Brownie (camera)

Last updated
Brownie
2014-365-233 The Basic Brownie Camera (14809795240).jpg
Kodak Brownie No.2 Model F (1924)
Overview
MakerEastman Kodak
Typebox camera
ReleasedFebruary 1900
Production1900–1986
Intro price$1 (equivalent to $31in 2020)
Lens
Lens meniscus lens
Sensor/medium
Film format 117 roll film.
Film size 2 1/4-inch square
Shutter
Shutter Integrated
General
Body features Leatherette covered cardboard
Made in Rochester, NY
Chronology
SuccessorNo. 2 Brownie (1901)
References
Brownie (original model)

The Brownie was a series of cameras made by Eastman Kodak. Released in 1900, [1] it introduced the snapshot to the masses. It was a basic cardboard box camera with a simple meniscus lens that took 2 1/4-inch square pictures on 117 roll film. It was conceived and marketed for sales of Kodak roll films. Because of its simple controls and initial price of $1 (equivalent to $31in 2020) along with the low price of Kodak roll film and processing, the Brownie camera surpassed its marketing goal. [2]

Contents

It was invented by Frank A. Brownell. [3] The name comes from the brownies (spirits in folklore) in Palmer Cox cartoons. Over 150,000 Brownie cameras were shipped in the first year of production. [4] An improved model, called No. 2 Brownie came in 1901, which produced larger 2-1/4 by 3-1/4 inch photos and cost $2 and was also a huge success. [2]

Brownies were extensively marketed to children, with Kodak using them to popularise photography. They were also taken to war by soldiers. As they were ubiquitous, many iconic shots were taken on Brownies. [2]

Kodak Brownie advertisement Kodak Brownie advert.jpg
Kodak Brownie advertisement

The cameras continued to be popular, and spawned many varieties, such as a Boy Scout edition in the 1930s. In 1940, Kodak released the Six-20 Flash Brownie, [4] Kodak's first internally synchronized flash camera, using General Electric bulbs. In 1957, Kodak produced the Brownie Starflash, Kodak's first camera with a built-in flash. [4]

The Brownie 127 was popular, [5] selling in the millions between 1952 and 1967. It was a bakelite camera with a simple meniscus lens and a curved film plane to compensate for the deficiencies of the lens.[ citation needed ] Another model was the Brownie Cresta sold between 1955 and 1958. It used 120 film and had a fixed-focus lens. [6] [7]

Having written an article in the 1940s for amateur photographers suggesting an expensive camera was unnecessary for quality photography, Picture Post photographer Bert Hardy used a Brownie camera to stage a carefully posed snapshot of two young women sitting on railings above a breezy Blackpool promenade. [8]

The last official Brownie camera made was the Brownie II Camera, a 110 cartridge film model produced in Brazil for one year, 1986. [9]

The Kodak Brownie Number 2 is a box camera that was manufactured by the Eastman Kodak Company from 1901 to 1935. [4] There were five models, A through F, and it was the first camera to use 120 film. It also came with a viewfinder and a handle. [10] The Brownie Number 2 was made of a choice of three materials: cardboard, costing US$2.00, aluminum, costing US$2.75, and a color model which cost US$2.50. It was a very popular and affordable camera, and many are still in use by film photographers. [11]

Related Research Articles

Camera Optical device for recording images

A camera is an optical instrument that captures a visual image. At a basic level, cameras are sealed boxes with a small hole that allows light through to capture an image on a light-sensitive surface. Cameras have various mechanisms to control how the light falls onto the light-sensitive surface. Lenses focus the light entering the camera, and the size of the aperture can be widened or narrowed. A shutter mechanism determines the amount of time the photosensitive surface is exposed to light.

Kodak American photographic and film company

The Eastman Kodak Company is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated in New Jersey. Kodak provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications, and professional services for businesses around the world. Its main business segments are Print Systems, Enterprise Inkjet Systems, Micro 3D Printing and Packaging, Software and Solutions, and Consumer and Film. It is best known for photographic film products.

The following list comprises significant milestones in the development of photography technology.

Box camera

A box camera is a simple type of camera, the most common form being a cardboard or plastic box with a lens in one end and film at the other. They were sold in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lenses are often single element designs meniscus fixed focus lens, or in better quality box cameras a doublet lens with minimal possible adjustments to the aperture or shutter speeds. Because of the inability to adjust focus, the small lens aperture and the low sensitivity of the sensitive materials available, these cameras work best in brightly lit day-lit scenes when the subject is within the hyperfocal distance for the lens and of subjects that move little during the exposure. Eventually, box cameras with photographic flash, shutter and aperture adjustment were introduced, allowing indoor photos.

135 film Photographic film format

135 film, more popularly referred to as 35 mm film or 35 mm, is a format of photographic film used for still photography. It is a film with a film gauge of 35 mm (1.4 in) loaded into a standardized type of magazine – also referred to as a cassette or cartridge – for use in 135 film cameras. The engineering standard for this film is controlled by ISO 1007 titled '135-size film and magazine'.

127 film Still photography film format

127 is a roll film format for still photography introduced by Kodak in 1912.

Advanced Photo System

Advanced Photo System (APS) is a discontinued film format for still photography first produced in 1996. It was marketed by Eastman Kodak under the brand name Advantix, by FujiFilm under the name Nexia, by Agfa under the name Futura and by Konica as Centuria.

DX encoding

DX encoding is an ANSI and I3A standard, originally introduced by Kodak in March 1983, for marking 135 and APS photographic film and film cartridges. It consists of several parts, a latent image DX film edge barcode on the film below the sprocket holes, a code on the cartridge used by automatic cameras, and a barcode on the cartridge read by photo-finishing machines.

Roll film

Roll film or rollfilm is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing. The term originated in contrast to sheet film. Confusingly, roll film was originally often referred to as "cartridge" film because of its resemblance to a shotgun cartridge.

Disposable camera Single-use film camera

A disposable or single-use camera is a simple box camera meant to be used once. Most use fixed-focus lenses. Some are equipped with an integrated flash unit, and there are even waterproof versions for underwater photography. Internally, the cameras use a 135 film or an APS cartridge.

Instamatic

The Instamatic is a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak beginning in 1963. The Instamatic was immensely successful, introducing a generation to low-cost photography and spawning numerous imitators.

Autographic film System for roll film launched by Kodak in 1914

The autographic system for roll film was launched by Kodak in 1914, and allowed the photographer to add written information on the film at the time of exposure.

Instant camera Type of camera whose film self-develops a short time after the picture is taken

An instant camera is a camera which uses self-developing film to create a chemically developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered consumer-friendly instant cameras and film, and were followed by various other manufacturers.

Snapshot (photography)

A snapshot is a photograph that is "shot" spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent and usually made with a relatively cheap and compact camera.

History of the camera History of the technological development of cameras

The history of the Camera begins even before the introduction of photography. Cameras evolved from the camera obscura through many generations of photographic technology – daguerreotypes, calotypes, dry plates, film – to the modern day with digital cameras and camera phones.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to photography:

Polaroid Land Camera 1000

The Land Camera 1000 is an instant camera manufactured by Polaroid Corporation. In the United States, it was marketed as the OneStep. Based on the Polaroid SX-70, the camera includes a one element 103mm f/14.6 plastic lens, fixed focus and an exposure compensation dial knob. It uses the SX-70 time zero film, now manufactured by Polaroid Originals. There is a flash specifically made for this model: the Q-light flash. They had two unique shutter colors: red and green.

Kodak DC Series

The Kodak DC series was Kodak's pioneering consumer-grade line of digital cameras; as distinct from their much more expensive professional Kodak DCS series. Cameras in the DC series were manufactured and sold during the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s. Some were branded as "Digital Science". Most of these early digital cameras supported RS-232 serial port connections because USB hardware was not widely available before 1998. Some models in the DC series ran on the short lived DigitaOS, a camera operating system that allowed third party software to be installed.

Kodak Starflash

The Kodak Starflash belongs to the Kodak Brownie Star- lineup of cameras made by the Eastman Kodak Company in the United States and France between 1957-1965 and sold for $8.50.

Kodak Panoram Late 19th century panoramic roll-film camera

The Kodak Panoram camera was a roll-film swing-lens panoramic camera made in Rochester, New York, USA by Eastman Kodak between 1899 and 1928.

References

  1. ↑ List of Brownie models at George Eastman House Archived April 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 Lothrop, Eaton S. “The Brownie Camera.” History of Photography 2, no. 1 (January 1978): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/03087298.1978.10442948.
  3. ↑ U.S. Patent 725,034
  4. 1 2 3 4 Gustavson, Todd (2011). 500 Cameras 170 years of photographic innovation. Sterling Signature. ISBN   978-1-4027-8086-8.
  5. ↑ "Brownie 127"
  6. ↑ "Brownie Cresta". The Brownie Camera Page. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  7. ↑ "Brace Yerself– The Kodak Brownie Cresta II Review". Canny Cameras. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  8. ↑ Bert Hardy snapshot
  9. ↑ "Brownie II (110 Cartridge) The Last Brownie Camera". The Brownie Camera Page. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  10. ↑ Gustavson, Todd (2009). Camera A history of photography from Daguerreotype to Digital. Sterling Signature. ISBN   978-1-4027-5656-6.
  11. ↑ "No.2 Brownie". The Brownie Camera Page. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

Further reading

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