| Year | Cameras Introduced | Film Introduced | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Land creates the first synthetic sheet polarizer | ||
| 1929 | Land files the patent for the first synthetic polarizer | ||
| 1932 | Land announces synthetic polarizing material | ||
| 1933 | Land-Wheelwright incorporated | ||
| 1934 | Kodak purchases polarizers for filters, Polaroid Day glasses introduced | ||
| 1937 | Polaroid Co. founded | ||
| 1939 | Polaroid stereoscopic motion pictures shown at world's fair | ||
| 1941 | Sales increased to $1 million | ||
| 1942 | Various wartime instruments, etc. invented/manufactured | ||
| 1944 | Jennifer Land asks her Dad "Why can't I see them now?" setting into motion the SX-70 project. | ||
| 1945 | Sales increased to $16 million, war ends | ||
| 1947 | One step photography announced | ||
| 1948 | 95 | type 40 | Roll film cameras introduced |
| 1949 | Ansel Adams hired as a consultant | ||
| 1950 | 41 | 1 millionth roll of film produced | |
| 1951 | type 1001 | Print coater introduced, Instant x-ray film introduced | |
| 1952 | 110 | ||
| 1954 | 80, 95A, 100 (roll film) | type 31 | |
| 1955 | 700 | type 32, 42, 43 | Panchromatic film introduced |
| 1956 | type 44 | 1 millionth camera produced | |
| 1957 | 80A, 95B, 110A, 150, 800 | type 46, 46-L | Polaroid stock listed on the NYSE |
| 1958 | type 52, 53 (4" x 5") | 4 x 5 inch Film holder introduced | |
| 1959 | 80B | type 37, 47 (3000 ASA) | Winklight 250, 252 introduced, Polaroid expands to Canada, Europe |
| 1960 | 110B, 900 | First automatic exposure camera (900), Polaroid expands to Japan | |
| 1961 | 120, 850, J33, J66 | type 55, 57 | |
| 1962 | 160, MP-3 | 4 millionth camera produced | |
| 1963 | 100 | type 38, 48, 58, 107, 108 | Pack film cameras introduced, Colour film introduced, 5 millionth camera produced |
| 1964 | 101, 102, CU-5 Close-up | type 510, 413 | |
| 1965 | 103, 104, 125, 135, 180, swinger (20), 415, M15, Instant portrait (4x5) | type 20 | |
| 1966 | ID-2 Land Identification system | TLX radiographic | |
| 1967 | 210, 220, 230, 240, 250 | type 51 | |
| 1968 | 215, 225, 3000 (big swinger), M-10, Special Events 228 (high volume) | Model 545 film holder | |
| 1969 | 315, 320, 325, 330, 335, 340, 350, 360, colorpack II, IV, ED-10 Intrument | IC chips used in model 360 | |
| 1970 | Countdown M60, M80, Colorpack M6, III | type 20C | Sales reach $500 million |
| 1971 | 420, 430, 440, 450, Countdown 70, 90, Big shot, Colorpack 80, 82, 85, 88, ZIP, Super colorpack, IV, Square shooter, Miniportrait, 701, 703, 704, 706, CU-5, ID-3 Indentification | type 87, 88 | |
| 1972 | Square shooter 2, 4, SX-70 | SX-70 | SX-70 cameras introduced |
| 1973 | colorpack, colorpack V, MP-4, 707 (ID) | 5000 SX-70 cameras/day are produced (plus 50,000/day SX-70 film) | |
| 1974 | 195, SX-70 model 2 | type 105 | Polaroid estimates over 1 billion instant prints made this year |
| 1975 | 355, 455, Electric zip, Super shooter, Plus, Clincher, Colorpack 100, Color swinger, II, SX-70 Model 2 Executive, SX-70 model 3 | Polacolor 2 | Land resigns as President of Polaroid |
| 1976 | Pronto!, Pronto! Plus, Pronto! S, Pronto! SM, | 88, 107C | Polaroid sues Kodak for copyright infringment with their instant cameras, over 6 million Land cameras produced this year |
| 1977 | Reporter, EE100, Colorpack 200, SX-70 Alpha, Alpha 1 Executive, Alpha 1 model 2, Encore, Onestep, Pronto! B, Pronto! Extra, Pronto! RF, 20x24 art camera, Intl: 1500, 3000, EE38, EE58, EE100, Colorpack 200, 1000 | type 084, 665, 667, 668, 708 | Land awarded 500th patent, sales exceed $1 billion |
| 1978 | SX-70 Sonar onestep, Presto!, Pronto! Sonar onestep, Pronto! BC, MemoryMaker, 600, Instant 10, Instant 20, Instant 30, Polavision | type 608 | |
| 1979 | SX-70 Polasonic Autofocus, 5000 | SX-70 Time Zero, 611 | 7.3 million cameras produced |
| 1980 | type 891, Polacolor ER | Polaprinter (prints from slides) introduced, 6.6 million cameras produced | |
| 1981 | SX-70 TimeZero AF, The Button, Timezero onestep, Timezero Pronto AF, Sun 640, 660 | 600, 612, 552, 558, 559, 59, 809, 891 (8x10 transparency) | Sun 600 Light Management system introduced |
| 1982 | Sun 650, Amigo 620, SLR 680, ID-3 Model 710 | Edwin Land retires from Polaroid | |
| 1983 | Onestep Sun, 600 LMS | 35mm slide Autoprocess | Palette introduced |
| 1984 | Sun 600 AF, Sun 600 LMS | 331, 336, 339 | |
| 1985 | Polaroid wins lawsuit against Kodak | ||
| 1986 | Spectra | 990 (Spectra) | Spectra Cameras introduced |
| 1987 | Spectra Onyx | First transparent camera | |
| 1988 | Cool Cam | Spectra High Definition Grid | |
| 1990 | Spectra Pro | ||
| 1991 | Polaroid receives $925M from Kodak for patent infringement | ||
| 1993 | Captiva | Captiva 95 | Captiva Cameras introduced |
| 1996 | SLR 690, Pro Cam | Spectra Pro | |
| 1997 | Onestep Express, Onestep AF, Onestep talking | ||
| 1998 | SpiceCam | Platinum 600, 500 | |
| 1999 | Barbie® Instant Camera, Taz® Instant camera, JoyCam, PopShots, I-Zone | pocket, pocket sticker | I-Zone cameras introduced |
| 2000 | Business Edition 600 2, Job Pro 2; Spectra 1200i, 1200si, I-Zone digital combo, | ||
| 2001 | Mio, Spectra 1200ff, I-zone convertable, I-zone with radio, Pinhole | MIO, Pocket fortune | Polaroid files for Chapter 11 protection, MIO camera introduced |
| 2002 | I-zone colour changing camera | Equity One partners aquires Polaroid's assets | |
| 2003 | Polaroid One | 690, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89 | Introduced Instant digital prints Kiosk |
| 2004 | Image 1200, One600 Pro, One600 JobPro, One600 Ultra, One600 Classic, izone200 | First instant camera with digital LCD viewfinder (Image 1200) | |
| 2005 | I-Zone 200 | I-zone 200, I-zone 200 sticky | Polaroid introduces online photofinishing service, Petter's Group Worldwide acquires Polaroid's assets for $426M |
| 2006 | Polaroid discontinues SX-70, type 665, and type 85 film | ||
| 2008 | Pogo | Polaroid announces all instant film production will cease in 2008/2009, files for Chapter 11 protection due to alleged fraud from Petters Group founder. Partners with Zink in producing Pogo | |
| 2009 | The Polaroid brand is purchased by PLR IP Holdings, LLC. | ||
| 2010 | PIC-300, PIC-1000 | 300 | PIC-300 is basically a Fuji Instax mini, Pic-1000 is a new 600 onestep. Polaroid hires Lady Gaga as creative director |
| 2011 | GL10, GL20, GL30, Z340 | Polaroid announces Grey Label (a flop), and digital cameras which print out zink (zero ink) photos | |
| 2012 | Z2300 | ||
| 2016 | Fuji announced all pack film production discontinued | ||
| 2017 | SX-70, 600, Spectra compatible, 8x10 | Polish investor Oskar Smolokowski acquires PLR IP Holdings, LLC and renames the Impossible Project to Polaroid Originals | |
| 2018 | Onestep 2 | i-type colour and b&w | Polaroid Original products with the battery in the camera, not the film pack |
| 2019 | Onestep+, Lab | i-type camera with manual controls over bluetooth. Spectra film discontinued. Lab prints from smartphone to i-type film | |
| 2020 | Polaroid Now | Polaroid Originals rebranded to "Polaroid". Onestep 2 replaced by autofocus "Now". | |
| 2021 | Polaroid Go | Go | Produces 2" instant prints |
| 2022 | Polaroid Now+ | manual controls over bluetooth | |
| 2023 | Polariod I-2 | Manual exposure control/auto focus camera |
Since 2002, Polaroid evolved into a company which basically brands other merchandise. Then, in 2017, Polaroid started returning to its roots by producing its i-type cameras for different markets as well as film for SX-70 and 600 series cameras. Interesting to note is the Polaroid Go, an attempt at marketing small format instant photos much like the i-zone and Swinger cameras.
This site was originally developed in 1998 as a joke for my wife. She still thinks it's crazy to collect a bunch of cameras that all look alike (to her anyway!). I started the collection back in 1985 while we were in Seattle going to University. At that time, we were newly married and frequented thrift stores, which often had a Polaroid or two for sale. I finally broke down and bought one for a dollar: the model 210 (which happens to be the most common of these cameras, with the fewest features!) and really got a kick out of how it worked. That summer I found a few more different models, and was facinated by the fact that Polaroid made so many different models of cameras, each so much alike.
As you can see by the above chart, Polaroid was very good at marketing--taking a camera, adding a leather strap or whatever, calling it a new model number, and selling it to their projected market.