James's Camera Collection: Polaroid Land 210

Polaroid Land 210 USA Instant Cameras
Polaroid Land 210
Approx. dates of manufacture: 1967-1969
Approx. original price: $50
Approx. street value: None

I used to have a raft of these things; I think I got a box of them at the flea market one day. I still have a few. I don't really know why.

Land cameras were named after the genius who ran Polaroid, Dr. Edwin Land. As a name, Land cameras were the higher-end, general purpose cameras, as opposed to the Swingers and other point-n-shoots which made up the lower tier. Land cameras were typically folders, and they were big.

I'm not versed well in Polaroids, but I tend to think of Land cameras in three series. The first series are the old ones which are finished in bare metal and styled to look like post-war Packards. This second series looked more modern. After that you get into the SX-70s and a different direction entirely.

Of this group, there were three major model series: the 100s, the 200s and the 300s. In the time-honored photographic tradition, Polaroid seems to have made a lot of different models which were slight variations on each other. This model 210 is the color-capable version of the model 104, which was a model 103 with a crappier lens and an "image-sizer" in lieu of a range-finder. The Land List website (a collector's resource for Polaroid cameras) said it's "probably the most common folding pack camera," which is likely how I ended up with one.

Camera manual: Orphan Cameras.com

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