Wednesday 17 April 2013

Bellows Cameras



 

I came across this photo on a blog and it suggested it was taken around 1900.  Gosh, I thought, surely the bellows cameras weren’t that old.  But apparently they are.  The Goddess Wiki says –

·  Early 1890s: The first folding Kodak cameras were introduced. These were equipped with folding bellows that permitted much greater compactness.
·  1895: The first pocket Kodak camera, the $5 Pocket Kodak, was introduced.  It was of the box form type, slipping easily into an ordinary coat pocket, and producing negatives 1½ x 2 inches.
·  1897: The first folding pocket Kodak camera was introduced,  and was mentioned in the novel ‘Dracula’.  
   1900: The Brownie camera was introduced, creating a new mass market for photography.



 My Mum used a Brownie...


This (or something very similar) was the first camera I used...
 


6 comments:

  1. The first camera I used was a Kodak Instamatic with one of those cube flashcubes on the top, did you have those?
    It was 1966, my little sister was a baby and the music was great!

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    1. I didn't have an Instamatic. I think I had moved on to a Zenith SLR by then. I even got a telephoto lens in summer 1966 - and I spent four weeks in hospital listening to the radio all day long. I think I can hum along to every song from that year! I won't sing for you, the cat would schreech and the birds would fly away from the garden.

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  2. My first camera was a Kodak, which I won in a school competition. I then moved on to a Vivitar. They were both 110 film cameras.
    I love reading about the history of everyday objects.

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    Replies
    1. I think - memories are vague at times - but I think I inherited a 35mm Vivitar from GB before moving on to my Zenith.

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    2. Yes I think you did indeed CJ although I've got a feeling that that was a lens. Could the camera have been a Voigtlander? My first SLR was the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (I think the Spotmatic was the first one). Such a long time ago.

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  3. Enjoyed this! The fascination with cameras around 1900 seems to be popping up everywhere lately.

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