Polaroid has made many cameras but until recently I didn’t know they made a disposable camera. Called the Polaroid instant PopShots camera it came loaded with film for $20. When the film was all shot (It seems it used Captiva film) you were asked to place the camera in a bag that came with the camera and send it back for recycling. The Captiva film contained a flat alkaline battery they wanted to be sure wasn’t discarded. I imagine there were some electronic flash components—flash tube, capacitor, etc—they wanted to recycle properly too. Most of the camera is plastic that could be ground down to make other plastic items.
The PopShot is far from an attractive camera. It is a mess of angles that hasn’t a single side that can sit flat on a surface.
It is also covered with instructions, projecting pull tab, indoor/outdoor switch, viewfinder, shutter button, front lens bezel…you take an angle and something is sticking out!
The instructions start on the top of the camera. Using universal pictographs you have step—
switch the yellow button just above the step 1 pictograph to indoors or outdoors
sight the framing of the subject
press the shutter release
pull the ring
On the next label—located in-line with the first instruction label, but around the back of the camera behind the shutter release—next to the frame counter you are reminded in step-five to recycle the entire camera.
Continuing around the camera in line with the other two red labels we have another summation of the steps—this time written in English, French and Spanish. We also get to see this camera was to expire in the 3rd month of 2000.
This label is next to the last label, mounted on the bottom of the camera. This label has instructions for recycling. a warning not to try opening the camera and a complete set of 800 numbers. This label is in three languages too, but the 800 numbers have a number added for Puerto Rico.
The camera front is pretty wide with the skinnier end with the red label being easy to grasp with your finger on the shutter release…
…while the other end has a bulge to capture your thumb on your other hand.
This is the entire bottom view of the camera from slightly behind the shooting position. Under the viewfinder there is a slight flattening of the plastic to accommodate your nose. Harder to spot there is a red LED to the far left of the viewfinder eyepiece I expect you wait to light before shooting inside. As mentioned earlier the recessed dot to the viewfinder right is the frame counter window.
The left end of the top of the camera has a bulge that fits into your fingers. Note again the yellow plastic switch above the step 1 pictograph that turns the flash on/off. Hard to pick out in all these images is the interplay between the flash on/off switch and the shutter release button.
Obviously if the flash switch was left in the inside position the camera’s battery would run down between uses. I suspect the small push-button in the middle of the shutter release would have to be held down until the flash was charged up. Once pressed the shutter stays down until the film pull-ring has ejected the exposed film. Then both the shutter button and the small push-button pop up again.
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