Polaroid 420 Land Camera + Polaroid #490 Focused Flash

I sold the other 250 a few weeks back due to damaged bellows, and picked this up on the way back from Gary for dirt cheap, with its original packaging and everything save for the instruction booklet. Its original owner purchased it in 1971 at the now-defunct McDade department store.

 

Produced from 1971 - 1977, the 420 was the base model of the Polaroid 400 series cameras, and retailed for under $60. It is plastic all-around, and although the viewfinder is fixed into place, it does feature the separate-window rangefinder. The only thing it lacks is the rear development timer that has usually gone bad at this point, so no loss there. It takes rather good pictures for being a cheaper plasticky model, and for unknown reasons there is a small cult following of photogs that swear by this model.

 

The 490 flashgun features blinds that raise up when the camera is focused on close subjects. I haven't tested it yet, but it did come with four unused flashcubes to burn up.

Done