251
by George Houghton & Son in 1899. A hand-held ver-
sion of their innovatively designed Sanderson camera
it remained on sale until 1939.
Colin Harding
See Also: Camera Design 6: Kodak Cameras (1888–
1900)
Further Reading
Coe, Brian, Cameras: From Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures,
Marshall Cavendish, 1978.
CAMERA DESIGN: 6 KODAK
(1888–1900)
In 1888 George Eastman patented and introduced a
small box-form camera which he named ‘The Kodak.’
This camera initiated a revolution in photography that
was to quickly transform it into a truly democratic pas-
time within the range of everyone, regardless of income
or technical knowledge. A hand-held ‘detective’ camera,
the Kodak was fi tted with an integral roll holder and took
pictures on long rolls of sensitised paper. Extremely
simple to use, it reduced taking a photograph to three
simple actions: 1. Pull the string. 2. Turn the key. 3.
Press the button. The camera itself did not embody any
great technical advances; it was not even the fi rst camera
designed solely to take roll-fi lm. The most revolutionary
aspect wasn’t in fact the camera, but Eastman’s concept
of separating the act of picture-taking from that of pic-
ture-making. The Kodak was sold already loaded with
fi lm for 100 exposures. After this had been exposed, the
entire camera was returned to the factory for the fi lm
to be unloaded, developed and printed. The reloaded
camera was then returned to its owner, together with
a set of prints. The Kodak system was summed up by
Eastman’s famous advertising slogan—‘You Press the
Button, We do the Rest.’ For the fi rst time, anyone (as
long as they could afford the 5 guineas which the Kodak
cost) could become a photographer.
In 1889 Eastman introduced the fi rst commercial
transparent celluloid roll-fi lm to replace the less satis-
factory paper fi lm. That same year, a larger version of
the Kodak, the No. 2 Kodak camera, appeared, taking
a 3 ½ inch circular negative. The next year, this was
followed by the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 Kodak cameras, taking
even larger negatives, up to 4 by 5 inches.
The fi rst Kodak cameras had to be loaded with fi lm
in a darkroom. In 1891 Eastman introduced a new
range of cameras which were designed to overcome
this inconvenience. Externally, the aptly-named A B
and C Daylight Kodak cameras looked very similar
to the original Kodak cameras. However, the roll-fi lm
was contained in light-proof cardboard containers that
protected the fi lm when loading or unloading, the fi lm
being wound from one container to another through
velvet-lined slots. Daylight Kodaks were not a com-
mercial success. The following year, S. N. Turner of the
Boston Camera Manufacturing Company came up with
a much neater solution to the problem of daylight load-
ing. His Bull’s-Eye camera of 1892 used paper-backed
‘cartridge’ fi lm wound on to a spool with fl anged ends,
which protected it from light. Numbers printed on the
backing paper could be read through a little red window
in the back of the camera. Realising the superiority of
Turner’s system, Eastman initially purchased a licence
from Turner and in 1894 began production of a range
of Bullet cameras which used cartridge fi lm. In 1895
Eastman bought out the Boston Camera Company and
began the manufacture of the very popular Pocket Ko-
dak cameras which also used daylight loading cartridge
fi lm. The Pocket Kodak camera really was pocket-sized,
being a small box measuring just 2 by 3 by 4 inches. It
was the fi rst Kodak camera to be manufactured using
mass production techniques and 600 cameras a day were
turned out by the Eastman factory in Rochester.
The Pocket Kodak camera was convenient to use but
the negatives it produced were very small—just 1½ by 2
inches. In order to create a camera which was still com-
pact enough to be easily carried but which took larger
pictures, Frank Brownell, Eastman’s camera designer,
came up with an ingenious folding design. When closed,
the Folding Pocket Kodak camera of 1897 was almost
as small as the Pocket Kodak camera, but it opened up
on spring-loaded struts for use and took negatives 2¼
by 3¼ inches. The Folding Pocket Kodak was the fi rst
of a range of folding cameras that were to be produced
for many years and which were to prove enormously
successful. Also in 1897, the fi rst of a range of folding
roll-fi lm cameras aimed at the enthusiast appeared—the
No. 4 Cartridge Kodak, taking 5 by 4 inch negatives.
This was followed by the No. 5 Cartridge Kodak in
1898 (7 × 5 in) and, fi nally, the No. 3 Cartridge Kodak
in 1900 (3¼ × 4¼ in). Comparatively expensive, these
were available in a range of lens and shutter combina-
tions and featured such refi nements as rack and pinion
focusing and rising and cross-front movements.
Whilst Kodak from the beginning concentrated on
fi lm cameras, during the 1890s they also produced a
number of models designed to take glass plates. Their
range of Kodet and Folding Kodet cameras, for ex-
ample, could be used with either plate holders or a roll
holder. Kodak also entered the specialised panoramic
and stereoscopic arena with the No. 4 Panoram Kodak
and the No. 2 Stereo Kodak, introduced in 1899 and
1901 respectively.
In 1900, Eastman addressed the fi nancial constraints
which still meant that snapshot photography was be-
yond the means of many people. Mass production had
brought the cost of cameras down—the Pocket Kodak,