Thursday, May 1, 2014

Kodak Cameras using 120 film

Kodak introduced 120 film in 1901.  At the time 120 was considered a small format roll-film.  That is not surprising since in those day you could get roll-film that was 5 inches wide. Up until 1932 Kodak made at least 19 cameras that used 120 film. There may be a few more, however these are the ones I found.  The 1933 No. 2 Special Brownie appears to be the last camera that Kodak made for 120.

In 1932 Kodak introduced the 620 format.  620 film is the same width as 120, however it uses a slimmer spool.  From the 1930's until the 1950's, 620 was the most popular film format.  Still 120 survives until this day and 620 was last made in 1995.  Unfortunately, with few exceptions, some Brownie Flash Hawkeyes for example, Kodak 620 cameras will not work with 120 film.

So if you want to use a non-135 Kodak camera with a film that is still easy to get, you have to go back to the days before FDR. With the exception of one of the No. 2 Brownies I have never used any of these cameras. Still the idea of using one of these vintage cameras with an easy to get film has some appeal to me.  So I made this list to help me when the time comes to seek one out, and am sharing it here.  The info about the box cameras may have some short-comings.  What I have found about identifying these cameras is confusing to me at least.  And I didn't want to spend much time sorting it out since it is the folding cameras that I am most interested in. The now value is the original price in today's dollars.

Hope the table doesn't cause any problems. Blogger seems to lack a tool to make tables.  I normally don't care to use inline styles as I have done here, however it seemed easier than figuring out how to add a style sheet to a blogger page. 
CAMERA NAME FROM TO Then Now
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Junior Camera 1914 1927 $23.00 543.47
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Special Camera (Bakelite side panels) 1915 1920 $56.00 $1,310.14
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Special Camera (Model B) (Back overlaps sides) Focus by thumb-turned gear. (Only produced for a few months) 1921 1921 $79.00 $1,042.86
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Special Camera (Model B) (knurled screw focusing) 1922 1926 $74.00 $1,040.81
No. 2 Beau BROWNIE Camera (5 colors) 1930 1933 $4.25 $60.13
Boy Scout BROWNIE Camera 1932 1932 $2.00 $34.50
No. 2 BROWNIE Camera 1901 1904 $2.00 $47.74
No. 2 BROWNIE Camera (Aluminum, Model F) 1924 1933 $2.75 $38.00
No. 2 BROWNIE Camera (5 colors) 1929 1933 $2.50 $34.55
BROWNIE Special No. 2 Camera 1933 1934 $2.25 $40.90
No. 2 Folding AUTOGRAPHIC BROWNIE Camera (Changed from square to round ends in 1917) 1915 1926 $12.00 $280.74
No. 2 Folding Pocket BROWNIE Camera (Model B) 1907 1915 $5.00 $119.34
Century of Progress World’s Fair Souvenir 1833–1933 Camera 1933 1933 $4.00 $72.71
No. 1 KODAK Junior Camera 1914 1914 $11.00 $259.92
No. 1 KODAK Series III Camera 1926 1932 $26.00 $347.10
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Camera 1926 1932 $17.00 $226.95
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Camera (In 4 colors: blue, brown, gray, green) 1929 1931 $18.00 $248.73
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Junior Camera (Black and 3 colors) 1929 1932 $9.00 $124.36
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Series II Camera 1922 1932 $22.50 $310.91

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