DON'TNOD's Life is Strange is a very special game. The atmosphere was so cozy and the emotional story changed the lives of many people around the world. It was a true lightning in a bottle that not many adventure games have managed to recapture ever since, not even most of the later games in the franchise.
Max Caulfield is a photography student in the game with a fondness of Polaroids and this reflects in the artstyle and themes of the game. Some of the chapter and achievement names are photography terms, each chapter has it's own set of Polaroid pictures in the title screen, you can take around 50 optional photos throughout the entire game that appear in her scrapbook journal etc.
Since Max studies photography, you also get to see numerous cameras, both digital and analog throughout the game.
So let's rewind time back to 2013, return to Arcadia Bay and see what kind of gear appears in the game and how well it's depicted.
A note about the depiction of Polaroid film and cameras
Most of the game takes place in 2013 and Max shoots the Impossible Project era film. The film was still rather experimental and unstable at the time as the company essentially couldn't use the old chemical formula and had to remake everything. The prints faded relatively quickly, developed slowly, the colors were muted and washed out and it still wasn't perfect.
It took the engineers years of improvements to get it to the current state as it is by 2024 and nowadays the prints age as well as the pre-2008 formula and look much more vibrant and contrasty, closer to the old formula (but it still doesn't develop as fast) and it's gradually improving with each batch.
The prints in the game appear very sharp, saturated and lifelike - very much not like real Polaroids from the time. I don't fault DON'TNOD for this. Emulating the look of the film from the time and her camera's lens would be very time consuming and the photos would just look worse and not in line with the game's style. And this is something we have to take in mind here.
When you're developing a game, you often have to make sacrifices in terms of realism either due to stylistic choices or to meet goals and put burden off developers so they can focus on something else. So even if the game might not be entirely accurate to how the stuff works in real life, that doesn't detract anything from the experience or the quality. So even though I might point out flaws and mistakes, it's not in a bad faith and it's still an amazing game.
Max's Polaroid 600 camera

Compared to the real Onestep 600-type Polaroid cameras, shutter button is completely different, the flash unit hinge and proportions are off, there's no exposure compensation slider but it gets the job done and passes off as a Polaroid camera to most people.
So let's take a look at the model and see what could be the closest real life equivalent to Max's camera. The texture says "543CF" but... there was no real Polaroid camera with this designation. What we however do know is that several Polaroid cameras with close up filters had CL in their names. Now we're getting somewhere! The camera in the game has rather sharp corners, which aligns with the 80s Polaroid cameras (the post 1994 ones had increasingly smoother, more rounded designs).
There never was a Polaroid 543 but if we play around a bit with the numbers... each most 600 type cameras had a 3 digit designation beginning with 6 (660, 635, 680 etc.) and easily, we can get a 635 out of this.
Max's camera has a yellow and black two tone color scheme. This resembles the Polaroid JobPro, a special version of the Polaroid Onestep 600 meant for construction sites, however many sites also offer custom paintjobs for cameras so Max's camera could also just be a custom painted camera.


Either way, we can safely assume Max's camera is a Polaroid Supercolor 635 or another version of the Onestep 600.
Technically almost all the Polaroid Onestep 600-type cameras are identical aside from the paintjobs and naming. The only big differences might be that cheaper models like the Amigo used flashbars, certain models had closeup filters and the higher end 660, 670, 636AF etc. had autofocus.
But 635 is pretty much one of the "baseline" models feature wise. It has a fixed focus plastic lens (116mm F11) which is focused to 1.2m-infinity but the closeup filter allows you to change focus to a lower distance of 0.6-1.2m. It has a built in electronic flash on a folding hinge, two shutter buttons (one for using the flash, one without a flash) and a slider that allows you to adjust exposure compensation.
Regarding the way it was depicted in the game... Max's usage of the flash is correct. Those cameras use 600 type film, which has a sensitivity of 640 ISO but the small aperture of F11 means that... it doesn't work well in the interiors or dim lighting without a flash.
However DON'TNOD did get the small details wrong. The in-game model doesn't feature the "frog tongue", a piece of black foil that shields the photo from light as it comes out of the camera and then retracts back. It helps prevent blue streaks on photos.
Interesting fact: The self timer Max uses to take her photo for the contest wouldn't work on her camera realistically. It's the Polaroid 2326 self timer, which was made for the box-type SX-70 cameras such as Pronto and OneStep SX70. Those had a different design and control layout.
William's Polaroid Spectra camera

Determining the real life counterpart here is a bit easier. Looking at the back of the camera, it seems like the one in-game only has rather basic controls. Just exposure compensation. And William's camera also has a grey and black paintjob. Those two things heavily imply that it might be a Spectra 2. There we go!
The Spectra camera line launched in 1986 and they were quite unique. Spectra cameras used their own film format, known as 1200-type film, Spectra or Image, which had bigger prints than the standard Polaroid film types. Those cameras also were usually jam packed with features like autofocus, self timer, audio warnings etc. and too had a built-in flash. The top of the camera could fold inside the body which made them quite compact.
Spectra film was discontinued in 2019 but the cameras can still be converted to take 600-type film so you can still use them today.
Apart from the obvious copyright avoiding things, well, DON'TNOD got the film type and size wrong. They made it use the standard square 600 type images. Also, no frog tongue again. But well, modeling another film format etc. would probably take away more development time etc. so it's alright.
The Leica digital rangefinder camera

This is definitely one of the rangefinder camera models made by Leica, a luxury camera brand with a very rich history. Their cameras are among some of the most expensive and highest quality ones you can currently get and Blackwell must have some nice funding from the Prescotts to be able to afford enough for pretty much every photography student.
The exact camera model here is likely the Leica M Typ 240, introduced in 2012 or the Leica M9 from 2009.
The Sony mirrorless digital camera
There are several students at Blackwell using the Sony Alpha NEX-6. This is a 16MP camera, capable of recording 1080p 60fps video and it has a swing out OLED screen. It's just a nifty compact mirrorless camera that's quite capable.

Jefferson's Hasselblad DSLR

The H4D has multiple variants, with resolutions ranging from 40 to 60MP. It's a very high quality DSLR with a solid build that's pricy but it definitely fits Jefferson's status as a distinguished portrait photographer. The later revisions like the H6D can even reach 100 megapixels.
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