Polaroid Cameras Part 1: The Dawn of Instant Photography

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In this 3-part series, we examine the fascinating history and engineering of Polaroid instant cameras. In part 1 we will cover the earliest days of the Polaroid Corporation, from its founding in the early 1930s to the development of its first instant camera in the late 1940s to the launch of its most successful single product in the mid-1960s - what could be called the "roll film" era.
Thank you to Mr. Julian Horn for his diligent assistance in preparing this video.
0:00 Introduction
2:05 Edwin Land and the Origins of Polaroid
3:45 The Invention of Instant Film
5:07 How Instant Black+White Film Works
8:19 Model 95 Camera
11:45 Model 20 "Swinger" Camera
SOURCES:
books.google.ca/books?id=ykUx...
www.landlist.ch/landlist/landf...
www.landlist.ch/landlist/landd...
technologizer.com/2011/06/08/...
www.landlist.ch/landlist/landd...
www.redsharknews.com/technolo...
www.redsharknews.com/technolo...
www.polaroidland.net/2012/01/...
camera-wiki.org/wiki/Polaroid_...
camera-wiki.org/wiki/Polaroid_...
books.google.ca/books?id=e9QD...
www.righto.com/2022/02/a-look-...
www.chemistryislife.com/the-c....

[@00_rei90]

The first picture of my grandpa's family was taken using one of the old polaroid camera. For context, it was the mid 60s and my grandpa was a teenager in a rural village in North Borneo (Now called Sabah, in east Malaysia). A personal camera was still out of reach to most people and the only way to have your picture taken was either in the town's photo studio or if you know somebody who owns a camera. One day, a couple of Americans(I guess they were from the peace corps)came to our village to work as teachers and doctors. One of them had one of these polaroid camera and he used it to take pictures of our village. He took my grandpa's family pictures in exchange for some of the produce from their farms. It was the first time they had their pictures taken as a family so they were rightly ecstatic. They had their finest clothes just for the occasion and the picture became our family's most treasured possessions as it was one of the few pictures where we could see our great grandparents, our great, great grandparents and our granduncles/grandaunts, all in one picture. My grandpa, meanwhile, was deeply inspired by the whole thing that he went on to become a journalist. He went to Singapore on a scholarship to study photography and then returned home and worked for local press and then for a radio station. He even became a correspondent to other foreign presses from Singapore, Philippines, Australia, India, the UK, among others Nowadays he's semi retired (he's still writing as a guest columnist for newspapers and magazines). Surprisingly when asked about digital photography, especially smartphone photography, instead of deriding them as "soulless" or "gimmicky", he fully embraced them and his current go to camera is his Iphone 11 we gave him for his 70th birthday

[@Perktube1]

That's a wonderful story! 🎉 Thank you for sharing some of your history. 😊

[@JohnnyWednesday]

That's so nice :) thank you for sharing that

[@melody3741]

Polaroid is literally the disney of photography - wastes oodles of money, extremely imaginative, and creates something so complex, impressive, fun, and useful that it is mind boggling to consider. Those guys were INSANE. And I’m so glad they were.

[@cpfs936]

The guy figures out the chemistry for the process while he's walking around on vacation, for Pete's sake! 🤯

[@Lensman864]

Perhaps 'The Swinger' was a double entendre considering a Polaroid camera's primary usage. 😉

[@johnnyrabenold6133]

Good catch.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

And it hit the market during the 1960s...😊

[@fredyellowsnow7492]

They certainly got used at adult parties.

[@monochromaticlightsource2834]

Aiii! Shake it for the Polaroid! I think that was the phrase.

[@florianclemens]

That ad agency probably had a good chuckle about "The Swinger" name whooshing right over the heads of the Polaroid executives.

[@NoahSpurrier]

They also had an aluminum folder you could place the exposed film inside of that you then put in your breast pocket of your coat to keep the film warm while developing. In cold weather the film would develop slowly and unevenly. The aluminum folder helped mitigate that problem.

[@hagerty1952]

I hope you're going to cover some of the technical uses of these Polaroid cameras. Back when there was no way to record oscilloscope data directly, laboratories would attach cameras to the screen with electrically triggered shutters. During an experiment, you might get only one chance to record one trace on the 'scope, and it was torture to wait an hour or two for the film to be developed to see if you got it. After the Land system was developed (pun intended), oscilloscope cameras became a small, but highly important part of their business.

[@TerryClarkAccordioncrazy]

The scope cameras had a square black plastic funnel on the front to distance it from the screen correctly and shut out stray light. I guess they had a different lens for short focal distance.

[@raymondmartin6737]

We had the old type roll Black and White film Polaroid in the late 1950's. In 1963, just when I graduated from High School, the color film came out. We did not have to coat the color ones. Then I had a flat pack model in 1974, and later my Father had an SX70. 😊

[@richrobertson9457]

This channel and its host is such a refreshing change from the loud, flashy, trashy, vulgar approach taken by so many You Tubers. That's all I want to say.

[@Lensman864]

I agree. Sophistication and class are valuable assets.

[@avnostlga]

Agreed. I tend to mark those type presenters as "not interested". I like that this channel is exactly what the presenter says it is. Our own devices. The mundane, yet fascinating. Just off the periphery of what is today.

[@Reziac]

Absolutely. I just discovered it a couple days ago and that was what got my sub -- straightforward, no showmanship, just cool educational info and a nice level of depth.

[@Reziac]

@@avnostlga Technology Connections is another that dives into simple-not-so-simple devices. Some really oddities, like ....electrical outlets, who knew??

[@thegrimsniper]

The starting deadpan almost killed me, and one of my favorite subjects (photography) mixed with my job (chemistry) this is just the best video!

[@randomcow505]

These videos are somehow the opposite of clickbait so much more in them than the title implies like a free gift

[@paulbush7095]

That commercial with Barry Manilow singing in the background is priceless! It’s amazing how you find these items from the past that were ubiquitous and culturally transformative and are able to present a very informative, entertaining and detailed history for each one. Well done again sir.

[@sski]

Merci! I have a box with a complete collection of Polaroid cameras, from the first to the last. I've always been fascinated with them. I even have some of the newer 'toys' that are available from Chinese companies like Temu that spit out little 2" x 3" 'Polaroid' snaps. Love your channel and your 'chill' presentation format. Thanks, and have a wonderful day!

[@chuckpoore]

I had a wave of nostalgia watching the last part of this video. I had one of those white Swinger cameras when I was a kid in the 60s (I think I got it for my birthday). I used it to take pictures on vacation at the beach, of my friends, my dog, and my backyard treehouse, etc. I no longer have the camera, I really don't know what happened to it. I think in the seventies I got a Kodak instamatic that took better pictures. The quality of the B&W Swinger photos was not all that great. Although, I still have many of those pictures in my photo collection, because many of them were family, so I kept them. My parents also had one of the later model Polaroids with the pack color film that I assume will be in part 2. In that case, I still have that camera, which came to me when my parents passed away, because they still had it, remarkably. Polaroids were a big part of our family all through the 60s and 70s.

[@jeffbrinkerhoff5121]

My folks had a #95 in the early 50s. My last polaroid was a 1.2mp digital. Your polaroid series brings back a load of memories. Thanks for your fine work.

[@rickyrico80]

The build quality and mechanical intricacies of these old devices is absolutely stunning.

[@bobthecomputerguy]

A lot of old cameras are works of art unto themselves.

[@snubbedpeer]

Excellent choice of subject for a series, not only the Polaroid camera but also Edwin Land himself, quite a character it seems! 🤞

[@flyingo]

I have about 15 different models of Polaroid cameras and film, albeit long expired, for them. I have kept a couple of the unopened Swinger film packages in a freezer, complete with the small tube of chemicals you’d wipe across the black & white print for preservation. My late father was quick to buy any new photographic products when they came out and loved all Polaroid products.

[@Zox604]

I've got two models of Polaroid camera in my collection. One is model 20 Swinger. Thanks for presentation.

[@ngdeez]

I gifted someone a JollyLook Pin-hole Camera kit yesterday for the holidays. What a fun coincidence that you started a series on instant photography the next day. Keep up the great work. I've really been enjoying your videos. Very informative.

[@andrepohle7485]

Es scheint keine Zufälle zu geben 😅

[@Perktube1]

I had the Onestep camera as a kid. My dad was divorced but was on friendly terms with my mom, whom i lived with. He sent me $100 for my birthday, and we were browsing a gift shop in the nnext town over. I saw it under the glass paneled counter with its creamy white top and rainbow 🌈 strip down tje center. I had to have it. So i spent $35 bucks plus some extra for film packs. This was the mid seventies, amd i loved using that camera,plus the cassette recorder I got later as a Christmas present from my dad. ❤ Good times.

[@fredyellowsnow7492]

I acquired a Polaroid 110A roll-film model some years ago with the intention of converting it to a 4x5 shooter. Never got around to that, and I've realised it would be much easier and suit it better if I simply adapted a 120 roll-film back to it. I will say this about it - it's well made and robust, reflecting its purchase price at the time,

[@michaelogden5958]

I have a Polaroid Model 150 Land Camera. It's quite the contraption. I'll never forget the tangy smell of the development process. Thanks for the technical explanation!

[@mandolinic]

I got myself a Saturday job when I was about 16 in the late 1960s, saved up my money and bought myself a Polaroid Swinger camera. It worked exactly as you described - although there was always some uncertainty about development time, and sometimes the developer gel wasn't evenly spread so you got a photo with a blank edge. The film was quite expensive 14/11 (14 shillings and eleven pence) for 8 shots, but it still got a lot of use. The built-in exposure meter was extremely clever. The instruction manual mentioned coating the photos, but the actual film stock said that this was no longer necessary, and so the wiper wasn't included in the box with the film.

[@saltyroe3179]

Dr. Land was one of the great men of the 20th century. He was a pioneer in funding start ups that used technology to make products for the masses.

[@williamivey5296]

I remember my brother and I both got Swinger cameras for Christmas, 1965. I was 11 and he was 19. Ran through a lot of film packs over the next few years. Got an SX-70 years later when they came out. One of the first production, the ones that were a bit hard to focus. There was a recall to fit them with split image rangefinders to make them easier to focus like the later production models.

[@robinj.9329]

My Grandfather owned one of the very first ones. Took family photos 📸 with it in the 1950's!

[@victorschneider4294]

By far one of the best channels on KZbin. What became of the idea of a Polaroizing film applied to auto headlights to reduce glare? That would reduce a major issue that makes people stop driving at night?

[@BELCAN57]

I remember my Dad taking photos with an early bellows type Polaroid camera, later on we bought Grandma a "Swinger" and in the '70's Dad bought Mom an SX 70. I guess we were a Polaroid family.

[@billharris6886]

Hello Gilles, thanks for another excellent video presentation. I especially enjoy the amount of history details you put into each episode. I used lots of Polaroid cameras during the 1960's to 1990's, with exception to thr SX-70 series. Polariod's first model was my favorite, actually a semi-professional camera. Resolution was much higher than all the later generations. They had an insert for a remote shutter release. If you used a remote shutter release with a cable stop, you could take infinitely long time exposures. The film was relatively slow, asa 70 if my memory is correct. Interestingly, some amusement parks did not allow Polariod cameras due to the problem of careless users throwing the negative portion on the ground.

[@StephenRansom47]

Do please mention the movie connection made by The Man Who Fell To Earth … in which an alien is shown to be the inventor of a ‘Polaroid’ like system. 🙏 looking forward to the rest of this series.

[@monochromaticlightsource2834]

The Polaroid took the waiting out of wanting, you didn't have to wait for the chemist to develop and print your photos. Kodak and Ilford had the nascent home photography market cornered. You exposed your 35mm films, 24 or 36 images on a roll, which could be slide film 25 ASA or 100 ASA and you took them in and waited days for them to be developed, and they did the same with Super 8 and Standard 8 cine film. Or 16mm if you were wealthy. Both Colour and B&W. Dont forget the awful 110 cameras, and the Kodak Instamatic 25 camera with 126 film cassettes. Then came the Video cameras, bulky VHS magnetic tape evolving into the 8mm and Hi 8 and finally digital cassettes. Digital Photography, 4Mb Smart Media, Compact Flash cards, SONY Memory sticks, and Then came the mobile phone cameras.. Polaroid let you take pictures in the privacy of your home, as the end user. Brilliant Idea.

[@phantomkate6]

My first camera was a Polaroid One Step! I must have been about 10 years old. Thank you for the wonderful video.

[@JohnnyUmphress]

It is always funny to me to see someone fanning an SX-70 type photo and waiting for it to dry. There was nothing to dry about that line of film nor was there any coating to apply. That was true only for the previous line of Polaroid films.

[@psychodad1961]

I also remember an aluminum sandwich to put your picture in and you were instructed to put it in your armpit to speed developing in cold weather.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video, Gilles...👍

[@warrenjones744]

The Edwin Land story is fascinating he had his hand in many things besides cameras. Great episode I love this kind of stuff.

[@Diapason16ft]

Dreyfus gave us the Big Ben Style 8 as well. That thing woke me up for years.

[@Reziac]

The alarm clock? I always had Baby Bens as a kid.

[@matthewdupuis232]

Fascinating!

[@tcpnetworks]

Fascinating!!

[@andrepohle7485]

Teil 2 ich freue mich sehr darauf

[@louisriverin2295]

Merci Gilles

[@P_RO_]

Not sure if the usage is still applicable, but one of the last widespread uses of Polaroid cameras was in the apartment industry, where maintenance personnel used them to document the conditions of units where the previous tenant damaged them. The two reasons for this was that Polaroid pics could not be altered, and thus were accepted as unquestionable evidence in courts. Film camera prints could be altered in developing, and thus could be questioned as to their veracity. The second reason is there is nobody going off the property to develop film, which means somebody has to drop off and pick up the needed film photos from a developer. That means some employee must then be covered by insurance off-site, and their insurance can be limited to on-site only with Polaroids which costs less without that. Also you can see any bad pics quickly and take a second pic if needed. Before cell phones became common, some trucking companies issued 'disposable' cameras to be used by the drivers for documenting incidents because the developing was automated, and thus those pics weren't easily altered so most courts accepted them as unquestionable evidence.

[@michaelscheel9533]

I had a Swinger after my mother had it for a while in the late 60's. She later got a SX-70 when it first came out ad later she gave it to me. I still the have SX-70 in the camera bag along with the 35mm cameras that I don't use aymore. I found out you can still get the film packs for the SX-70. But they are past their expiration date.

[@jimurrata6785]

I do remember having to swab, or squeegee, my Polaroids after pulling them apart. I also remember that if it was cold out you kept it tucked under your arm to warm the chemical reaction.

[@Reziac]

LOL, I remember that. Xmas photos in Montana.... and the coating got sticky and didn't want to spread.

[@rfengr00]

When I was a kid in the early 80’s, I collected 3 free Kodak instant cameras. Kodak dumped these on the market; sort of like cheap printers and expensive inkjet cartridges. LOL at Worlds Fair in 1980 I had talked my parents attending a time-share presentation so I could get a free camera. These things were worthless by then, so they were being given away. Polaroid then sued Kodak and won, and Kodak had to buy-up all their cameras for $40 each. I made $120 and bought a new BMX bike. Fast-forward 40 years and my 15 YO daughter went through an instant camera craze. I guess there was a revival of these a few years ago. The photo quality was horrible, but it was a gimmick for teenagers.

[@CathodeRayNipplez]

14:09 The Big Swinger 🤣 A totally different connotation in 1968.

[@aaronrowepalmer]

I’ve never heard of extinction light meters before! The more they teach you, I guess!

[@ajorsomething4935]

I was gifted a polaroid 900 camera by a family member, which was made from 61 to 63. I have no idea if any of the electronic features of this first "electric eye" camera work of course, since type 40 rollfilm is unavailable. However, I am quite hopeful the polaroid fanatics out there will put that right.

[@billyhouse1943]

Thank you…

[@oldtvnut]

You say that the exposure meter on the swinger was a further development of extinction meters, but it really wasn't related to extinction meters at all. It was clever adaptation of a laboratory method of photometry, in which lamp brightness would be compared to a standard candle by shining their light on a split screen and then moving them to different distances until the brightnesses on the screen were equal.

[@MeteorMark]

Shared with Polaroid Amsterdam! 😉

[@ravertaking6343]

Quite interesting. My first camera was a Polaroid that I took to boot camp in '77.

[@fredblonder7850]

Regarding the Swinger: Note the colors of the controls: 1) Adjust exposure by squeezing the knob (RED) 2) Release the shutter by pressing the button (WHITE) 3) Extract your print by pressing the button (BLUE) hence the sequence is RED → WHITE → BLUE making the camera very patriotic. ;-) The Computer Vision Lab at the University of Maryland had a rack-mount printer that used Polaroid B&W film. The negative was pressed against a flat high-res CRT and you pulled out the print and developed and coated it the same as any B&W Polaroid Camera. Note also that while Polaroid was making big bucks in the consumer market, they also had classified contracts in which they designed the optics for the Corona spy satellites. Regarding the “B” setting on camera shutters, my Father’s Exacta had that as well as a “Z” setting for EXTREMELY long exposures so your finger would not get tired holding down the shutter-release. Press once and the shutter opens. Press again and it closes.

[@filanfyretracker]

They also made some precision cameras for the insurance industry that had grid lines on the photos for scaling. you would see adjusters with them take pictures of car damage.

[@fredblonder7850]

@@filanfyretracker The tech-nerd name for those lines is “Fiduciary Marks”.

[@stevecastro1325]

“Hey Ya!” by OutKast; great breakout single”

[@farcohollis1369]

I still have my Swinger!

[@davidg4288]

Me too, somewhere. I hope I took the battery out!

[@ptonpc]

There used to a Polaroid film factory in Alexandria Scotland.

[@MeteorMark]

Didn't know that, only of the still operational one in Enschede, Netherlands.

[@drxym]

I was in Boots today (a pharamacy chain) and was surprised to see them selling Polaroid and Fujifilm Instax cameras. I would have thought everyone these days would just take digital photos and if they want a hard copy they could just print the ones they wanted. What's super insane is that these cameras cost more money than some smart phones, are bulky, eat through batteries and doubtless the image quality you get from a Polaroid is far worse than even a basic smart phone.

[@juslitor]

Analogue, baby, analogue

[@drxym]

@@juslitor analogue means nothing if the camera has crap autofocus or flash. That's the default for these things. Also, the resolving power of the film is 10-12 lines per mm which is about 550-610 dpi. That sounds good but you're looking at a teeny tiny photo so that detail is lost. If you shot the same scene on a modern camera phone and used 600dpi printing on 6*4 or higher you'd get far better detail.

[@juslitor]

Analogue isnt about autofocus, its the lack thereof. The SX-70 has a good focusing screen. Granted, the instax stuff tends to be limited, but it appeals to some people

[@charlesurrea1451]

That was pretty neat. My dad taught me on a Brownie because he wouldn't let me touch his Hasselblad.

[@blueberrylemon1214]

I’m about to receive one of these from a family member (an original one!!) and I’m super interested in working it, do you know where/ what kind of film I’d have to get? Thank you!!

[@michaelscheel9533]

Last place I worked at had several for record taking. Before I left they had switched to digital cameras.

[@esalehtismaki]

That model 95 is a beauty. Too bad you can't get film for it. It would definitely stand out among people taking pics with their phones.

[@schristy3637]

I enjoy all you vid I have seen,but this one kind of let me down. I was really hoping Barry Manilow was going to come out a sing Meet the Swinger at the end.😃🤪. Still a really GREAT vid!!!!!

[@kellyschlumberger1030]

My Dad was from Hamburg Germany. He told me the "B" was abbreviation for "BLIEBICH" = German word for staying / stationary.

[@tjtarget2690]

Notification Squad! :)

[@emmanuelunitedchurchottawa4152]

Gad, I remember coating the print. Excellent Giles.

[@tim31415]

As my fellow Chemical Engineers are constantly pointing out, chemical engineering has nothing to to with chemistry.

[@BIG-DIPPER-56]

Right, and the Swinger film came with a plastic bottle with the sponge inside to coat the film with.

[@pittsburghwill]

does any film still exist for those cameras

[@MeteorMark]

Only expired stock somewhere, my wife works at Polaroid and gets aksed that a lot.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

'Big Swinger' + 1960s ... seems legit.

[@cody1312]

where is the video putting out the bonfire with the fire extinguisher grenade lmao

[@ddzwiedziu]

3:30 What is the deal with blind flying and polarized glasses? 4:23 Yeah, that's cool. But did the daughter got an answer? ;p

[@smittykins]

As a kid, I thought “Land Camera” meant you couldn’t use it on a boat. 🙃

[@randyhavard6084]

All the Polaroid's I have from the 80s and 90s have faided far more than the regular photos I have

[@karlreinke9653]

Planned obsolescence!

[@richardjames1946]

Polaroid me, SX 70

[@charleslaing3426]

of people In the late 50's my family went to Tiajuana and there was a guy taking photos in the street on a donkey. He had "almost" instant photogrhy...he developed the picture right there. When I took my family there in the 90's we got a similar photo. The guy used no film...he used only print paper. He took a negative on one, developed it right there, then took a positive by "shooting" that. I still have the B&W print of my family sitting on the donkey, which was made up to look like a zebra.

[@CathodeRayNipplez]

😀

[@keithmoore5306]

not the Ed Land i know of or care about that one worked with Carlos Hathcock!! you know Guilles a series on the fur trade and the traps used over time might be worth doing!!

[@NoahSpurrier]

Fuji still makes the peel-apart pack film. It still has niche uses.

[@DexyD20]

I swear I read that as "Dawn of instant pornography"😅🙃🤢🤒😷🤣😇

[@mandolinic]

Good old Dawn; nice girl. She really enjoyed being exposed to the camera.

[@johnopalko5223]

Well, it was! 😁

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

This gives a new meaning to the expression, _"Rising with the Dawn."_ 😉

[@davidg4288]

Porn always is an early adopter of new technology!

[@mgpBLARG]

$20 was equivalent to $180 in the 60s... wtf dude. Our government needs to stop printing money

[@jamesowens7148]

Join the Right To Repair movement.

[@muffinbra]

wtf was that music??? unsubscribed.

[@KarldorisLambley]

i don't know if you read these Gilles, but some time ago i alluded to you being pretentious on account of insisting on your name's pronunciation. after some research this was a,frankly, idiotic thing to say and very nearly racist. i am terribly sorry. i could have just deleted my comment but that would hide the fact i learned anything. karl.

[@JTA1961]

This fella is slightly annoying, however crisp informative layout & ability to stay focused overrides urge to take off & step on his glasses