Polaroid: Polaroid 230

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Part of the series of Polaroid cameras that began with the Automatic Land Camera 100 and finishing at the Automatic Land Camera 450. The Polaroid Land Model 230 shares with all models in this line. They all have folding bellows, automatic exposure, and use 100-series Pack-film. The 230 is one of the cheaper 'consumer' models of the 100-400 series line of folding Pack-film Land Cameras, similar to many other models; it has a folding, Polaroid-designed rangefinder coupled to the focus adjuster, scene selector switch, lighten/darken control, proprietary flash plug, and a three-element glass lens. It also has an electronic shutter that is powered (along with any attached flash unit) by an A19PX/531 4.5V alkaline battery that is housed in a compartment accessed by pulling open the back left of the camera. Below the lens is a shutter speed adjuster wheel with speeds of 75, 150, 300, and 3000. To the left of the shutter speed dial is an aperture adjustment lever that has two settings from f8 to f4. The camera denotes these apertures as BRIGHT SUN OR DULL DAY ALSO FLASH/BRIGHT SUN ONLY for the lower speeds and INDOORS WITHOUT FLASH/OUTDOORS OR FLASH for when setting at the 3000 speed. On the top of the lens/shutter assembly is an indicator that changes when you change the aperture. The 230 was produced from 1967 to 1969 and had an original retail price of $99.95. Production numbers of the 230 were about four to six hundred thousand copies.