The polaroid was, and still is, one of the greatest inventions since photography itself.
Even in this day and age of technological advancement, been able to take a photo and within seconds hold it in your hand is a rare and splendid thing, we can only imagine the excitement these cameras caused when they first started becoming popular.
The Polaroid 100 was manufactured between 1963 and 1966 and was the first of a new breed of "Automatic Land Cameras". These where the latest development of the Polaroid system and used the new pack film cartridges as opposed to the earlier instant roll films developed by Edwin Land (hence the Polaroid "Land" Camera). This layout and camera design ran well into the 70's through several different incarnations.
The 100 was an instant hit amongst professionals and public alike, The public loved the ease of use, the compactness and of course the instant ability to see if you had the shot you wanted or not.
The professional market loved them for producing proofs of shoots; their ability to create unique art works, Andy Warhol was famously a fan, and for producing instant prints.
One of the most popular uses for the camera was as an "Events" camera, at shows, parties and exhibitions guests could be photographed and receive a copy of the print immediately.
As this and there other uses became more popular, the range of polaroid accessories expanded to cover every need.
Some of these accessories are shown with our camera on the right:-
Polaroid 268 Bulb Flash.
Polaroid 541 Portrait Kit
Polaroid 543 Close Up Kit
Polaroid 516 Cloud Filter
Polaroid 585 UV Filter
Polaroid 192 Self Timer
Polaroid 193 x Cold Clip
Polaroid 128 Development Timer
Lentar Tele / Wide lens set for Polaroid
Honeywell Flash Bracket for Polaroid 100
The final two items on the list where aimed purely for the professional market to give the option of wide angle or telephoto shots and to allow the use of the Honeywell Strobonar range of professional flash's (As pictured).
As many people know I am a huge fan of the Polaroid system, and even today, when we photograph events with these the public still love them, and it often develops into quite a talking point.
The print is a one off, some early polaroid films produced a negative for the professional, but these film packs ceased to exist many years ago.
Part of the joy with the Polaroid print is what you see is what you get, if you want the same picture the best you can do is take it twice, so every image is a truly unique piece of art.
If you are hosting a 60's or 70's show or party and want a photographer to mingle with the crowd and document the day, I can think of no better tool for the job. You can get a unique view of your event and the guests can have images to take home immediately as a keepsake of the day.
Thats the joy of polaroids, even now to do the same thing requires cameras, computers, printers all to be present on the night...
That or you can go retro and do it how it was in the day and put these incredible bits of kit to what I feel is their best use...
Putting a smile on someones face as you hand them a print.
If you would like to find out more about the Polaroid 100 and other Polaroid Packfilm cameras, then check out this great page on Camerapedia.