Back in the 1950s as I mentioned in a previous post, a staff news photographer was actually a luxury for many TV stations in those days. Instead reporters often doubled as photogs (doesn’t that sound familiar!).
One popular camera among some stations whose reporters served as OMB’s was the Polaroid Model 95 Land Camera. In fact Polaroid actually traded out commercial air-time with stations who could not afford the $218.50 list price a Land camera kit cost. A station agreed to air a 60 second spot provided by Polaroid during five newscasts and a kit was theirs.
The news director of WTTV in 1953, Edward Keath, wrote a article praising the use of a Polaroid camera in his station:
The Polaroid “develops-in-a-minute” Land camera has provided WTTV with excellent results because of its simple operation, fast non-laboratory development, and picture size. We use the Projectall, distributed by International News Service, as its balop device. This Projectall accommodates the 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inch Polaroid prints without trimming. You merely take the finished print out of the back of the camera, stick it in the Projectall frame, and you have a picture ready for airing.
Speed is essential to our news staff, since WTTV covers 36 Indiana and Illinois counties as its basic area. Naturally, we need any device that saves time in getting pictures on the air. A WTTV reporter going out to cover a story takes a Polaroid with him, develops his pictures on the spot, returns to mount and air his shots without any processing delay. If time is particularly tight, he can even ad lib his story from notes, giving his projection man hand-cues to switch from one picture to another.
The camera is a boon to the newsman who isn’t too much of a photographer. Adjustment for light and distance is simple. Best of all, since you see what kind of picture you’re getting right away, you can adopt a “shoot ’til you hit” philosophy.
We consider Polaroid film about the cheapest thing in our news picture budget, even though it costs $1.75 for each roll of eight exposures (about 22c per picture). Film costs seem relatively insignificant when a reporter has traveled 40, 50 or even 60 miles for a story, spent several hours and perhaps risked his neck to get pictures.
Here are some recent examples of how Polaroid has served well.
We took only a Polaroid Model 95 when an ammunition train blew up at Lewis, Ind., about 8 o’clock one night. We obtained 15 satisfactory Polaroid shots which were used on two special news programs as well as on our regular newscasts. We beat all Indiana newspapers and the other TV stations in the state. Commercial photographers took two arials and three outdoor Speed Graphic shots which we purchased, but the core of our picture coverage was our own assortment of Polaroids.
Several weeks ago there was a $100,000 warehouse fire in Bloomington. The fire broke out at 11 a.m., and we arrived with two Polaroids 15 minutes later. We were able to show 12 Polaroid pictures on the Noon News with ad lib commentary by the reporter who took the pictures.
There have been many other similar examples of this type of camera enabling our station to run the very latest news pictures. Using a Polaroid has cut WTTV’s airing time to less than one hour in a number of fatal auto accidents within our territory. We use the Polaroid to cover speeches, receptions, parades – practically any news where saving time is necessary.
We know Polaroid isn’t the best answer for every news picture problem, so we have a number of cameras in addition to our three Land cameras, Model 95. Two Speed Graphics and one 16mm motion picture camera ordinarily are available. The merits of motion picture coverage on some stories are obvious. The Graphics are ideal for shooting outdoors at night or in any fast action work where we have time for development.
In addition, seven of our staff members who are out in the basic coverage area much of their time, are equipped with Kodak duo-flex cameras. They keep these inexpensive cameras locked in their cars. The station feels that if one of these men is able to shoot a big story, one print may pay for all seven cameras.
We feel anyone can get a picture with a Polaroid, and the picture will be ready to go on the air immediately. That is strong recommendation for a Polaroid at any station. Anyone who finds himself pressed into the role of news photographer can do just what I have done: shoot until he hits – possibly with the spot news story of the year in his market.
Examples of the still cameras Keath mentions his station owned and used: Kodak Duo-Flex, Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic and the Polaroid Model 95 Land Camera