Polaroid camera

Instant-picture camera, invented by Edwin Land in the USA in 1947. The original camera produced black-and-white prints in about one minute, ejecting a piece of film on paper immediately after the picture had been taken. The Polaroid company went bankrupt in 2001, after digital cameras had taken over much of the market, and stopped manufacturing the Polaroid camera in 2008.

The film consisted of layers of emulsion and colour dyes together with a pod of chemical developer. When the film was ejected the pod burst and processing occured in the light, producing a paper-backed print. Later cameras produced black-and-white prints in a few seconds, and colour prints in less than a minute, and advanced models had automatic focusing and exposure.