Antique & 19th Century Cameras
Antique & 19th Century Cameras
Flat Folding Kodak, 1895-97 (page 3)
Eastman Kodak Company. Rochester, NY.
Fitting into Kodak's Timeline To better understand the camera’s fit in Kodak’s catalogue, it was placed into a timeline with other early Kodak folding bellows cameras as shown in Figure 7. The chart shows that the Flat Folding Kodak can be considered a pivotal design. It links the company’s early portable bellows patterns to the future: more specifically, in the year 1897 it bridges a design gap between the Folding Kodaks and Folding Kodets to Cartridge Kodaks.
Figure 7: Availability timeline for the Flat Folding Kodak, Blair 400, and other early folding Kodak cameras
An interpretation is that the Flat Folding Kodak's side-spool design becomes a key feature of Kodak's major roll film patterns from 1897 on. Additionally, the side-spool body pattern appears to establish a new paradigm for nearly all of Kodak’s future folding-bellows roll film cameras, which include horizontal and popular vertical body patterns.[5]
Bringing the Flat Folding Kodak to Market The time it took Eastman’s teams to bring the Flat Folding Kodak to market as a potential response to Blair’s 400 (Folding Kamaret) appears to be quick. Considering the time to create a new design, the Flat Folding Kodak could have been in development from mid-1893 to early-1894 based on a comment in Kodak’s Camera Production Order Book that orders were shipped (or interpreted as scheduled to ship) at the end of 1894. The end result was an 1895 camera functionally similar, simpler, and less expensive than the Blair 400.
One method to reduce the time-to-market and manufacturing costs is to copy existing camera parts and design concepts as well as simplifying the design. Figure 8 illustrates how early Kodak folding bellows cameras share their pedigrees through similar components. The final body phase (Cartridge Kodak) is Kodak's first large-scale production side-spool design.
Figure 8: Comparison of Folding Kodet, Flat Folding Kodak, and Cartridge Kodak features
An important improvement was placing Eastman-Walker type mechanics onto the inner back. A winding key and film counter are positioned beneath the body; which is a forerunner to the Cartridge Kodak design. While the camera was advertised to make up to 48 exposures, the counter has hash-marks that go to 50. Was this a competitive feature to the Blair 400?
Cartridge Kodak folding bellows cameras appeared in 1897 and overlapped the Flat Folding Kodak for one year. The two cameras are nearly identical in size, but what an amazing difference in terms of user experience. The Flat Folding Camera's main drawback was its continued use of Eastman's Transparent Film which required darkroom loading and unloading. Despite this one flaw (actually a huge flaw which needed to be fixed to attract amateurs and beginners), the overall body design for this limited production design foreshadows the incredibly popular Cartridge Kodak series (122,000 produced) and distances itself from the Folding Kodak (8500+ produced) and Folding Kodet (8,000+ produced) body styles.
Same as with later Folding Kodaks and Flat Folding Kodak, Cartridge Kodak cameras shared the coarse and fine-focusing mechanics. However, a significant improvement was adopting paper-backed "daylight" roll film cartridges. The mechanical film counter was also eliminated because daylight cartridge film had exposure numbers printed on the paper backing that could be seen through a small red window. This is another example of simplifying the camera by eliminating film counter mechanics.
A less expensive, easier to use camera might also entice more customers into Kodak’s realm. In 1895, the Flat Folding Kodak was significantly less expensive at ~$26 than the similarly designed Blair 400 (advertised in 1893 for $60). However, during the one-year period in which the Flat Folding Kodak and No.4 Cartridge Kodak were both sold in the U.K., the Flat Folding Kodak’s legacy features at £7 (with two 24-exposure film spools) were probably less appealing when compared to Kodak’s newer, easier to use (unloaded) Cartridge Kodak for £5 5 0.[6] Spooled film was relatively close in price; £0 6 6 for 24-exposure transparent film vs. £0 3 9 for 12-exposure daylight rolls. While the price per exposure was slightly higher for the No.4 Cartridge, the convenience of daylight loading probably more than compensated for the small price difference.
Page 2
Page 4
End Notes:
[5] Other side-spool designs influenced by the Flat Folding Kodak such as the smaller format 1897 Folding Pocket Kodak and 1899 No.2 Folding Bulls-Eye cameras are not included in the chart to maintain viewing simplicity.
[6] Kodak’s 1897 U.K. catalogue lists prices in a pre-decimal format of pounds, shillings, and pence.
Continue to Flat Folding Kodak - page 4
Return to the Self-Casing Cameras page
Copyright ©2023 - 2026 by Rob Niederman - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED