When you think of Polaroid, do you think of brightly-colored plastic cameras at birthday parties? That's certainly Polaroid territory, but there's a whole universe of instant photography that Polaroid inhabits, and you're not doing your customers--or your profits--justice if you don't know the full range of this remarkable company's product line.

Edwin Land established Polaroid in the early thirties to develop and market a variety of technical products, primarily polarizing filters. The company expanded its offerings continuously, though concentrating for the most part in optics, though its endeavors included such exotic efforts as the development of computerized heat-seeking guidance systems for Navy missiles in World War II. In 1947, Polaroid introduced the first instant photo film, and the rest is history.

Nowadays, the company produces everything from the ubiquitous "fun cameras" slung around the necks of giddy ravers, through a variety of professional proofing films and business oriented cameras, to no-nonsense technical imaging equipment for digital darkrooms, hospital diagnostic systems, and identification systems. They even make an instant pinhole camera, to capitalize on the current resurgence of interest in that venerable craft, and, perhaps oddest of all, yet elegant and awe-inspiring, a 20x24 inch instant portrait camera!

This means that your potential market for Polaroid products may be much larger than you imagined. Who can buy Polaroid products from you? Here's a partial list:

Of course, the sale only begins with the camera. Polaroid makes dozens of very different kinds of instant film, ranging in size from the barely-bigger-than-a-credit-card iZone films (peel-n-stick or regular) to the daunting 20x24 inch sheets designed for the art portrait market. Wherever you are, whatever your market demographics, you have customers for Polaroid product. Some of the more popular Polaroid films include:

Always a step into the future, always serving the working photographer of today as well, Polaroid provides a variety of technical imaging hardware, from 4x5 backs for proofing to ID cameras to film writers, among which are these products: