully within 10 minutes) without chemical residue. Polaroid founder Edwin H. Land announced the SX-70 at a company annual meeting in April 1972. On stage, he took out a folded SX-70 from his suit coat pocket and, in just ten seconds, produced five photographs, both actions impossible with previous Land Cameras. The company first sold the SX-70 in Miami, Florida in late 1972, and began selling it nationally in fall 1973. Although the high cost of $180 for the camera and $6.90 for each film pack of ten pictures ($1,385 and $53 respectively when adjusted for inflation) limited demand, Polaroid sold 700,000 by mid-1974. In 1973–74, the Skylab 3 and 4 astronauts used an SX-70 to photograph a video display screen to be able to compare the Sun's features from one orbit to the next.