Polaroid Land Camera 190
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| Pinnacle of packfilm, the Polaroid 190 Land Camera image by wagner_arts (Image rights) |
The Polaroid Land Camera 190 bears a superficial resemblance to other folding cameras in the Polaroid 100-400 series; and like them it is designed to shoot 3¼×4¼" peel-apart instant film. But in fact it this was one of the highest-specification models ever made by Polaroid, intended for professional users. Desirable features include a metal body (with tripod socket), an excellent single-eyepiece rangefinder/viewfinder made by Zeiss which folds away for storage, and fully manual exposure settings (rather than the photocell-controlled autoexposure typical of Polaroid's consumer cameras). Most significant is the 114mm f/3.8 Tominon lens (by Tomioka), which is significantly faster than the f/8.8 lens typically found in Polaroid's consumer-level models. Furthermore, the 190 includes an automatic electronic development timer integrated into the film-compartment door.
While the closely related Model 180 offers the same Zeiss finder, and the 195 the same lens, the 190's combination of both desirable features make it one of the most sought-after Polaroid models on the used market. (Only the much larger Polaroid 600SE, made by Mamiya, may surpass it.) Compatible packfilm from Fujifilm remains in production today (2011), at a much more affordable price than the integral films now available for SX-70 or 600 film models.
Links
- Polaroid 190 at the Land List
- Polaroid model 190 and 195 profiled at Filmwasters.com
