PHOTOGRAPHY: Instant Battle: Kodak v. Polaroid

After years of doing battle in separate though similar technological arenas, the two titans of the U.S. photography market finally meet in the same ring this week. Eastman Kodak Co., which fathered the snapshot almost a century ago, will show off to the press its new line of instant-picture cameras, thus offering Polaroid Corp. its first serious competition* since Edwin Land brought out the Polaroid Land Camera nearly three decades ago and ushered in the instant-photography era.

The contest between giant Kodak (1975 sales: $5 billion) and smaller, but well-entrenched Polaroid ('75...