PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

And, in the beginning, there was this little camera.

It was August, 1935. I was six and a half years old. My seventeen year old cousin, Kathy, had spent two weeks in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When she returned home, she brought me a small gift, a ninety-eight-cent Kodak Baby Brownie camera. Little did she realize that she was starting me on a lifelong journey with photography, along with its attendant joys and satisfactions, frustrations and disappointments. See the photo below.

The little Baby Brownie was about as simple as you could get. A single element meniscus lens, fixed aperture of f/11, a single shutter speed, about 1/25th of a second. The usual film for it was Kodak Verichrome, an orthochromatic film ( not red sensitive) with a speed rating of Weston 12 - about equivalent to today's ISO 16. With an exposure of 1/25 at f/11 and film of ISO 16, the camera was best suited for bright sunny days with an ambient light level of about 8000 foot candles. In fact the instruction sheet has rather explicit instructions........

"All exposures must be made outdoors with the subject in
bright sunlight and during the hours from 2½ hours after
sunrise until 2½ hours before sunset. The sun should be
behind your back or over your shoulder."

Definitely not an indoor or rainy day camera. Kodak discontinued size 127 film dcades ago, but the size is still available from places such as B&H Photo. The last time I checked it was selling for about $16 (USD) per roll. The currently available film is rated at ISO 800, much, much too sensitive for the fixed exposure setting of the Brownie. The camera still works as well as when it was new, but I think I will leave it rest.

My first camera - Kodak Baby Brownie

Rockrunner Loc: Rockvale, TN

:thumbup:

unclebe1 Loc: NYC & Wellington, FL

You never know which action is going to ignite the imagination and passion. Thanks for sharing. It's amazing that you still have the original spark. :lol:

Tom H Loc: St. Louis, MO

I'm just a kid compared to you, but I do remember that camera. When I was born, you were already 5 years old! WOW, a big kid.

I couldn't tell you the model but I think the first camera I used was called a Kodak Hawkeye. Open its front door and slid the lens out on rails. The lens was attached by a bellows. Used 120 mm film, 10 shots per roll. I was likely about 7 or 8 when I first used that camera. It took pretty good pictures. An aunt encouraged me to take pictures, I think because she wanted me to open my eyes to the things around me. I started my son early for that same reason. Now his 5 year old son has an out-dated digital point and shoot.

Wonder what the next generation will be using.

Tom

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

A phone ?? :lol:
SS

pixbyjnjphotos Loc: Apache Junction,AZ

Cameras certainly have made some changes over the years. I started with the Kodak Brownie Holiday (no flash) around 1953 when I was 10 years old. I am a real young one aren't I. I don't remember ever seeing a Baby Brownie. I do remember my grandmother saying "I want a picture of you, let me get the kodak". She had some kind of box camera. Must have been a Kodak. They seemed to call all cameras kodaks those days. Looking back at history most all cameras really were Kodak cameras those days.

juicesqueezer Loc: Okeechobee, Florida

Photoman: Thanks for sharing your story and keeping a piece of history that got you started in photography.
Can't remember my first one, but Dad had a steel body Nikon, a '47 model, I believe. I still have the Rollei A26 that Dad gave me. Shoots 126 film!

Big Stopper Loc: London

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing, Bob

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

Thanks for the thumbs-up.

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

We often fail to realize how the smallest action may have a profound effect upon the life of another person. My older cousin, Kathy, has been dead these many years, but the effect of her simple little gift lives on.

This past Christmas, I gave small cameras to two young friends. I hope that Carla, 10, and Raven 12, will further develop their interest in photography and possibly enjoy a lifetime of pleasure and satisfaction.

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

Sounds like you had the use of a fairly good camera. Folding cameras were quite popular back then, made desirable by the larger negative sizes then in use.

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

Perhaps a sensor chip inserted into our brains?

Tom H Loc: St. Louis, MO

No, I think the phone will be old fashion within a few years. We will wear something much smaller, perhaps on our wrist. The pictures may be taken through a button on our shirts with just the blink of an eye and instantly sent to our printers at home. Perhaps the printer will be some little flat thing an inch high, inch wide and a few inches long that is carried in our pocket kind of like the small portable scanners we have today.

If we want a picture of something that isn't easy or convenient to get, we will pull a droid out of our hip pocket and fly it out to get the shot for us.

Let your imagination go, what do you predict down the road?

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

Way back when, "kodak" became almost a synonym for the word "camera." While there were other manufacturers of simple cameras, Eastman Kodak outpaced all of them in terms of high quality and low price. My little ninety-eight-cent Kodak Baby Brownie still functions as reliably as it did when it was new in 1935, almost eighty years ago.

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

Thanks for the memories. By the way - I like your avatar, nice plane. I has ben a while since I went up. I remember a little Ryan ST we used way back when. Great days, great memories.