How Much Is A Polaroid Automatic 100 Land Camera Worth

In 1963, the Polaroid Corporation introduced the Automatic 100 Land Photographic camera (also known as the Model 100). Named later Polaroid co-founder and genius inventor Edwin State, the Land Cameras would proceed to exist a successful line of cameras for the company, produced in one form or another until the early 2000'southward.

Front View of Polaroid Automated 100 Country Camera

The Automatic 100 was sold from 1963 to 1966 and retailed for an estimate price of $164.95 (around $1,367.00, adjusted for inflation). It was also the first of the Polaroid cameras to use a new form of instant film, known every bit packfilm. The Automatic 100 would go on to become the basis of other packfilm cameras produced by Polaroid: the 100, 200, and 300 series, which all have similar functionality.

The type of packfilm these cameras used would produce a four 1/4 by 3 3/8 inch print, with an bodily image size of 2 vii/8 by 3 3/four inches (nine.5 by 7.3cm). Originally, each pack of film contained eight exposures but this was later increased to 10.

I don't retrieve the exact twelvemonth, but it was around 2005 that I purchased my showtime Automatic 100. I knew what packfilm cameras were but had nil experience with using ane. I vaguely recollect the woman I purchased it from maxim information technology had been her begetter'south. In any case, it had the previous possessor's proper noun engraved on the bottom. A year or two later I purchased another gear up from a seller on eBay. This one came complete with all the accessories, which is what I had actually been after and will be discussed after in this review.

Within the same decade of purchasing these cameras, the original incarnation of the Polaroid Corporation alleged bankruptcy and reformed into a sort of holding visitor also going by the proper name Polaroid. By 2008 the new Polaroid had also gone out of business and sold off all its remaining avails (in 2017, the former Impossible Project caused rights to the Polaroid name and has since rebranded themselves as Polaroid Originals). Equally a event, the moving-picture show blazon required past this photographic camera (Polaroid packfilm), ceased production. You can read more than about the history of Polaroid in "A Cursory History of… Polaroid, here on EMULSIVE.

Concurrently to the demise of Polaroid, Fujifilm in Japan had been manufacturing their own version of packfilm in a number of varieties and as luck would have it, information technology was fully uniform with cameras like the Automatic 100. It was not meant to last. In 2016, Fujifilm ceased product of its terminal remaining packfilm and at of the fourth dimension of writing, no other companies are producing packfilm of the blazon and diverseness Polaroid and Fujifilm had been previously.

There is hope, a successfully funded Kickstarter projection going by the name One Instant is currently taking preorders for their new type of packfilm designed to be compatible with these types of cameras.

This review of the Automated 100 will not be a review of the different varieties of Polaroid and Fujifilm produced packfilm. There are a lot of creative and artistic furnishings you can reach using this type of pic only is better suited for a film review and not a camera review. For another user's perspective on the discontinuation and use of packfilm, please check out EMULSIVE contributor Ludwig Hagelstein'due south "Peeled Apart for Good" and Brian Saculles' review of the Mamiya 600SE – the GOOSE.

Tabular array of contents

• ane The Polaroid Automatic 100 in pictures
  • ane.i Body
  • i.2 Shutter and lens
• 2 Viewfinder
• 3 Using the Camera
• 4 Accessories
  • four.one Flash
  • iv.2 Filters
  • 4.3 Timer/release cables
  • 4.4 Timer and common cold prune
  • four.v Portrait kit and close-up lens kit
• 5 The Automatic 100 in practical apply and other considerations
  • 5.one Why would y'all want to buy and use an Automated 100?
  • 5.2 Drawbacks of the Automatic 100 and why you might non desire one
  • 5.3 Power Source
  • 5.4 Parts availability
  • 5.v Lack of manual controls
  • 5.6 Size/weight
  • 5.vii Film

The Polaroid Automatic 100 in pictures

The Polaroid Automated 100 Land Camera is a folding camera with a coupled rangefinder focusing machinery. It is designed to accept a x-exposure pack of instant peel-autonomously film (packfilm). When not in use, the camera folds into itself and has a plastic comprehend that utilizes a magnetic latch to stay closed. When the cover is swung down, it can remain on the camera by a swivel mechanism or disassemble completely. The lens/shutter associates is pulled forwards which extends the bellows and the rangefinder mechanism swings up for use.

Body

The torso of this photographic camera is entirely metallic with a standard threaded tripod socket on the base. When fully complanate with the encompass attached, the camera measures approximately four ½ inches tall by 7 ½ inches wide by 2 ½ inches in length (approximately xi.4 10 xix x six.3cm). When the bellows are extended the total length of the camera will vary based on focus setting. The bellows are constructed of a vinyl outer later on with a fabric inner layer. Two rings are gear up into the top of the body for the attachment of a carrying strap.

Shutter and lens

The Automatic 100 has a completely electronic shutter with a range of x seconds to 1/1200^th of a second. Because of its electronic design, the shutter will non piece of work properly without a battery. The lens is a 114mm f/8.eight glass design.

The photographic camera operates in a kind of aperture priority fashion and cannot be operated manually. A "scene selector" mechanism adjusts the aperture (ii settings) and film speed is set via a wheel on the lesser of the shutter assembly (film speeds of 75, 150, 300, and 3000 ISO are selectable).

Bulb flash is synchronized with the shutter and the flash unit of measurement connects via a proprietary connector of the side of the shutter associates. Past using the "lighten/darken" exposure bounty control, the exposure can be adapted from -one to +2 stops.

Viewfinder

Separate viewfinder-rangefinder mechanisms are combined in the same housing on the top of the photographic camera. The rangefinder (small window labelled "focus") is used to focus the camera and the viewfinder window (larger window labelled "view") is used to frame the shot.

The viewfinder window automatically compensates for parallax and the entire focusing assembly is coupled to the photographic camera. Additionally, a small pictogram is present on the focusing lever if you adopt to apply zone focusing. You'll see a person, a couple and  a landscape.

Using the Camera

Polaroid took actress intendance to make this camera piece of cake to apply for the novice photographer. Each "step" of taking a moving picture is numbered on the camera itself. There are 4 steps in total (which assume starting from a point where the film is loaded and the shutter is already cocked).

• First, focus the camera looking through the rangefinder window and using the labeled (1) focusing mechanism.
• Second, slowly press the shutter push (2).
• Third, after tripping the shutter, push button downwards on the (iii) button to reset the shutter (multiple exposures are possible by resetting the shutter and tripping information technology again).
• Finally, pull the modest white tab from the right side of the camera (iv) and so smoothly pull out the larger tab that follows.

As you pull the larger tab out of the photographic camera the film is pulled through rollers inside of the camera. The rollers pause the small pods full of developer and reagent attached to every negative. This chemical mixture coats the negative and paper, and after the appropriate amount of time is spent in evolution, the print is peeled autonomously from the negative for a fully developed photograph.

With some types of colour and black and white packfilm the negative can be kept and after handling, further prints can be fabricated from information technology using a more traditional printmaking procedure (encounter below). Usually, the paper pull-tab and negative are just thrown abroad (Polaroid encouraged users not to be litterbugs).

Accessories

Polaroid produced a number of accessories to piece of work with the Automatic 100 and other cameras in the 100, 200, and 300 lines. The ones shown here are what came with the accessory set I purchased years ago. Accessory model numbers are also listed with each accessory. Other accessories are likewise available which are variations of the ones shown here or are specific to sure Land Camera models.

Wink

The #268 wink unit was the standard flash accessory for almost all of the folding Polaroid packfilm cameras. It clips on to the top left of the photographic camera and connects to the shutter assembly using a proprietary connector that is based on the common Prontor-Compur (PC) connector.

The flash accepts M3 flashbulbs and is powered by a single AA-battery. The wink head swivels, allowing you lot to utilise bounce wink without having to disconnect the wink unit and point it by hand. The Automatic 100 is designed to utilize flashbulbs and an electronic flash cannot be used with the photographic camera unless the camera is modified to work with one. This is because the camera shutter is designed to synchronize with flashbulbs, which ignite slightly ahead of the shutter opening. If an electronic flash were used, it would fire prior to the shutter opening and leave you with an underexposed photo.

On the topic of flashbulbs (From my Mamiya Super 23/Universal Press review):

"For those unfamiliar with the difference between electronic wink and flashbulbs, an Internet search can easily provide yous with a detailed caption on both. In general, modern electronic flash units use a small tube filled with a gas. When a loftier voltage electric current is passed through the tube, the gas ionizes and produces a bright flash of light. The total light output is variable and the flash unit is reusable, meaning it tin be flashed over and over again.

"Flashbulbs, past comparing, but take one output, full. They produce their light by called-for foil or thin wire crammed inside of a glass seedling. They can be used only in one case before needing to exist replaced by a new bulb. They burn quite brightly for their size and beingness on the receiving cease of an ignited flashbulb up close is kind of similar looking at the sun. You will be seeing a spot in your vision for a while afterwards.

"For tasks which many electric current-day photographers would apply a photographic camera with flash to accomplish, an electronic flash unit is more versatile and cost-effective than using one-time-use flashbulbs that tin can be difficult and expensive to source. Even so, if you want to dump a ton (scientific measurements here) of light at something, a flashbulb is the way to go."

A blue-tinted flash shield is fastened to the front of the reflector. It has the dual part of preventing pieces of an exploding flashbulb from flight out of the flash at your subject and as well to correct the color of the light coming from the flashbulb when using color moving-picture show. For this reason it is not recommended to employ M3B wink bulbs which are blue coated, unless y'all are trying to achieve a specific creative/artistic issue.

Filters

• 

  Filters and accessories for Automatic 100

Two filters are bachelor for the Automated 100. Both are friction fit over the lens. The #585 UV filter accomplishes the same issue as a UV filter on other cameras. By reducing the corporeality of ultraviolet low-cal on outdoor scenes it removes blueish casts from shadows. It likewise does not require any exposure compensation. Information technology has negligible outcome when using it with black and white picture.

The other filter is the #516 Cloud Filter. This is a twin orange filter that fits over the lens besides equally the metering eye side by side to the lens then exposure compensation is non necessary. The effect is the aforementioned as an orangish filter on other cameras when using black and white moving-picture show in that information technology increases contrast, such as when photographing outdoors and y'all would like to make white clouds stand out against a blue heaven or to make a blueish sky announced darker. Information technology can besides be used for creative/creative effect when using color film.

Timer/release cables

Polaroid released the #192 Cocky-Timer, a 5-to-15 second filibuster mechanical timer that friction fits over the shutter push button on the camera. Operation is unproblematic: you wind it and press the push button on the top. When the timer runs out, information technology presses the shutter button. Information technology is not a adept pick for long exposures in dim light because of the automatic metering feature of the camera. The shutter push button has to be held downward until the meter determines an appropriate amount of light has reached the picture show. Releasing the shutter button early volition cause the shutter to shut prematurely.

• 

  Automatic 100 with cable release and Polaroid #516 Cloud Filter

For long exposures, the #191 Cable Release is a more suitable pick. Like to the self-timer, it friction fits over the shutter button. It isn't very long and so information technology is not a proficient choice for remote shooting. It also has a lock mechanism that keeps the button depressed so it isn't necessary to agree the release for the entire duration of the exposure.

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Timer and cold prune

Polaroid #193 Common cold Clip

The quality of a packfilm photograph is highly dependent on the length of time it is allowed to remain in development (before peeling the print away from the negative). The temperature at which the film develops too affects the quality of the terminal print.

If the ambient temperature is cold, more time needs to exist spent in development. Warmer temperatures require less time. The #193 Cold-Clip acts like a kind of evolution time shortcut when photographing in cold weather. The common cold-clip is ii curved pieces of metal held together with fabric record. When the film is pulled from the camera it is inserted between the metal plates and so the entire prune is held confronting the body, similar in a pocket or nether the arm. Because the movie is kept warm a shorter development time is required.

The #128 Development Timer is a pocket-size mechanical countdown timer that can be set for a maximum of 120 seconds. Except for a few varieties of Polaroid and Fujifilm produced packfilm, if the evolution time is cut short or left likewise long the print can either come out undeveloped/underdeveloped or completely overdeveloped. In one case the film is pulled from the camera the timer is started (preset to the evolution fourth dimension required for the ambient temperature). At the stop of the timer, the print is peeled autonomously from the negative. The example of this timer allows for zipper to the manufacturing plant camera strap that came with the Automatic 100.

Portrait kit and close-up lens kit

The #581 Portrait and #583 Shut-Upward Kits are fantastic accessories for the Automatic 100. They look a chip awkward when attaching and removing them from the camera just don't let that dissuade you from using them.

The normal focusing range of the Automatic 100 is about 43 inches (i.1m) to infinity. With the Portrait Kit attached, the focusing distance changes to 19-42 inches (0.5-1m). Close headshots can exist taken with this, which I recollect packfilm is specially suited for. The kit is comprised of three components: a friction-fit magnifying lens, an opaque clip-on flash diffuser, and set of "goggles" that fit over the viewfinder assembly which compensates for distance and parallax when using the portrait lens.

Similarly, the Close-Upward kit features the same three components although the magnification is greater. This allows for a focusing distance between 9-15 inches (0.ii-.4m). The prune-on flash diffuser is more than opaque than the 1 in the Portrait Kit for greater flash diffusion.

In practical use, the Close-Upwardly kit is trickier to use because at such shut focusing distances parallax is no longer compensated for. Afterward focusing with the rangefinder it is necessary to tilt the camera up a flake so the lens is actually pointed at your subject. All the same, once this is done there is the possibility of the photographic camera no longer being on the same plane as the subject you would like in focus.

For best results when using this kit, use a tripod and the cablevision release and be extra sure you haven't moved the camera out of the proper focus when reframing the shot to arrange for the parallax.

The Automatic 100 in practical apply and other considerations

Why would you lot want to buy and utilize an Automated 100?

Above all, I consider this camera and ones like information technology incredibly fun to utilize. Plain, there are easier ways to have photographs and obtain prints just information technology was an astonishing convenience in its twenty-four hours to not only accept a motion-picture show just to have the impress at the same time. If multiple prints were desired, at one point Polaroid offered a duplicating service and could make wallet size, aforementioned size, five×7, and 8×10 enlargements. In the present day, it is easy enough to browse the impress and make your own enlargements.

• 

  Automated 100 Interior Views

The camera has a definite novelty value. Even though at that place are other instant flick cameras on the market today, cameras that employ packfilm are unique in the process and method by which an epitome is produced. Most notably, it is a easily-on procedure. Nothing is automatically ejected and the print does not peel itself off of the negative. If you are using information technology around someone who has never seen this type of instant photography performed information technology can be an fantabulous chat starter.

Finally, this camera is easy to use. It was designed for someone who was a novice photographer, whose priority was not only remembering to carry film but also finding a place to develop it. An instant print could be immediately shared or given to friends and family without having to coordinate a time and place to drop it off or transport it past post. The end production was immediately in their hands.

Drawbacks of the Automatic 100 and why you might not want i

At that place are a number of issues that arise from using a photographic camera starting time designed and manufactured over fifty years agone. That is true of whatsoever vintage photographic camera and particularly for the Automatic 100 or whatsoever of the State Cameras. The visitor that designed and congenital this camera no longer exists, at to the lowest degree the way information technology used to.

Power Source

These cameras were designed to be completely automatic. The metering cell and shutter are both electronic, which requires a power source to work. Without a battery this photographic camera volition not work. This camera was designed to take a 4.5-volt bombardment (Eveready #531 make and similar). This battery was difficult and expensive to acquire when I first obtained the photographic camera in 2005 and now it is much more difficult.

When you can find i, they are more expensive. For me, this meant the photographic camera must be modified or retrofitted to take a unlike ability source. Cory Verellen, of the now defunct Rare Medium/LandCameras.com refurbished one of mine. For a while, he refurbished onetime Land Cameras from parts he had on mitt and modified them with things like rechargeable batteries and converted the cameras to use electronic flash. Of class, it'due south not necessary to apply a rechargeable battery; anything that can supply a 4.5-volt power source can exist used. An online search can show you the many different ways people have overcome this obstruction.

Parts availability

Replacement parts are no longer available for these cameras and unless you take the ability or resources to make your own replacement parts, this means cannibalizing other cameras for spare parts. After a while, feasible parts will exist gone and then these cameras will no longer work.

I have had to go through this process on a couple of my Automated 100's. On one the bellows began to sag, leaving a large black spot on the terminal prototype where the light never made it to the picture. On another, the electronics stopped working. I removed the bellows from the good camera and moved information technology on to the other with the sagging bellows but still working electronics. I also had to take the rechargeable bombardment out of the first and wire it into the 2d. The plus side about these cameras is they are so ubiquitous that they can be easily and cheaply acquired.

Lack of manual controls

The camera is what it says it is, automatic. At that place is no mode to manually select the aperture (other than the 2-position scene selector switch) or shutter speed. At that place are ways to fox the low-cal meter into making a longer exposure (by covering the metering prison cell during an exposure while keeping the shutter push depressed) but it is an bad-mannered process.

The lens is reliably sharp just don't program on making enlargements of your print beyond the eight×10 size. If you desire to accept the Country Photographic camera experience just desire fully manual controls, buy a Polaroid model 180, 190, or 195. Exist prepared to pay much higher prices for i of these models than an Automated 100.

Size/weight

If large cameras put you off then the Automatic 100 is not for you. While information technology folds upwardly into a compact packet, one time the camera is fully deployed it is bulky. Information technology is also very conspicuous when using it in public. Don't plan on using this photographic camera for street photography and await to alloy in with the oversupply. However, for being a big camera information technology is relatively lite. You'll never forget that yous're conveying it but you won't misfile its weight for say a Mamiya 645 Pro.

Film

• 

  Fujifilm and Polaroid Packfilm

Peradventure the greatest drawback to using this camera or whatever packfilm camera is the lack of availability of moving picture.

Polaroid of today, Polaroid Originals, because of availability of resources, talent, and turn a profit, focuses entirely on integral instant moving-picture show and their new cameras that use it. They do not accept machinery that can industry packfilm and Fujifilm will non return their machines to functioning (assuming they haven't been dismantled and scrapped already).

When I started using the Automated 100, I could buy fresh Polaroid picture for a little more than $twenty a box (each box had two 10-exposure packs). At the aforementioned time, Fujifilm was selling their version of packfilm for near $10 for a ten-exposure pack. When Polaroid ceased production and Fujifilm gradually stopped product of their dissimilar packfilm lines the prices at outset gradually and then dramatically increased.

For fresh flick that once sold for $10 a pack, prices more like $60-ninety a pack are much more than common. Additionally, since none of this film is in production anymore, what is out there is approaching its expiration (if information technology hasn't passed it already). While measures can be taken to preserve the unexposed film through refrigeration, eventually information technology will become unusable as the developing chemical pods dry out and the film loses its sensitivity. Because of its nature, packfilm is much more susceptible to the passage of time and inadequate storage than traditional film types.

I take a small supply of packfilm stored away that I caused before the prices became what I consider to be unreasonably loftier. When my supply runs out I have a feeling I'll be washed with using my packfilm cameras.

Conclusions

The same visitor that produced the Automated 100 was the same as the i that made the film. Both products were designed to accept advantage of each other and equally a upshot worked wonderfully. They are completely complementary products.

The drawback to this was if the parent visitor ceased production of one, the other would suffer. Packfilm would keep to take a life of its own in other professional person and apprentice applications until large-scale production ceased. The One Instant motion-picture show I mentioned aboce could be a suitable replacement but at this time it appears to be more of an artisanal, "boutique" production that would never be as affordable as packfilm was in its heyday.

Because of the lack of picture availability, the usefulness of the Automatic 100 and other like cameras is becoming more and more limited. The increased price of extant flick stock tends to make packfilm instant photography out of the grasp of an increasing number of photographers.

Despite this, the Automatic 100 is incredibly fun to utilize. I think at the stop of the twenty-four hours this is what matters when using any of the Land Cameras. When the moving-picture show is gone, the film is gone and hopefully, we will have photographs that are meaningful to u.s.a.. Moving-picture show photographers get emotionally wound up over the demise of unlike kinds and types of film, and to an extent, rightfully so. However, we and so miss out on having fun using what we've got.

Let's have fun using the things we dear to shoot while we withal can.

~ Kikie

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