International Camera Museum : Blue Moon Camera and Machine

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Polaroid Onyx Spectra

The Polaroid Spectra camera was an evolution upon the earlier Polaroid SX-70 and 600 systems. It was launched in 1986 and, while it used the same 600 emulsion, the exposures were now in a larger, rectangular format, as opposed to the earlier square formats. The cameras themselves incorporated a new "Quintic" lens and a number of features now routinely found on previous Polaroid cameras such as sonar auto-focus, self-timers, multiple exposure capability, remote switch compatibility, and a tripod socket.

The Polaroid Onyx camera was a special edition of the Spectra system, released in 1987. It features a dark, translucent body that allows you to see through the top of the camera and get a peek at the internal electronics of the camera. It otherwise functions the same as all other Spectra system cameras.

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Polaroid Spectra Onyx

Introduced in 1986, the Polaroid Spectra system was an evolution of the 600 series camera. The Spectra used essentially the same film but in a larger, rectangular format and was exposed by a camera that had significantly more advanced controls. In fact, one of the first lines of the Spectra instruction manual boasts “Over 30 complex focusing and exposure decisions are made within 50 thousandths of a second…” What better way to celebrate such a complicated camera than to produce a translucent version of it? That would be the Spectra Onyx.

The Spectra Onyx really isn’t any different than your standard Spectra, it just has a translucent top cover to show you all the inner workings of the camera. As we mentioned above, one should take a moment to admire how advanced these cameras were compared to their 600 series predecessors. Spectras included a whole host of nifty features; a new and much sharper lens, sonar auto-focusing (although, this feature was found in some SX-70 and 600 cameras as well), the capability for a remote switch, a tripod socket, and even a self-timer. One quirk about the self-timer, that ingenious Spectra users discovered, is that the film doesn’t eject until after the self-timer is switched off. Leave the self-timer on and you could make multiple exposures. Later, Spectra cameras would allow multiple exposures without the use of the self-timer, but even the earliest Spectras could still use this trick.

Spectra has had a rough go of it in recent years, running afoul of frequent film jams. Polaroid Originals had been working hard to updated packs of film that would mitigate the jamming issue and tried for many months to resolve this issue. Unfortunately, the company made the decision to discontinue to production of Spectra film in October 2019, rendering cameras like this Onyx into beautiful relics of this instant photography legacy.