Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep

The Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep is an instant camera. It was introduced in 1978.

The instant camera is very similar in construction to the Polaroid Pronto! Its plastic body is black.

On the side is the shutter release, to which a cable release can also be connected. The shutter release is the biggest feature of the Pronto! Sonar OneStep comes into play, the autofocus.

To focus, the Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep sends sound waves through the grid on the left side to determine the distance to the subject. The clever thing about this is that it also works without light, but there are problems when taking photos through a window, for example.

The autofocus can also be deactivated on the instant camera and you can set the distance manually. The closest focusing distance (how close you can get to your subject) of the Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep is 3 feet or 0.9 meters.

The exposure is measured by the Pronto! Sonar OneStep itself measures and adjusts the exposure. Low-light warnings are displayed in the camera’s viewfinder. The lens in the camera is fixed and has a fixed focal length, so zooming is not possible.

A tripod can be screwed onto the bottom of the camera. A flash can also be connected to the instant camera. This model has an extra socket behind the normal connector. This is for a flash specially designed for this camera.

The Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep is designed for SX-70 format films. These are no longer manufactured by Polaroid. However, you can use The Impossible Project films in the instant camera. These are again sold under the Polaroid brand.

A suitable option would be the Polaroid Color Film for SX-70*. The Polaroid B&W Film for SX-70* is the appropriate film for black and white images.

A picture taken with the Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep has a size of 8.8 by 10.7 cm. The actual picture is square and takes up a space of 7.9 x 7.9 cm.

The power for the operation of the camera gets it from a battery, which is located in the film cassette.

If you take pictures with the new films, it is important to know that there are only 8 pictures in a cassette and not 10, as was the case with Polaroid in the past. You should know this when using the counter for the remaining pictures on the camera, because you already have to change the film when you see the 2 in the small window and not only at the 0.

With the Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep SE Sears Special, a variant of the Polaroid Pronto! Sonar OneStep, the front plate of the camera is kept in a light brown. In terms of functionality, both cameras are identical.