Series consists of cameras that combine exposure and development in one step to create photographs instantaneously.
While Polaroid is by far the most well known of these cameras, the first patent for instant photography was for the Dubroni, a French wet plate camera, designed so that the glass plate could be sensitized and developed by pouring the chemicals over the plate through a tube in the camera. Later cameras were developed so small tintypes (1895) and direct paper positives (1913) could be made quickly for tourists on busy streets.
But it was the Polaroid Corporation that made instant photography a household item, beginning in 1937 when Edwin Land's young daughter's desire to see her photograph immediately, inspired him to develop the Polaroid's first instant camera: the Land Camera.

The Heritage Collection also contains Kodak Instant Cameras; produced in the late 1970's, they spawned a patent infringement lawsuit from the Polaroid corporation that resulted in the recall all of instant Kodak models sold and the discontinuation of their production.

To browse the individual items in this series, click on the "View the list" link under the "File and item records are available for this series" title (to the right of the page).

Source: <a href="http://www.shutterbug.com/content/it%E2%80%99s-instant%E2%80%94-it%E2%80%99s-not-polaroid-pre-and-post-polaroids-1864-1976">Wade, John. "It's Instant - But It's Not Polaroid: Pre- And-PostPolaroids, From 1864 to 1976." Shutterbug : Published May 1, 2012.</a>

Polaroid introduced the Spectra at Jordan Marsh in Boston, 1986. It features a different format than the SX-70 or 600 camera: being a bit wider, the cinematic format is able to capture brighter exposures. Many variations of the Spectra followed this first release. The original model includes a 'Quintic' 125mm f/10 3-element plastic lens, self-timer, automatic exposure, sonar autofocus, AF, flash and lighten/darken controls, LCD display, and volume controls; later models had more or fewer controls.

The release of the Spectra camera was accompanied by the release of a correspondingly new Spectra film, called "Image" outside of North America, and sometimes called 1200 film. Spectra film is identical to 600 film - ISO speed, development method and operation remain identical - except if has a different image format: a rectangular 9.2 x 7.3cm rather than 600 film's square format.