Polaroid launched the first commercially successful instant camera, the Land Camera Model 95, in 1948. The camera was named after Edwin Land, the company’s co-founder and a leading inventor in polarized-light technology.
The Model 95 used a special film process that produced a developed photograph within minutes of exposure. It went on sale at Jordan Marsh department store in Boston on November 26, 1948, and the initial supply sold out on its first day. This immediate result made photography more convenient for consumers who did not want to wait for laboratory processing.
Polaroid did not invent photography or the idea of rapid image development in isolation, but it commercialized an integrated camera-and-film system at a scale that made instant photography famous. The brand name later became widely associated with instant pictures, even as other companies developed competing instant-film products.