Christopher J Osborne

The original model SX-70 was definitely a luxury item… quite beyond the reach of the casual snapper. The original selling price in 1972 was around $180. That is roughly equivalent to $930 (or £600) in modern money. The Model 2 was a cheaper model launched in 1974 for around $150. That’s still not exactly cheap, but the Model 2 did provide exactly the same features as the original model. The cost reduction was achieved solely through cheaper finishes. The expensive chrome plated body was replaced with a plain plastic body, and the real leather covering was replaced with vinyl (which Polaroid called ‘Porvair’).

As you can see this example is looking a bit sorry for itself!. I bought it on eBay with the beautiful leather case you can see on the Polaroid SX-70 (original model) page for about £30. You often see those cases going for £20-30 on their own, so as far as I am concerned this camera was practically free! I have long term plans to remove the rotted Porvair covering an replace it with a skin like one of these from skinslove.com but I haven’t got around to it yet…