“Cuban Polaroid” is ultra-low-tech camera, darkroom all in one

My old pal Billy Baque takes us on a tour of one of his many classic film camera obsessions, the “Cuban Polaroid:”

It was a wooden box with the bellows and lens from a folding camera mounted at one end with a complete darkroom inside. Using photographic printing paper the photographer would expose a sheet of paper for the negative, develop, stop, and fix it inside the camera, then put a copy stand on the camera and photograph the negative (to obtain a positive), develop, stop, and fix, then wash the final print in a coffee can of water attached to his homemade tripod.

The technology apparently developed as a means for working photographers to produce souvenir prints on site, on demand, and at very low cost. [Thanks, Billy!]

More:

• How-To: Make a pinhole Polaroid camera
• The Polarized Polaroid Camera
• No more Polaroid… instant film – and MAKE’s look at Polaroid projects
• HOW TO – Vintage Polaroid camera modding
• Polaroid Image Transfers by Holly F. Dupré