Camera Instant Photo User Land Pictures Type Allowed

Today, most Americans use "digital cameras," cameras that allow the user to save pictures to his or her computer instead of printing them out. This was not always the case, however. For part of America's history, the most popular type of camera was the "instant camera." This camera was made "popular" (well-liked by many people) by a scientist named Edwin Land in 1948, and allowed its user to take pictures that were developed immediately, within seconds of being taken. The person using the camera pressed a button, the camera "captured" (took) the photo, and then the photo was immediately printed and pulled out of a "slot" or door in the camera.

Although Land is often given the credit for inventing the first instant camera, this type of camera was actually invented much earlier. In the 1920s, Samuel Shlafrock invented an instant camera, but the only way to get the photos from his camera was to be in a large "darkroom," a room in which photos are developed using special "chemicals" (substances that when put together produce a reaction). Land took Shlafrock's idea and used it to make the instant camera more "compact" (smaller and easier to handle). His instant camera allowed the user to take a photo using special film that had been "inserted" (put) into the camera, and then pull the paper version of the photo out of a door on the back of the camera. The "photographer" (person who takes photos) then peeled off a layer of chemical paper, and the photo was finished.

Over time, "Polaroid," a company that makes and sells film and cameras, improved Land's "design" (model). As the design got better and the cameras got easier to use, Polaroid became more and more successful. However, over the past few years, digital cameras have begun to replace instant cameras, and Polaroid has had to shut down several of its factories. Now they are making much fewer instant cameras, but it is still possible that the instant camera trend will come back one day.