Polaroid Spectra Pro1991

History

Polaroid launched the Spectra System in 1986 to address two limitations of the 600-format: the square 600 print was considered less natural for portraiture and landscape subjects, and Polaroid wanted a format that could command a slight premium over the 600 line. Spectra film yields a wider image that more closely resembles a conventional 3.5 x 4 print, though still integral and self-developing. The original Spectra System camera was a fold-flat design with a prominent rounded profile; it sold reasonably well in the late 1980s.

The Spectra Pro appeared in the early 1990s as Polaroid expanded the Spectra line upward. It carried the sonar autofocus that had been a premium feature since the SX-70 Sonar era, added the exposure compensation slider, and was marketed toward semi-professional and enthusiast users who wanted more control than the base Spectra System offered. The Spectra format continued into the mid-to-late 1990s but was never revived by the successor companies after Polaroid's 2001 bankruptcy. As of 2026, Spectra film is no longer in active production by Polaroid (B.V.), making the Spectra Pro a camera that requires hunting down remaining new-old-stock film or expired stock.

Why It Matters

The Spectra Pro represents Polaroid's attempt to maintain a professional tier in the integral instant market at a point when digital capture was beginning to displace instant film in many professional workflows. It offered the widest integral print available in a consumer/prosumer body - wider than 600-format, wider than SX-70 - and the exposure compensation slider gave photographers a practical tool for dealing with backlit subjects or unusually bright or dark scenes without needing to tape over the photocell (the standard hack on 600-series cameras).

The camera is also notable for the quality of its sonar autofocus implementation. By the early 1990s Polaroid had refined the sonar system through several generations; the Spectra Pro unit is considered one of the more reliable and well-tuned versions, with a faster response than the earliest SX-70 Sonar implementations.

The format's discontinuation after Polaroid's bankruptcy makes the Spectra Pro a historical endpoint for the wide integral print in mass production. No equivalent has been reissued.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• No specific fine-art attribution verified for the Spectra Pro specifically.
• The Spectra format broadly was used by editorial and fashion photographers in the late 1980s and early 1990s who wanted a wider instant print for on-set proofing; the Pro body was the instrument of choice for professional setups.
• The wider Spectra image area was occasionally used in editorial contexts where the square SX-70 format felt visually awkward.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Polaroid Spectra Pro - identification and variant specifications.
• Wikipedia: Polaroid Spectra - Spectra format history and film lineage.
• Instant: The Story of Polaroid - Christopher Bonanos - Spectra launch context and Polaroid's late-1980s product strategy.