Welcome to my series of blogs dedicated to the long line of Polaroid “folding” Automatic Land Cameras. Also known as the Polaroid 100 Series Land Cameras or Polaroid Folding Pack Cameras, Polaroid Corporation first introduced in 1963 with the Polaroid 100 Automatic Land Camera and continued the series through 1977, ending with Model 450. Other folding camera popped up years later like the Polaroid Reporter, Polaroid Pro-Pack Camera and the “hard-bodied” Colorpack series. This Film Photography Project blog series is dedicated to all these wonderful and durable instant film cameras. I hope to cover all of them in the weeks and months ahead.
What’s the “buzz” about the Polaroid Model 420? Besides the fact that Film Photography Podcast (FPP) co-host Mat Marrash and awesome photographer April-Lea Hutchinson shoot with it, this plastic Polaroid “pack” camera ranks high as one of the favorite models in the long line of Polaroid instant cameras. It’s handsome looks with gold trim make it a recent fav!
Introduced in 1971 and produced through 1977, this Pola-Pack-Tastic camera features a plastic body and plastic shutter/lens housing, a 114mm f/8.8 2-element plastic lens, parallax viewfinder with distance estimator in the eyepiece, a 1/1200sec to 10sec (automatic) shutter, an aperture of f8.8 to f42 (automatic), exposure compensation dial with range of -1/+2 stops (Lighten/Darken control) and Film speed settings of 75asa (for 100asa film) and 3000asa (for BW 3000asa film)
Camera uses Fujifilm FP-100c, FP-100b, or FP-3000b instant films as well as many expired Polaroid “pack” films still available at the FPP Store or at The Impossible Project.
More info:
FPP Polaroid 420 Automatic Land Camera blog series:
- Introductions
- April-Lea’s 420 Polaroid Photography
- Mat Marrash and his “Pack-Tastic” 420 camera
- Zen of Shooting with the 420
FPP Episode Episode 36 – June 1, 2011 features a spotlight on the Polaroid Automatic 420.
Purchase your own Polaroid 420 Camera at the FPP Store!