Polaroid Automatic 103 Land Camera
The Polaroid Automatic 103 Land Camera is definitely not in the same league as current Polaroid digital cameras. The reason is that this camera premiered in the mid to late 1960’s! It was an original style folding pack camera. Back in the time, it was not cheap. The Polaroid 103 Land Camera in review was one of the top models of its time and it commanded a similar price.

Obviously with current Polaroid digital camera models, there are a lot of bells and whistles along with video camera capabilities to record short movies. The biggest deal with the Polaroid Automatic 103 Land Camera is that the camera’s shutter was electronic and took a “quick” ten seconds. At the time, that was a great speed for that type of folding pack camera.

The Polaroid Automatic 103 Land Camera is built in with a camera case setting. There was a pull-out front with scissor shaped strut. A plastic hinged cover protected the front of the camera during those times when it was not used. A socket for a flash was present and you could purchase a Polaroid Automatic 103 Land Camera flashgun as extra camera accessories along with extra carrying straps.

This Polaroid also focused on a subject by controlling the focusing mechanism by pushing a sliding arm near the base of the camera near the struts. In addition, the shutter had to be cocked manually. There were variable film speeds depending on what you were taking pictures of exposure dial to make adjustments as needed. It was a far cry to the automatic adjustments you see on a digital camera these days!

Obviously, you cannot commercially buy the Polaroid Automatic 103 Land Camera. Rather, you can probably find this camera for sale on such places as eBay or vintage photography places or even antique dealers. Finding out in great working condition is a real find and could be worth a bit of money to the right collector.