Posted 13 years ago
bahamaboy
(224 items)
Polaroid land cameras were the start of the high tech age. Here is one SX-70 Sonar model that's in perfect condition and has a couple packs of film along with a 10-pack of flash bulbs. Kinda a cool piece from being first produced in 1972 and then this later model with the "auto focus" coming in later in the late 1970's. I'm pretty sure I'm right on those dates but could be off a bit. I'm tempted to load a pack of film and see if the thing works. It looks as if it was hardly used. Only drawback is that it has no case. When I found it, it was in a "Crown Royal" purple sack. And when I found it, I won't say which item I would have wished to be inside. Naw, just kidding. I don't even drink. But seriously when I found it, I had no idea what was in the sack 'til I opened it up. It was in a pile of items that were being tossed. At the time the person that owned it had three piles of belongings. One was to keep, one was to donate and one was garbage. What's that old saying? One mans trash is another mans treasure. Sure was so in this case.
Wow. Totally incredible. My wife finds/collects Polaroids - more like she buys and sells. But there are those that are close to her heart, and she'd never sell - the classic rainbow one, and this one, if she ever got ahold of one. ;)
This was purchased new by my stepfather years ago and I really don't think he ever used it once. We were cleaning out a bunch of his things before he moved to an assisted living facility and the camera and the film/flashcubes were still in the bag from Eckerds Drug Stores (the film has this store name on the end with a price per 10-pic box of $8.95 and all were in a pile that was not even worthy of donation. Had three sections. Keep, donate & trash. Needless to say when I saw it, being the pack rat that I am, it came home with me, among other things that were being tossed. Thanks for taking a look and for making a comment. Do you or your wife know what model this one is? Any info would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for any help you could lend.
This is the SX-70, it's probably THE MOST collectibles of ALL the Polaroids. An amazing find. Does it have its case? The film is really collectible too - all kinds of people are always looking for old Polaroid film, even the expired packs. :)
No it "does not" have the case. The case it was in, was an empty Crown Royal sack. As I just edited the description to correctly title the camera, I'm thinking now I should scour eBay for a case so I'll have the "complete deal". Any thoughts on the best place to find a case? Thanks again, modernscavenger for the additional info and the comment.
That's a Sonar isn't it,they aren't quite as popular as the earlier versions of the SX70 but people are still interested in them.
I like cameras and have always had a weakness for Polaroid. There does seem to be a preference for the earlier more "original" SX-70s but I always preferred these auto focus models. They can also be focused manually if you want have that level of control. These are a little harder to find "in the wild" at least in my neck of the woods.
Thank you AR8Jason for your comment and to beay5278, I'm not sure if this one is a Sonar or not. I'm going to look at it a little more closely and see what else any numbers or writing tell me. But thank you for looking and for taking the time to comment.
Yes this one is the SX-70 Sonar with the auto focus. And it has a dial to adjust the focus more if needed. (I think?) I'm assuming that the round black & white dial on the right front as one is looking at the camera, is the means to do additional focusing. It has the directions under the viewer on the back of the camera for getting the focus right by holding the shutter button down lightly, and once the focus is pleasing, then you go ahead with the rest of the pressure to take the shot. My new digital camera still works much the same way as this old camera does. Guess that's just been a camera focusing feature for quite some time. I still need to find a source to obtain a case like the original would have been. Thanks Bootson for your comment.
All of you can get a great view of just how good of condition this camera is by clicking on the photo/photos above. Would you believe I had been on this site several weeks before I knew the posted pics could be enlarged. This camera looks absolutely perfect when you're looking at it "up close & personal" or by clicking the pics above. It makes you wonder just what could be bought today, and then just put away for 30 or 49 years and what others would think of it those 40 years down the road. The more I look at & handle this camera, the more I like it.
The black and white dial is to adjust the lightness or darkness of your pictures, in case the automatic exposures aren't coming out the way you'd like with a particular subject. To manually adjust the focus you need to push in a little tab over on the left side of the lens, as you look at the front of the camera, and then turn the dial near it.
I never got real deep into the sx7 culture but I believe the cameras have more than just a collector value,I think there are people that use them for some type of artistic picture taking.I know the price dropped on them for a while a few years back because of a not being able to get film for them anymore but a company bought a plant in Germany,I think,where Poloroid had made the sx70 film and started making film for them again.
There appears to be at least 4 of you guys out there in C.W. that have a great deal of knowledge of these cameras past & present. I know I've learned a great deal about them in these few short days. Thank you all. I vaguely remember my immediate family having one of these and what always amazed me was the fact of being able to take a pic and then having that same pic "develop" right before my very eyes. But in summary, I have come to the conclusion that I'm not ready just yet to trade or give up my current digital camera that was used to take the photos of "THIS" camera. When these land cameras 1st came out, I think I was "AS AMAZED" at them, as I was amazed at the 1st cell phones I saw and used. Technology has a way in certain aspects, of making a very "long lasting" impression on those that see that technology for the 1st time. Thanks again to the 4 of you because now I know what these cameras do and did, and where they stack up on the "collect-ability" chart, right down to knowing the possibility of obtaining film in order to put this very cool gadget back to work. Thanks again guys.
Thank you for that tip. But the ones I see here have a price tag from "back in the day" of $8.95 I would be scared to see just what inflation has done to that price. But it's definitely worth looking into & to purchase at least one pack just to see how high of quality the pics taken with this unit would be. I dare not use these vintage packs because of their potential value plus they may not be any good after 40-50 years. Thanks again for your comment.
I have one somewhere around the house with the case, I could still get film up until two years ago. They were first produced in 1972, but they did not have auto focus until late 1970's.
Thank you ttomtucker for that info. I have edited the description to portray this new info on the dates. Thank you very much for taking a look and giving me the correct dates. This is a great example of what makes this site so great. There is always someone who knows about an item and who can share that info which educates all of us all the more. Many thanks again.
I have this exact same camera and the flash bars too. Mine is in the same condition do you know I might be able to get for this? I could use some money and the camera just sits around,
Shannonville wouldn't do that if I were you they perfectly still work why get rid of it go take a pic man or a selfie with a 70's camera