Wednesday, January 11, 2012


PHOTOGRAPHY FOR ALL.
The most enterprising photographic apparatus manufacturers in the world are Kodak Limited, of London and New York. There is not a city in the two hemispheres that has not been reached by the Kodak, and yet the writer remembers the time when the Kodak was first introduced into England, and when their business was conducted in a small room on Soho square, London,

Brownie Developing Box No 1.

measuring about 20ft by 15; he also received as a gift, the second Kodak camera brought to England; the first being presented to the late Mr. Trail Taylor, who was then editor of the British Journal of Photography; the writer holding a similar position on the staff of the Amateur Photographer. Marvellous studies have been made since then, when the catch line "You press the button, we do the rest" electrified the photographic world. We have before us particulars of the latest camera turned out by Kodak Limited. It is known as the No. 4 Folding pocket Kodak. Through the courtesy of the firm we give an illustration of this beautiful camera. In America, photographs measuring 5x4 inches have always been popular; that size was for many years rarely met with in Great Britain, but there has been of late years a trend away from the quarter plate, 4¼ x 3¼ inches, especially since the rage for post cards.

There are already many post card cameras, the plates used measuring 5½ x 3½ inches, the dimensions being those of the "Regulation" post card as fixed by the postal authorities; the first camera made and the first post card plates used were put upon the market by Hobbies, Limited, of London and Dereham, they were conceived and perfected by the writer of this article. We are not now intending to write upon post-card photography, but rather to give a description of the new Folding Pocket Kodak, 5x4 inch camera.

This camera gives a useful negative of much more pictorial proportions than the resulting print from a quarter plate. The lens is a first-class rapid rectilinear with Iris diaphragm, the cells being fitted to an automatic shutter of modern design giving time bulb and instantaneous exposures with either hand or pneumatic release, some of them being made to give variable

No 4 Folding Pocket Camera

instantaneous exposures up to onehundredth of a second. The camera under notice has rising, falling and crossfront view finders reversible for upright or horizontal pictures, focussing arrangement with indicator for setting the lens for given distances. It can be used for glass plates or daylight loading role film, and details at a low price. In every sense it maintains the high standard of quality and efficiency of all cameras manufactured by Kodak Limited. The firm have for some years been working in the direction of daylight development, and have lifted for some time developing machines and a developing tank, both very perfect and useful accessories for daylight development. They have now "gone one better" and are introducing a "Brownie Developing Box," a simple machine for the development of role films in daylight. The No 1 and No 2 Browne are perhaps the two most popular cameras that have ever been made, but the development of role films offers some difficulties to the amateur, the developing box now under review takes the spools used by both of these little cameras; its general appearance is shown in the illustrations. The box is simply a light, tight metal receptacle provided with a pair of rollers actuated by an external crank by means of which the end of the film is held firmly and the rest is unwound, passed round a roller at the other end of the box and so back to the starting


Brownie Developing Box No 2.

point. The film really makes a single loop in the box, the sensitive surface not coming into contact with any part of the mechanism of the box, so that the developer which is poured in before the film is unwound, reaches every part of the film without hinderance. The box is also provided with a rocker so that the operator has simply to rock the box for about six minutes, the developer is then passed off, the film rinsed and removed to the fixing bath; absolutely the whole of the operations of charging the camera, unloading and developing the spool are made possible in daylight. For the actual developing, powders are supplied; these are simply dissolved in a quantity of water prescribed, and the result is a solution exactly suited for the time of development recommended.

For some years new telescopic metal tripods have been the vogue for hand cameras; these are made of varying heights and with from three to six draws, the length, when closed ranging from sixteen to twelve inches or even less There has always been a little difficulty with the "clustering" of the three tubes into the head. Messrs Ranaret & Guilbert of London and Paris, have this season introduced a new pattern known as the "Eureka" which we illustrate. It is made on quite a new principle and is fitted with a flat head which permits the three legs to fold perfectly flat, a very distinct advantage over the old form with a circular head.

above: "Royal Mail" negative (full size) with 15 pictures.


From time to time there is a craze for stamp photographs, and upon this section of photography Messrs. W. Butcher & Sons have the last word. They have put on the market the "Royal Mail" stamp camera (see illustration), which will take fifteen pictures on a quarter plate. Through their kindness we are enabled to give a full-sized print from a negative with fifteen portraits. This camera is divided into fifteen compartments, each one having a small lens, in fact, they are representative distinct cameras. In front of the lenses is a shutter actuated from the legs of the cameras, the whole of the exposures are made at once and the result is seen in the reproduction of an actual print.


The Eureka Tripod

Magazine cameras are holding their own again, and we are glad to find that manufacturers are beginning to see the crass folly of mystifying amateurs with a multiplicity of movements in the hands of the uninitiated, instantaneous photography, fast plates, and lightning shutter exposures simply mean under-exposed plates and a speedy giving up of photography in disgust. The camera par excellence for the amateur is a box form or magazine hand camera, with lens of fixed focus working at f/11 with time exposure and a shutter which, when working at its quickest speed, does not exceed one-fiftieth of a second.

Can photographs be taken by moonlight Yes. We do not mean faked moonlight effects, these are simply snapshots against the sun. With a full and bright moon, exposures at night need not be so very prolonged. Take for instance an open view, market place or city square; such a scene will require an exposure of from five to six minutes with an ordinary R R. lens working at full aperture f/8 or f/6; the plate should be an extra rapid, and it is advisable to have it "backed," in order to prevent halation. In such pictures the moon should not be included, but the light from the moon should illuminate the subject.

"Royal Mail" Stamp Camera

All manufacturers are interested in the question of customs duty upon catalogues sent abroad and are pleased to know that there is no duty on catalogues sent by British firms to New Zealand the manufacturer here is very anxious to obtain new markets for his goods, and the duty charged on catalogues sent to some of the British colonies is likely to be a great deterrent, not only to business, but also to the dissemination of valuable information.
London. SUN ARTIST.

Progress, Volume III, Issue 3, 1 January 1908, Page 95

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