I'm not really into photography as much as other hobbies. I have (somehow) managed to hang on to most of the cameras that I have owned ever since I was a kid. Thus, by default, I now have a camera collection. All of the cameras shown here are in working order (if you can find film for them...) I went through all my albums and I was able to find examples of contemporaneous photos that were taken by each of these cameras.

By the way, here is the webpage of another collector who takes photos with vintage cameras.

Let's start off with a camera that belonged to my mother:

The Beau Brownie (No. 2A)
For 116 Film
in the rare Rose/Pink


The Beau Brownie and Leatherette Carrying Case

From 1928 to 1933 Kodak made several colored and deco-styled cameras that were designed to appeal specifically to the style-conscious women of the twenties. In 1928 Kodak hired Walter Dorwin Teague, a well-known American industrial designer to create cameras with a classier, more elegant look. Teague created the 1930 Beau Brownie camera with flat, geometric, enameled decoration that reflected the new taste for modern abstract pattern. The camera coordinated with other accessories such as compacts, cigarette cases, lighters and lipstick holders.

The camera was offered in five different color combinations: Maroon/Black, Light Blue/Medium Blue, Brown/Tan, Rose/Pink, and Green/Aqua Blue. For each color combination, both a No. 2 (2¼ x 3¼ inch pictures on 120 film) and a No. 2A (2½ x 4¼ inches on 116 film) size was available.

The "Tres Beau" Beau Brownies

The most prominent feature of these cameras was their shiny enameled faceplate, but the complementary "leather look" material covering the body also provided interest and a feeling of opulence. The big opening on the faceplate is the lens; the two smaller openings are the view finders. The camera takes rectangular pictures, and thus, one had the option of making images in portrait (long side vertical) or landscape (long side horizontal) format. There is a separate separate view finder for each format.

Closeup of the "Leather Look" covering

Click here to see more of these beautiful cameras!

Here is a lovely picture that my Mom took with the camera. The photo is dated September 1938 and is labeled "Tommy and V. at Norwood Park" The camera for young moderns seems to have done a great job of capturing the youth and vitality of the moment.

Photo taken by my Mom in 1938

My research indicates that this camera cost about $4.25 in 1930; at that time, my dad had a job that paid ten cents an hour. He would have had to work for more than a week to pay for this camera. At today's minimum wage of $5.25 per hour, this camera would have cost$315, about the cost of some digital cameras. This was a luxury item.

• MANUFACTURER: Eastman Kodak Company
• NATIONALITY: American
• PLACE MANUFACTURED: US, NY, Rochester
• INTRODUCTION DATE: Oct. 1930
• ORIGINAL LIST PRICE: $4.25
• FUNCTIONAL TYPE: Box rollfilm

Of all things, a Rose Beau Brownie shows up in the 1984 film Johnny Dangerously, a spoof of old Warner Brothers Gangster Films. At the graduation of Tommy Kelly (Griffin Dunne), Ma Kelly (Maureen Stapleton) says that "It's time for the Camera". She drags out a Beau Brownie, but it has been converted to a whisky flask.

The Univex, Front View with case

The Univex, Back View with meter

This camera belonged to my Uncle Ralph. He was very trendy. As I recall, he was always into anything "modern" whether he could afford it or not. He had a bunch of fancy cameras and gave me this when I was about 16. The Mercury is a bit complicated because it does not accept roll film --- you must buy film stock and wind it onto the camera's drum in the darkroom.

The Univex Mercury is known as a "half-frame" camera because it places two rectangular pictures in a single 35mm square frame. For this reason, it is very economical --- you can get 72 exposures on one reel of film. You have to do a whole lot of work to use the camera, since focus, exposure and depth of field are calculated by hand.

Sometimes called the Mercury CC, the Univex Mercury was a very early American venture into the new (at the time) world of 35mm still cameras. It first appeared in 1938. It is an odd-looking, but strangely handsome camera due to the rotary shutter, which required a large hemisphere on the top of the camera. The lens and twin dials on the top (one cocks the shutter, the other sets the shutter speeds) give the camera an attractive Mickey-Mouse appearance. But if you imagine the top "chopped-off", the Mercury does not look that different from other 35mm cameras of the time, such as the Leica. It came with a 35mm f3.5 focusing lens (equivalent to a 50mm in the full-frame format). It allows apertures to f22 and speeds of B, 1/20 - 1/1000. You can do close-focusing to 1.5 feet.

The camera has two "cold" flash shoes, meaning that a flash could be attached to the camera, but it could not be electronically synchronized with exposure of the film. Thus, in addition to all the other calculations, you had to set off your flash manually at exactly the same time you unleashed the shutter. One shoe is for the flash and the other is for the VERY HARD TO FIND optical density light meter, shown in the second picture. The light meter is just based on layers of paper! The brighter the light, the more layers it will shine through. You get a little number from the meter and then you plug it into the table printed on the circular part of the camera (first photo). Combining this with your best estimate of the distance to your subject, you get an appropriate F-Stop.

The camera lens has an interchangeable mount (somewhere around 7/8"), so other lenses might have been planned. There is Tripod socket and cable release connection which is pretty versatile for today, let alone 1938. It would be a large camera by today's standards, but it was very convenient -- and small -- in 1938. My uncle left me a real rarity --- the original leather case!

The Mercury used regular, perforated 35mm film on special reels (similar to 35mm cassettes without the covers). So if you want to use it, you have to have a pair of these reels and load them yourself. The loading must take place in the dark, so you cannot change film outside of the darkroom. Film leader is required to prevent fogging. The exposure counter only runs to 36 so longer rolls cannot be conveniently used. The camera sold quite well at the time, but the onset of World War II soon brought a demise to camera sales and production.

Probably the best-known of the Univex cameras, the Mercury has a distinctive appearance, due to the housing for the rotary focal plane shutter which extends above the top plate like a halo. This shutter is similar to that found on a cine camera. It has a 1/10 second rotation, and varying shutter speeds are obtained by changing the size of a slot in the shutter. It is reputed to be extremely accurate and reliable.

The Mercury Model CC, now usually called the Model 1, was introduced in 1938. When originally introduced, it had a 35 mm. f/3.5 Wollensack Tricor lens, and cost $25. (Something like $1500 today!) Other verions have a Wollensack f/2.7 Tricor lens or a Wollensack f/2 Hexar lens. The rotating focal plane shutter gives speeds from 1/20 second up to 1/1000 second, but a special version was produced for a very short time with a top speed of 1/1500 second. With the f/2 Hexar lens, this version cost $65 in 1939, and the limited production (about 3,000 are believed to have been made) means that this now a rare camera (unlike the standard model, which is fairly common in the US, although not so common in Europe).

Here is a little technical discussion about how the Shutter works

Below, is a picture that my Uncle Ralph made in July of 1941. It shows my beloved Uncle Tony (the Zoot Suiter) and some of his friends on a hot day. They are carrying rolled-up towels and I'll bet that they were on their way to go swimming with a couple of sweeties. They are waiting for a streetcar outside the Four Queens bar --- possibly, they had ducked in for a cold one... At any rate, those Hollywood pants and spectators are to die for! The little Mercury did a great job of capturing this scene.

Uncle Tony and his pals
on a hot July day in 1941

Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model
with the Kodalite Flash Holder

For the longest time, this was the only camera that my family used. I think that this is one of the most beautiful uses of plastic that I have ever seen in a commercial product. Without the flash, the proportions are maginificent. The little gray tabs on the top are symmetric --- one releases the shutter and the other opens the case. I always think of a puppy when I handle it -- there is something very welcoming and friendly about the camera. The separate flash makes it lopsided and a bit clumsy. I remember that when we got the Hawkeye, it was a lot more attractive than the Beau Brownie box camera shown above. The Deco styling and shiny black plastic made it look really "Jet Age" to me, anyway...

The camera takes 12 square exposures, so it only has one view finder (Compare with the Beau Brownie above). The opening for the view finder is on top of the camera between the gray tabs. The aperture for the view finder is above the lens on the front. Operation of the camera is absolutely simple: you hold it at waist level, look down into the view finder until you see what you want and snap. You have to manually wind the film with the little gray knob.

Starting in 1949, the Hawkeye was produced in two models. The 1947 model did not have a flash attachment; the 1950 model incorporated the Kodalite Flash gun, with a hot trigger to the shutter release. The flash attached with 'Pin & Screw' contacts.

The 1950 model can be easily distinguished from the 1949 model in two ways (1) by the word "Flash" below the red dot Kodak emblem on the front; and (2)The earlier model has a metal film wind knob, while the latter has a gray plastic knob.

The 1950 model was also produced in France as the Brownie Flash and exported, presumably to Spanish-speaking countries, as the Brownie Fiesta, Flash Model.

• MANUFACTURER: Eastman Kodak Company
• PLACE MANUFACTURED: US, NY, Rochester
• INTRODUCTION DATE: Sept. 1950
• ORIGINAL LIST PRICE: $6.95
• FUNCTIONAL TYPE: Box rollfilm
• Manufactured : 1949-51 (non-flash)
• Manufactured : 1950-61 (flash)
• Lens : Meniscus
• Shutter : Rotary
• Film Size : 620
• Negative Size : 6x6cm

Here is a photo that my mom took with the Hawkeye in about 1953; I am dressed in my little league uniform. I played first base for a team sponsored by the Brown and Vaughn Agency --- they were real estate developers who specialized in destroying the countryside and filling it with planned developments.

On my way to a Little League game
captured by the Hawkeye in about 1953

Brownie Bullseye (Flash)

I spent so much time fooling around with my parents' Hawkeye that they gave me this camera just so that I would not run the film out of theirs. I'm sorry to say that I just didn't like it at all. It is bulky and heavy and has none of the grace of the Hawkeye. I found it uncomfortable, ugly and hard to use. On the other hand, it was a Gift, so I always kept it very neatly in its box. The lack of utility of the camera has led to its near-perfect preservation.

Cover of the Directions Booklet
for the Brownie Bullseye Camera

The photograph does not show the sheer bulk of this heavy Bakelite camera. In places, the case is over 1/4 inch thick, discouraging you from carrying this thing very far. The camera is big because it uses a rotary shutter, sort of like the Mercury. The focusing Twindar lens is housed in a single speed shutter that is preset at 10 feet for general snapshots. Once an exposure has been made, an interlock acts on the shutter release and a warning symbol appears in the viewfinder, directing you to wind to the next exposure. The flash gun attaches with "hot" Pin & Screw contacts. The camera also has a tripod socket. Because the camera produces a rectangular negative, you have the option of 'portrait' (the default), or 'landscape' photographs. For the latter, the booklet avises you to "hold the camera shutter-button side up."

• MANUFACTURER: Eastman Kodak Company
• PLACE MANUFACTURED: US, NY, Rochester
• INTRODUCTION DATE: Aug 1954
• ORIGINAL LIST PRICE: $12.85-$15.00
• FUNCTIONAL TYPE: Box rollfilm
• Manufactured : 1954-60
• Lens : Twindar
• Shutter : Rotary
• Film Size : 620
• Negative Size : 6x9cm

I still don't like this camera; I am pretty certain that we used it to take the following picture of me and my 1954 Volkswagen. I remember that my mom had left the Hawkeye at my grandfather's house and I was desperate to take a photo of my new (used) car; I think that this photo was taken in the fall of 1960. That's a National Honor Society pin on the lapel of my suit. What a dork...

The new (used) Volkswagen
Fall of 1961.

The Pentax Auto 110
A Superb Miniature Camera System

After I went to college, I was generally too poor to take pictures. That's really too bad, because I have very little record of that period. When I finished school, I had to travel a lot and it was very difficult to carry enough camera gear to take pictures. Kodak introduced the 110 format in the early 1970s and made it possible to carry a reasonable camera in you shirt pocket. The things were really cheap and were almost disposable. I used a number of them, and do not have any to show you.

In the late 1970s, Pentax came out with the Auto 110 system --- basically it was a subminiature version of everything that you would carry in a normal camera bag --- a single lens reflex (SLR) camera with automatic light meter and interchangeable lenses --- and an auto winder. This was absolutely wonderful. I carried this camera in my "recreation bag" --- in addition to the Auto 110, I had a Walkman, programmable handheld calculator, and a palm-sized scanner. Later, I augmented this with a Watchman. The Auto 110 was spectacular! I used it regularly until Olympus came out with the XLR line that are even more convenient.

The Pentax Auto 110 came a 24/2.8 'normal' lens, a 50/2.8 telephoto lens, the AF130P flash w/case and the Auto 110 autowinder. The 24/2.8 lens has a Pentax skylight filter and the 50/2.8 has a Pentax T86 close-up lens for macro work. Each item in the system came with its own Pentax bubble case. The flash and autowinder use normal AA bateries.

A Pentax Advertisement in March 1979 said: "The Pentax System 10 is by far the smallest and lightest SLR of its time. System 10 lenses are so fine and so precise, that they can render a proper razor-sharp image on the 110 negative itself. They are fully capable of producing color images of outstanding quality. Not just at 8x10, but at 11x14 also. In terms of image quality, System 10 is the first 110 camera that can honestly be favorably compared to a 35mm SLR."

I agree with this Pentax 110's are fantastic little SLRs, in fact the smallest interchangeable lens SLR with 'through the lens' metering ever made. Styled like a very small 35 SLR, a body and three lenses can easily be held in the palm of your hand. Many people don't believe it's a working camera the first time they see one, mistaking the little Pentax for a toy. They offer true SLR focusing and viewing, programmed exposure, a choice of six different lenses, two different flashes, and a "motor-drive." On top of that, Pentax supported them with an entire system of accessories. So far as I know, this is the most inclusive Sub-Miniature system ever. My camera is unique to me: Pentax would also make a special viewfinder lens that corrected for my astigmatism. It was expensive, but it made using a SLR really meaningful.

Here is a photo that I made with my Auto 110 at the Desert Storm Victory Parade in 1991. I was under a grove of trees when a squadron of Apache Helicopters flew by the Washington Monument. I think that the little 110 did a fantastic job of solving the lighting equations for the combination of light and dark.

Apache Helicopters fly by
the Washington Monument
Desert Storm Victory Parade, 1991

Bolex H-16 16mm camera
Spielberg started with one...

This was submitted by one of our readers:

From: Jeff Clark

Hi,
I thought some people would be interested in the Bolex H-16 16mm cameras.

After various prototypes, Paillard S.A. of Switzerland introduced the first Bolex camera in the early thirties. It is a versatile, compact, high-quality camera still used today. It outsold all other 16mm cameras ever made and was the camcorder of the 40s and 50s. It is driven by a spring motor, which you constantly rewind. As simple as it looks, you can do a variety of effects from fade-outs, to dissolves, and matte composites. Film students all over the country start out on these cameras in school. People have probably seen students running around with these cameras wondering what they are. They can run upwards of $3000.00, but on occasion they have been found in good condition for a mere fraction of that at antique stores. Keep an eye out.
---Jeff

Front

Side

Companion Models and Boxes

This is Keystone Pathfinder camera, Model K-29, made in about 1956. It uses 8mm "Double 8" film, made by Keystone Mfg. Co. Hallet Sq Boston,24 Mass. The lens is the Keystone-Elgeet 1/2" f:2.8 It uses a spring mechanism to drive the film.

Here is the Keystone Movie Projector that would have been used with the results obtained by using the K-29

Keystone Model 60 Projector

In the Case

Out of the Case

With the Flash

This is a Brownie Synchro Reflex Camera, produced between 1941 and 1952. The original price was $ 6.00. It uses roll film No. 127; 1-5/8 x 2-1/2. It has a Meniscus lens and has an Eastman Rotary Shutter, I & B. The third photo shows the synchro-reflex with an optional with Brownie Reflex Flasholder; (flash originally $4.00); uses its fixed 25 mm Lens and with only Filter Attachments available.