The Polaroid Colorpack III is a rigid-bodied camera for type 100 instant film. It is an improved version of the Colorpack II (strangely, apparently the first of the series), and introduced a year after it, in 1970. It was only made for about a year. Nevertheless, earlier examples have glass lenses, but most are plastic. As with the other Colorpack cameras, the lens is a three-element one, with front-element scale focusing.
Instead of the Colorpack II 'face-sized' mark in the view finder for focusing at five feet, the III has an ingenious focusing aid, on the left side of the body. This consists of a small pendulum in a casing with a distance scale. There is a button which, when pressed, releases the pendulum, which will then point vertically down. In the camera's viewfinder, there is a red horizontal line. To use the distance-finder, the user aims the camera so that the red line falls at the point where the subject meets the ground (say, at feet of a portrait subject); the camera will be angled slightly downward. Holding the camera like this, the user presses the button on the distance finder briefly. The distance can then be read off the scale, and the lens focused to match (it has front-element focus, like the Colorpack II). The accuracy of this system relies on the user being a certain height. The Land List entry for the camera has a picture of the distance finder.
There is a development timer on the right side of the camera body.
This is a great vintage Polaroid Colorpack III land camera. It was made in the USA and features a film selector, tee handle with wrist strap, flash shield, electric eye and Lighten/Darken exposure control, distance scale, shutter release and lock. It has settings for 75 and 3000 speed films with fixed apertures for each. Focus by turning front lens element (3.5’ – infinity). Flash wind-up hot shoe or flashcube socket and plastic diffuser requires two AA batteries to function flash (not included). It has a built in 2 minute development timer on side. Cold clip slides out of back. It has a silver and blue faceplate. This camera model was introduced in 1970 and produced through 1971 by the Polaroid Corporation. Size: 6.63” (16.84 cm) wide 5.5” (13.97 cm) tall 5.75” (14.61 cm) deep. Material: Plastic and Metal.
