Old Cameras Part 2!
These are the ones people will definitely recognize as old cameras and not just weird boxes like in part 1. On we go!
Kodak 1a Pocket Automatic: manufactured between 1924 and 1936 (my specific one, the model itself is older)
One of the older versions of this had red leather bellows (the accordion part that comes out) and I would love to find one one of these days. As an additional fun fact, around this time Kodak came out with essentially the same model that had a small door in the back that you could open to write a couple notes directly onto the film of your images called the Autographic. They put this feature into all their models at the time, but it apparently wasn't particularly popular and as film speeds got faster and more light sensitive, it became harder to set up in a way that was functional since it relied on the old slow film that wouldn't immediately overexpose when you had the slot open. It was discontinued for this reason. But if you've ever seen an old picture that looked like it had handwriting embedded in the image, that's how that worked! As far as I am aware, only Kodak ever produced autographic models.
Vest Pocket Kodak: manufactured between 1912 and 1926
Very small guy!! And my oldest current model as far as I know. It's not more than twice the thickness of a modern phone in a case and it's definitely shorter than my current phone. It was a very common and popular model for that reason. And according to the model's entry on Camerapedia, this is the model that was loaned to George Mallory and Andrew Irvine as they attempted to climb Mount Everest in 1924 and were lost. Mallory has since been found below the summit, but not the camera, which means there's a chance that it's with Irvine, and finding him could solve whether or not they actually made it to the top (therefore displacing Edmund Hillary as the first people to do so).
Kodak Bantam: manufactured between 1935 and 1937 (the specific model pictured)
This one is somehow even smaller than the vest pocket model! Here's photos of them closed up and sitting on top of my old Pixel 2
Kodak Jiffy Six-16: manufactured between 1937 and 1948
This one is neat because instead of having a latch that would let you pull out or down to open the face plate and pull out the bellows, this one is spring loaded! See the button on the side at the bottom in the second pic? Here's a gif of it in action:
Stay tuned for a part three, whenever I get around to that! We're just getting started :)
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throwback to last month when i fell asleep on the couch and when i woke up my first instinct was to take a pic of my cat sleeping across me but ended up flashbanging her instead
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