The Kodak - Antique and Vintage Cameras

The Kodak

1888

Eastman Dry Plate & Film Co.

Rochester

USA

Image of The Kodak

Lens:
f9, 57 mm doublet. Fixed aperture.

Shutter:
Cylindrical, T and I settings.

Construction:
Leather covered wood body.

Format:
100, 2 ½" diameter exposures on stripping film.

Focusing:
Fixed.

Attributes:
Film-advance indicated by index line.

Identification:
Version without 'V' sighting lines.

Serial Number:
747 .

With:
6 mounted photographs: circular images printed on 3 ½" x 4 ½" albumen paper mounted on cream card. The rear of the card has an overall pattern of flowers and lines used by Kodak. These would seem to pre-date similar cards where the rear of the card carries the Kodak name and the face is dark brown. The images are captioned in ink: Shrewsbury, Hereford, and the Penzance area.

One of the most important cameras made, the Kodak introduced no technical innovations, but a combination of features and the way it was marketed proved successful and laid the foundation for Eastman's success. The Kodak started the fashion for box cameras, it was small, simply constructed had no focusing or other adjustments except for advancing the film, setting the shutter and releasing the shutter. Most importantly it was aimed at people who were not photographers. For processing the camera was returned to Eastman. After its introduction celluloid roll-film replaced the original stripping film and, later that year, the Kodak was replaced by a model with an improved shutter (called the No. 1). 'V' sight lines were added to late versions of the Kodak.

References & Notes:
BP 6950/1888. US Pat. 388850/1888.; BJA 1889, pp. 600, 731.; YBP 1889, advert.; Lothrop, Century, p. 37.; Jenkins, Images and Enterprise, p. 114.

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No.2A Brownie

No.0 Brownie

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