When it comes to the world of cameras, there are some that left a mark, while there are others that, despite innovation, continue to be elusive in our memory. An example of the latter is the Polaroid PDC-2000, a device that was let go of too soon due to the changing environment. Here’s a look at what it was and why it is lost to us today.
Polaroid‘s history has two phases, one that began with Dr. Land in the 1930s and one where the company experimented a lot. Before the second one occurred, the company had a laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they built PDC-2000 in smaller batches. The device was modern, classy, and technically impressive. What made them different was that these were digital cameras that hailed the dawn of consumer digital photography. With only 13,000 pieces built across four years, the camera is nothing short of collectible today.
What did the Polaroid Camera Feature?
The device came with a CCD sensor that delivered two resolutions: 600×1200 at 5.6 MB per file and 800×600 at 1.4 MB. It had a 38mm f2.8 lens, with a shutter speed of 1/25 to 1/500, with an ISO fixed at 100.
To make the camera accessible, it had three iterations: the PDC-2000/40 with a 40MB internal hard disk at $3,695; the PDC-2000/60 with a 60MB internal flash drive at $4,995; and the PDC-2000/T with no internal memory at $2,995. The latter had to be tethered to a computer. In many ways, the camera posed as a professional device, only catering to a niche audience.
With its SCSI-2 (Small Computer System Interface) connector, one could transfer images faster. SCSI was used in graphic design studios, pre-press departments, and publishing workflows. In many ways, it was only designed for those who wanted the best image quality.
So, Why Did it Fail?
The camera was great, but it had its own challenges. It was heavy, weighing two pounds; had no manual focus; and relied on a sharpening filter in the bundled software, which significantly helped improve image quality. In addition, there were challenges with its ISO, which was stuck at 100, and metering was not exactly the best. All of this at a hefty price tag makes it a challenge for a professional to rely on. While its successor, the PDC-3000, tried to fix most of the shortcomings, including the introduction of image quality architecture and the Polaroid digital negative format, it was still not enough.
In a world where cameras were evolving so quickly, the PDC-2000 arrived a bit too late. Its limitations were another reason why one would choose other models such as the Nikon E2Ns at a relatively lower cost. In fact, the company went bankrupt five years after the launch of the PDC-2000, with hand-built Cambridge camera operation that produced it long gone by then. Either way, what Polaroid achieved was nothing short of being exceptional, and for that they must be commended even today. It’s only after failures does one succeed.