Polaroid Land Camera Model 95A

The first unit of the Polaroid Land Camera Model 95A to come off the assembly line was in the fall of 1948. The Model 95 was the first of Edwin Land's instant picture cameras, Edwin Land was the inventor of the camera and co-founder/president of Polaroid, who in a fun fact was considered the Steve Jobs of his time with 533 patients credit to his name, which is second highest number of patients by any one person, only behind Thomas Edison. The model number refers to the original selling price of $95 dollars or $1,246.50. Polaroid would outsource construction of the earliest Model 95s to other US companies like Wollensak, Bell & Howell, Samson United of Rochester, NY, and possibly even the Timex Corporation out of Atlanta, GA.

The Model 95 used a new type of Polaroid instant film that would sandwich light sensitive negative and positive layers between a reagent chemical that when exposed to light, would transfer and develop an image from the negative to the positive side. The positive side would be removed from the camera and would serve as the photograph. The total time to develop an image was right around 1 minute, but would vary depending on outside temperature and film stock used. The lens is a fixed f/11, 135 mm model, with a shutter that has T and I modes (aka Transverse Electric and Transverse Magnetic modes). It was made from a metal and brown leather body with metal fixtures and leather bellows. Direct-vision view-finder with post on front top. Camera used Polaroid print paper to make near-instant 3 1/4" x 4 1/4" prints. At least 1.5 million of the Model 95s, including the variants, Model 95A (1954) and 95B (1957) would be manufactured from 1948 to 1961.