Polaroid Pronto!

The Polaroid Pronto! Land Camera is an instant camera for the SX-70 format. It was introduced by Polaroid in 1976. The design of the body and the construction is very similar to the Polaroid OneStep or Polaroid 1000. Like the Polaroid SX-70, the plastic camera does not fold up.

The Pronto! is completely black, the only splash of color being the red shutter button.

The Pronto! has a 116 mm plastic lens with a maximum aperture of f/9.4. In later versions, the lenses were also color corrected.

Focusing has to be done manually by turning the lens to the right distance. You should keep 0.9 meters (3 feet) away from the subject to get a sharp image, the distance must be estimated. The subject is aimed through the simple viewfinder.

That’s about it in terms of settings, the Polaroid Pronto! sets aperture and exposure time itself. The exposure can still be influenced a bit with the light/dark slider.

A flash can be connected to the Polaroid Pronto! There is a connector on the top of the camera for this purpose. Flashbars (flash bars with small flash bulbs), Polatronic flash or the Impossible Flash Bar by Mint can be used.

It does not have a connection for a tripod.

Films for the Pronto

The Pronto is designed for the SX-70 format. The original Polaroid SX-70 film is no longer manufactured. For this, there are alternatives from The Impossible Project for the Polaroid Pronto. The films are also sold under the original brand name again since 2020. Here you can use all SX-70 films.

For example, the Polaroid Color Film for SX-70* for color images or also the Polaroid B&W Film for SX-70* for black and white images.

A counter on the back shows the remaining images. If you take pictures with films from Impossible, you should be aware that you already have to change the film when you see a 2 in the window, because there are only 8 pictures left in a pack instead of 10.

However, Polaroid 600 films (or those from Impossible) can also be used in the Pronto! Since these have a higher sensitivity, it is advisable to use an ND filter to lower it. You can either attach one in front of the lens or get the “Impossible ND Film Pack Filter”. The latter comes over the film cassette and thus lowers the sensitivity.

Other versions of the Pronto!

It with the Polaroid Pronto! Sears Special, Polaroid Pronto! SE and Polaroid Pronto! BC. These have the same features but differ slightly in design.

The Polaroid Pronto! Plus is identical to the normal Pronto! but came with a matching case, photo album, film and flash bar.

In addition to these four cameras, there were also other versions of the Pronto!

Polaroid Pronto! B
Polaroid Pronto! S
Polaroid Pronto! Extra
Polaroid Pronto! SM
Polaroid Pronto! RF
Polaroid 1500
Polaroid 2000
Polaroid 3000
Polaroid Super Clincher
Polaroid Encore!

Polaroid Pronto! Sears Special with clip-on flash