Push the button and
less than two minutes later, with a buzz and a clunk and a whir,
the oddly folded machine ejects and blank card. In 30 seconds
an image slowly appears, emerging out of blue-green fog and becoming
within minutes a fully developed color photograph. The SX-70 camera,
the latest piece of wizardry from Polaroid and it's guiding genius
Dr. Edwin Land, is both a marvelous toy and a stunning technological
achievement. It is also a daring challenge to Kodak for supremacy
in the $4 billion-a-year US photo industry. Kodak is a giant compared
to Polaroid because of its interests in chemicals and fibers (Kodel)
as well as photography. Yet Polaroid sells more cameras over $50
than all other manufacturers combined. Of the five billion pictures
snapped by amateurs in the US annually, 20% are already Polaroid
prints.
The SX-70 should increase
that share. It eliminates the litter of gooey chemical pods and
negatives that used to trail the Polaroid photographer. The reflex
viewing system has a lens that focuses to ten inches for close-ups,.
and the whole thing folds to a 4x7-inch size. To develop what
is the most complicated simple camera ever, Polaroid had to make
advances in optics, electronics, film chemistry and precision
plastic molding. The company also had to build new manufacturing
facilities. The total effort has cost $250 million. But as the
SX-70 goes on sale for the first time (in Florida,next month)
for $180, Polaroid officials are highly optimistic. They expect
to sell several million during the first year alone."
"It's Done
With Electronics and Mirrors
In
Land's original memo setting out his hopes for the SX-70, the
main points were 'no garbage, no imbibing time and small-size
camera.' Doing away with the 'garbage'--the paper and chemical
debris necessary to the old system--meant Polaroid scientists
had to invent a new self-developing print, with all the chemicals
built in. This eventually added up to 17 layers of compounds,
some a few ten-thousandths of an inch thick. To reduce 'imbibing
time' ( the time needed to develop the picture inside the camera),
the print was ejected from the camera before processing. But to
make exterior processing work, the scientists a come up with a
workable 'opacifier,' a substance that would form an 'instant
darkroom' and protect everything from light while the developing
went on. To keep the camera small, Land decide to bounce the light
off a series of precision mirrors. Yet no optical system in existence
could pa mll a space. Physicists sat down with a computer and
built one. To discover the proper curve of the concave mirror
alone required two and a half years of full-time computer work.
With the eyepiece, it's development cost $2 million. Polaroid
now turns out 10,000 such mirrors a day cost of 36 cents each."
"Dr.
Land's Latest Bit of Magic
In
Land's original memo setting out his hopes for the SX-70, the
main points were 'no garbage, no imbibing time and small-size
camera.' Doing away with the 'garbage'--the paper and chemical
debris necessary to the old system--meant Polaroid scientists
had to invent a new self-developing print, with all the chemicals
built in. This eventually added up to 17 layers of compounds,
some a few ten-thousandths of an inch thick. To reduce 'imbibing
time' ( the time needed to develop the picture inside the camera),
the print was ejected from the camera before processing. But to
make exterior processing work, the scientists a come up with a
workable 'opacifier,' a substance that would form an 'instant
darkroom' and protect everything from light while the developing
went on. To keep the camera small, Land decide to bounce the light
off a series of precision mirrors. Yet no optical system in existence
could pa mll a space. Physicists sat down with a computer and
built one. To discover the proper curve of the concave mirror
alone required two and a half years of full-time computer work.
With the eyepiece, it's development cost $2 million. Polaroid
now turns out 10,000 such mirrors a day cost of 36 cents each."