Kodak

Kodak Brownie 'Cresta'

This Metal Box Brownie was very popular in the late 1950's to early 1960's. It was manufactured in various colours with a selection of 'Art Deco' front panels.

Again it takes the soon to be obsolete type 620 spooled roll film and has a single shutter speed of roughly 1/50th sec. The hinged-down back panel for film loading is secured with a V-Clip as can be seen in the main photograph.

A 'close-up lens slider' can introduce an extra lens for use with 'portraiture' photography which usually meant any object roughly about six feet (2 meters) away. This camera also has a pair of flash contacts on the left hand side of the body next to the shutter release. Originally this camera was probably sold with a dedicated flash gun.

Brownie Six-20 Model D

Manufactured between 1937 and 1942 this is one of the few cameras produced in Britain during the second world war. The case is a utilitarian composite of cardboard and leatherette covering. The front section is made of wood and houses a fixed aperture meniscus lens and two reflex viewfinders. This front section is removed to reveal a metal chassis for easy film loading.

The simple shutter offers a single shutter speed of roughly 1/30th sec. together with a 'T' setting. Like many roll film cameras of this vintage it uses type 620 film.

Manufactured 1955 - 1958. After WWII the British public were able to enjoy significant amounts of leisure and holiday time at the emergence of a post-war economic boom. This cheap, mass produced design satisfied their

needs for a simple camera needing the minimum of manipulation prior to taking a photograph. The black moulded plastic body supports a small f14 fixed focus lens and a single shutter speed of 1/40th second. Picture taking was made easy with a simple eye-level direct optical viewfinder and well designed shutter release and wind-on controls. A close-up focus lens and yellow cloud filter are mounted on a right/left 'shuttle' behind the lens. The inclusion of the yellow filter suggests that the camera was still designed primarily for black and white film when colour film was not in common use by the general public.

The use of the large 120 film format meant that the final print quality would be reasonable whatever the skill of the photographer, and the small lens aperture guaranteed that most of the subject would be in focus.

This camera was also available with a flash sync socket although on this particular example it is absent. The 'Cresta' logo suggests that it was designed to be used at the seaside.