Kodak No. 1

Kodak, 1888 image by Rick Soloway (Image rights)

The Kodak is George Eastman's legendary first rollfilm camera bearing the new brand name "Kodak", patented and introduced in 1888. It used Eastman stripping negative film, loaded at the factory. The Kodak No. 1 and No. 2 of 1889 resemble the original Kodak camera, but have a different shutter. They were available with Eastman stripping negative film or Eastman transparent film.

The shutter was tensioned by pulling a string (attached to the stud at the front of the top of the camera in the photograph); the camera was sighted by looking along a V-shape on the top of the camera. The shutter was tripped by pressing a button on the camera's left-hand side. After exposure, the key was used to wind the film to the next frame. The film moved past a shaft, rotating it, which caused a pointer visible on the top of the camera to rotate, so the photographer could be sure of advancing the correct amount of film. Once one hundred pictures had been taken, the user sent the whole camera back to Kodak for film processing and reloading - at a cost of $10.

The original Kodak and the No. 1 could take a hundred round photographs, with a diameter of 2½ inches (65 mm), on each roll of 2¾ inch-wide Eastman American Film; the No. 2 could take sixty photographs, with a diameter of 3½ inches. The round image was a design decision, partly as a way of ensuring that the photographer didn't have to hold the camera exactly level with the horizon, and partly to compensate for the poor image quality at the corners of the image. These first Kodak cameras were designed by George Eastman in collaboration with a cabinetmaker, Frank A. Brownell, who set up the production line at Eastman's factory. They are beautifully built, with box joints and strong leather covering.

• Type: box camera
• Manufacturer: Eastman Kodak Company
• Years of production: 1888-1889 (Kodak); 1889-1895 (Kodak No.1)
• Price: US$25 (quite expensive at that time)
• Film: paper rolls - changed by manufacturer, alternate loading with transparent film (only Kodak No. 1)
• Lens: Bausch & Lomb 57mm f/9 Rapid Rectilinear wide angle lens
• Shutter: string set; cylindrical (Kodak), sector 'T' and 'I' shutter (Kodak No.1)
• Weight: 900 g
• Dimensions: 8.3×9.6×16.5cm

Links

Sample image

In German:

• Kodak No. 1 (German Wikipedia)

In English:

• No. 1 Kodak, serial no. 12961, sold at the May 2011 Westlicht Photographica auction in Vienna.
• George Eastman - History of Kodak and Rolled Photographic Film, by Mary Bellis, About.com
• Kodak Patent Drawings on BoxCameras.com