Kodak 50th Anniversary Brownie Camera | This Old Camera #03

OVERVIEW
Kodak celebrated 50th years of photography by giving away a brownie to over half a million children around the United States and Canada. I talk a bit about the history of it, show you how to use one, how mine fares today and where to get your own.
CREATED BY
Azriel Knight
MUSIC BY
"Jarvic 8", "I Knew a Guy", "Unwritten Return", Whiskey on the Mississippi", & "Fig Leaf Rag (distressed)" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons...
MEDIA BY
CBC News
ABC News
Kodak
Boy's Life Magazine
Google Books
eBay
Sucessstory.com

[@nbmedia]

I have one of these in my own camera collection. Thanks for the history. Glad I found your channel.

[@bthemedia]

Wow 😮 - that was an epic video! So well done!!! 👍 Just need a link to your other channel.

[@TheStockwell]

What a great and -to-the-point presentation. I'm a collector/photographer and have been thinking it's time to add a Kodak Brownie to my collection. Since I want my cameras to be good, functioning contraptions, thank you for explaining why this is NOT the camera I'm interested in. ;) I did some math! Since a basic 1930 Kodak Brownie cost the modern equivalent of $25-30 US dollars, the 50th anniversary promotion was - roughly - a $15 million giveaway. As a side note, 1930 was the year Kodak was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average index. Showing they could afford to give away $15 million in merchandise was a shrewd business move.

[@paolojoaodejesus]

I like the video and the pictures that took are great :D I have like 3 Box Cameras. a 1909 Kodak Premo Junior 1-A which takes a film pack that is no longer produced. a 1924 Kodak No. 2 Brownie Model F and a 1932 Kodak No. 2 Hawkeye Junior with a broken viewfinder. Now that I got some 120 film, I should try other the Model F and the Hawkeye this weekend.

[@EvLoutonian]

I still have this exact model (but in black), which my grandmother (b.1915) got as a teenager in Australia, not as part of this free giveaway, but probably as an extension of the same promotional push, by collecting vouchers from a soap powder box! I picked up a (more fully featured) Zeiss Ikon "Box Tengor" version as a young man travelling in Europe in 2001, which is also fun to use, and has a few more setting for focal depth and aperture etc. Was reminded of them recently and must get some film out and snap a few photos - it's been years!

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks for the comment. If you end up shooting with them again, please come back and let me know how it went.

[@CDNChaoZ]

Nice video! One little thing, it's 120, not 120mm. Just like 620 is not 620mm.

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks for that! Oopsy ;)

[@TheStockwell]

Kodak numbered each new film format sequentially. Their first was 101 film in 1895. The next year they introduced 103 and 103 roll film. 104 film came in 1897, then 105, 106, and so on. So, 120 film would've been the 20th film format they introduced. They stuck with that numbering system up to 130 film in 1916. After that, they started assigning numbers with gaps in the numbering. 620 film was NOT the 620th format they released. 😐

[@pimplystikage836]

I just picked up one at an estate sale for $7.00. It is in about the same shape as yours. It will fit in with my collection of Brownie box cameras. All of them work just fine, otherwise why have them?

[@AzrielKnight]

Congrats! I'd like to come across one that has the gold foil intact :)

[@colegilliam2379]

It was my birthday today. I got lucky and found one for 10 bucks. Works great!

[@AzrielKnight]

They are pretty reliable. Only need a single spring to work.

[@colegilliam2379]

Azriel Knight Yeah lol im super happy that i found it.

[@mamiyapress]

Surprisingly good images, perhaps 100 speed film would be more suitable for a camera with limited control! I have two Box Brownie 620 cameras with tripod bushings and I have made a ground glass to fit one of them. What I intend to do is place the camera with the gg on the tripod first and compose the image, then take that off ( 2 quick release plates on my Manfrotto) and replace the BB with the film, a spirit level on top should also help. I told your new friend in NY that you can control the exposure with ND filters but I do not think he believed me.

[@AzrielKnight]

That's what they're for (ND filters) ....my NY friend?

[@mamiyapress]

Eric Wahlstrom.

[@AzrielKnight]

Ah. Yeah that's what ND filters are for. Maybe he misunderstood.

[@paulterl4563]

can you link here misterious development, since seems I cannot find it? thanx

[@AzrielKnight]

www.mysteriousdev.com

[@MacquarieRidge]

Some of us are probably photographers because our great great great grandfathers got one of these and passed the hobby down through generations.

[@aeromodeller1]

My dad had one, which I have now, although he was born in 1917. The camera store wanted him to buy film and prints. Later he used an autographic folder, but the drug store lost his film, so he learned to develop and print his own.

[@larsbliss2728]

I picked mine up from an estate sale for $3.00. It is in about the same condition (no box) as yours but it does work and I use it every now and then.

[@tatocorvette]

Very nice video and beautiful results! Just a comment: The Anniversary model was not based on the Brownie No.2 Model C, but rather on the simpler (and less expensive) Hawkeye No.2 Model C. By this time (1930) the No.2 family of Brownies (No.2 which used 120 film and No.2A which used 116 film) was already metal and included tripod sockets. Also, the No.2 Brownie always had 2 viewfinders. Currently restoring a 1919 Brownie No.2A Model B, to be tested in the real world soon. Like you say, Stay classic!

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks for the info!

[@Otokichi786]

1930: My parents were on opposite ends of Hawaii island and hadn't met yet. (So neither I or my sister were even a thought back then.;) That 50th Anniversary Brownie reminds me of the Brownie Target Six-20, which had much better finders and 2 "shutter speeds."

[@sgit1]

You have a very relaxed presentation style I enjoy very much. It's amazing the many variations there are for the simple box camera. I have 3 - 2 Brownies and 1 from England (Conway). What I find on the Brownies is the camera can be held with less user shake on the upswing of the shutter. I just can't prevent some shake on the downswing - even with holding the camera braced against my stomach.

[@AzrielKnight]

Thanks for the kind words Scott :)

[@icallhimgerald6463]

You should do the T50 by Canon, just saying. Keep up the great work!

[@AzrielKnight]

I do have a T50, but I've already reviewed the t70, so the history wouldn't really be different. BUT. I added it to the list and maybe I'll vlog about it sometime. Thanks :)

[@icallhimgerald6463]

Azriel Knight Just saw your review, now I've got a T70 shipping soon. Great videos.

[@alexiafox74]

I have an Anniversary Kodak I got at an antiques market for about $25 to $30 and it's in great condition

[@AzrielKnight]

Congrats! American or Canadian edition?

[@alexiafox74]

Azriel Knight Canadian I think

[@AzrielKnight]

+Alex B it'll say if it was made in toronto or new York on the inside.

[@alexiafox74]

I have a Canadian model of the Anniversary Kodak. I also saw in this video a difference on the seal. The seal on your camera says Ekc for Eastman Kodak. Mine says something different. Mine says Ckc. *edit* Never mind I was looking at a picture in the beginning of the video and didn't notice your actual camera. I am still a little confused with the "Ckc" one...

[@AzrielKnight]

I never noticed that, what time index?