Last Updated on 06/05/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
If you’re keen on adding a limited edition folding Polaroid Land Camera 185 to your collection, better be ready to shell out a little over $1,800.
Polaroid cameras, especially the rare ones, remain some of the most sought after gems both by camera collectors and instant photography lovers. There’s a special place in every Polaroid fan’s collection for our latest ebay find: a limited edition Polaroid Land Camera 185. Even if it’s a very recent model compared to the usual folding Polaroid cameras, this interesting camera is going for a big sum. Is it worth the $1,840 buy it now price?
The Polaroid 185 listed by Japan-based seller japan-trade810 is declared as an “almost unused” unit, with the camera in “beautiful” and proper working condition. The optics has no fog, fungus, scratches, or separation. No other information about the camera is provided, so we did some research to find out what makes this camera command such a high price.
According to Camera-Wiki, this model was a special edition model offered by the Japanese subsidiary of Polaroid in 2000. It was definitely a tribute to the company’s classic “pro” folding cameras from 30 years ago. These folding cameras include the models 180, 185, 190, and 195, which all took peel-apart packfilm (including the compatible film packs by Fujifilm). This Polaroid Land Camera 185 was even equipped with a 114mm f4.5 Tominon lens by Tomioka, which was the same lens on the 180 model.
However, unlike the vintage 180-195 Land Cameras, this model has a non-folding viewfinder unit and a separate rangefinder eyepiece. Camera-Wiki also mentions this is because the body was based on the NPC 195, a complete folding Polaroid camera, by Massachusetts-based photo products manufacturer NPC. The company was known for developing a lot of Polaroid instant backs that allowed various medium format cameras to shoot with peel-apart film. NPC ceased operations shortly after this newer Polaroid Land camera was released. This camera supposedly had a limited production run of 2,000 units, but most likely only 500 units were actually completed.
So, there you go. Is this beauty is worth grabbing, and for all that cash? We’ll let you decide while there’s still time to buy it now for $1,839.99 on the ebay listing.