Antique_Camera_Guy
Polaroid Big Shot Camera
This is the Polaroid "Big Shot" camera. It is a rigid-bodied Polaroid Land Camera produced from 1971 to 1973.
The Big Shot is probably one of the most unusual cameras Polaroid ever produced. The elongated body of the camera is made entirely out of plastic and the camera itself is capable of taking close-up pictures from 3 feet away. The focus on the Big Sot is fixed and required the photographer to move back and forth until the image came into focus, this has been referred to as the "Big Shot Shuffle".
Despite its odd appearance, the Big Shot's features are pretty much standard for a Polaroid 100-series pack film camera of that era. It features a darken/lighten ring, a flashcube socket, as well as a development timer on the rear cover of the camera. The camera required not batteries to operate the flash; instead, the flash used "MagiCubes".
Today the ability to take close-up photos is almost taken for granted as nearly all digital cameras today (even smart phone cameras) have some sort of built-in close up or portrait function. In the 1970s there were few cameras capable of taking close-up shots besides a professional level camera for a photo studio, or and SLR with separate (and very expensive) close-up lenses. The nifty aspect about this camera is that it made close-up photography inexpensive and accessible to most people at the time for about $20.00 USD. However, because the Big Shot was only capable of taking close-up portraits, and due to its odd and unwieldy design, it is largely regarded by most collectors as a novelty/curiosity. The Big Shot was even a favourite of Andy Warhol, who used the camera's close-up ability to make portraits of celebrities.
A downloadable PDF of the manual for the Polaroid Big Shot can be found at:
Polaroid Big Shot Camera
This is the Polaroid "Big Shot" camera. It is a rigid-bodied Polaroid Land Camera produced from 1971 to 1973.
The Big Shot is probably one of the most unusual cameras Polaroid ever produced. The elongated body of the camera is made entirely out of plastic and the camera itself is capable of taking close-up pictures from 3 feet away. The focus on the Big Sot is fixed and required the photographer to move back and forth until the image came into focus, this has been referred to as the "Big Shot Shuffle".
Despite its odd appearance, the Big Shot's features are pretty much standard for a Polaroid 100-series pack film camera of that era. It features a darken/lighten ring, a flashcube socket, as well as a development timer on the rear cover of the camera. The camera required not batteries to operate the flash; instead, the flash used "MagiCubes".
Today the ability to take close-up photos is almost taken for granted as nearly all digital cameras today (even smart phone cameras) have some sort of built-in close up or portrait function. In the 1970s there were few cameras capable of taking close-up shots besides a professional level camera for a photo studio, or and SLR with separate (and very expensive) close-up lenses. The nifty aspect about this camera is that it made close-up photography inexpensive and accessible to most people at the time for about $20.00 USD. However, because the Big Shot was only capable of taking close-up portraits, and due to its odd and unwieldy design, it is largely regarded by most collectors as a novelty/curiosity. The Big Shot was even a favourite of Andy Warhol, who used the camera's close-up ability to make portraits of celebrities.
A downloadable PDF of the manual for the Polaroid Big Shot can be found at: