Polaroid 100-400 series
This series of Polaroid cameras, starting with the Automatic Land Camera 100 and finishing at the Automatic Land Camera 450, all share a common set of features:
- Folding bellows
- Automatic exposure, with an external 'Electric Eye' lightmeter beside the lens
- Designed for Polaroid 100-series Packfilm
There is a very large variety within this vast range of essentially similar folding Polaroid models. The best 'standard' models are the 100, 250, 350, and 450 variants of the line. These feature a coupled rangefinder designed by the German firm Zeiss Ikon, rigid metal bodies and 3 element glass lenses. Most other models, such as the 103, have a much cheaper build quality and features including plastic lenses, rigid viewfinders, moulded plastic bodies and many lack a tripod socket.
All these cameras produce 7.2x9.5cm prints on Polaroid 100-series packfilm, and the more expensively produced models can be capable of very good results. Many accessories were made for these cameras including, but not limited to, portrait kits, close-up kits, and electric external flashes.
A few models to be aware of are the 180, 185, 190, and 195 cameras. These professional-model Polaroid Land Cameras are among the best cameras Polaroid have ever produced, and are vastly superior to the rest of the 100-400 line as they include much faster glass lenses, fully mechanical leaf shutters, and manual exposure functionality. These models lack the built-in lightmeter the other models use to calculate exposure, and are capable of excellent results, on par with the best professional Polaroid cameras ever made - like the 600 SE.
Links
- The Land List - An Ongoing Project in Cataloging Polaroid Cameras
- Polaroid cameras and manuals at www.collection-appareils.com
