Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie
September 17, 2024
Sometimes I have the opportunity to work on items which are outside the common categories of my specialty, and sometimes those items may not be 'retro' at all, but rather quite antique.
On this occasion, a Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie camera which was manufactured in the early part of the 1900s. This particular camera was in very good shape and even had the case and autographic stylus which is so often missing.
Despite hovering around a century old, the camera uses the 120 film format which can still be found today but before film testing the camera I wanted to give it a cleaning and do some basic tests with the shutter to confirm it would work. These particular cameras are known to have two different types of lenses, a simple achromatic lens, and a better quality more advanced rapid rectilinear lens. It operates with a Kodak ball bearing type shutter which offered timing roughly equivalent to 1/25s, 1/50s as well as Bulb and Time options for longer exposures. Aperture settings of 4 (Near / Portrait), 8 (Average Range), 16 (Distant), 32 (Clouds), 64 (Unlabeled) are not f-stop setting in the modern sense but rather markings from the 'Uniform Scale', more here.
In some basic shutter testing the camera would not stay in the 1/50s shutter speed selection but it would slip into Time mode. Sometimes immediately, sometimes after taking one photo.
I decided to take apart the camera to facilitate a more thorough cleaning, and also to see if I could identify what might be happening with the lens. Fortunately the Internet Archive has a great reference book, "Illustrated guide and descriptions of photographic inter-lens shutters : with directions for cleaning and repairing" which provided valuable insight into the components. It's always nice to get a sense of what to expect before taking something apart. It greatly improves the chances of being able to put it back together again!
Camera interior with lens retaining ring
Lens assembly removed
Rear lens removed to show ball bearing system
Shutter mechanism
All of the components were removed from the shutter assembly to clean and examine to note any wear or deformation which may account for the issues with the shutter speed selection. Everything seemed to be in pretty good shape, but the dimple and 1/50s groove for the shutter operating level appeared to be worn just enough to allow for some slippage as this position was subject to the most force from the shutter spring. I lightly filed the groove to deepen it and also added a small blob of solder to the dimple to increase it slightly.
Three blade shutter system, in a way they look like fish!
With the shutter reassembled after some minor adjustments it was time to finish with some cleaning. The viewfinder is a basic prism system and there was enough dust and dirt that it was quite hard to see. After some gentle wiping with a soft cloth and blowing out the dust it was much brighter.
After the camera was back together I picked up some 120 film from a local camera shop and went out to take some photos. The shutter seemed to be working well although it was difficult to validate the actual exposure times, and the aperture adjustments worked as expected. The results were pretty decent for the rudimentary lens!
