What do I have here?

[BoulderCameraRepair]

I've had this for 25 years without doing the research on it. Can you tell me about this?
.

 

[fgorga]

This gizmo looks similar to the Polaroid camera I once used to 'capture' the screen of an oscilloscope.
However, I seem to remember that the frame going from the camera proper to the rectangular mask for the screen was covered in a shroud to exclude ambient light.

I would then digitize the output by counting the screens grid lines on the resulting photo.

That was 45 plus years ago... ugh! Thus, I could be completely mistaken.

 

[Kino]

An oscilloscope camera is one possibility; another being a simple document copying device you set on a printed document.

 

[Don_ih]

It's a polaroid copy camera. Looks like it's set to photograph whatever you put in the rectangle underneath. The stand holds it the proper distance from whatever you're photographing. Like @Kino said, it's likely just for documents - possibly even a particular kind of document. It doesn't have a ring flash like the polaroid evidence camera. It appears fairly simple. It's not particularly useful right now since there's no film available for it.

 

[Kino]

You could convert it to take 4x5 film holders but... why?

I am sure it was useful in it's day and age for it's intended purpose, but now not so much.

 

[MattKing]

Just a heads up - us moderators are floating the idea about combining all your "what do I have here?" threads into one single thread.
Otherwise you may find it nearly impossible to find information later.

 

[MattKing]

Someone might be able to make some use of the lens on that Polaroid copy camera - if they are into building their own photographic bits and bobs.

 

[film4Me]

I have one fitted to an old Kodak folder utilizing 120(top Pic) and 70mm(bottom pic). I'm quite pleased with it