Good old Harry McKraken gives the Polaroid SX-70 – one of the most amazing instant cameras in the world – more than its due. Created in 1972, this Polaroid flattened down to a little over an inch in thickness and featured, as Harry notes:
“The virtual cascade of revolutions, mechanical, optical and electronic, that made the SX-70 possible,” rhapsodized a Polaroid brochure, “had only one purpose: to free you from everything cumbersome and tedious about picture-taking, so that it could become at last the simple creative act it should be.”
Amazingly, the SX-70 didn’t have a battery to power the motor and instead depended on batteries inside the actual film cartridges. I still remember pulling out those flat, lumpen batteries for use in some of my projects, amazed at how thin and light they were.
Harry writes far more about this camera and its maker in his excellent post and I recommend boning up on this era in tech history. After all, those who do not learn from Polaroid’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.