📷 Polaroid SX-70 — Object No. 008

In 1972, Polaroid made the finished photograph part of the camera's gesture: point, focus, click, and watch a square print appear. Edwin Land announced the SX-70 in April 1972, with first retail sales following late that year. The camera folded flat for carrying, then opened into a single-lens reflex camera with an integral film pack and no darkroom step. 12

The original camera sold for $180. Using the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis annual-average CPI estimate for 2026, that is about $1,425 in 2026 purchasing power. The estimate uses 41.8 for 1972 and 330.9 for 2026; BLS defines its calculator around the CPI-U, all-items, U.S. city-average series. 345

Polaroid lists the SX-70's production run as 1972–1981. The standard model used manual focus; the Sonar version added optional autofocus in 1978. 6

Swipe through the dossier: cover, specification label, and a period-context reconstruction of the camera in a late-1970s living room. The last card is an editorial reconstruction, not a recovered archival photograph.

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