Kodak No. 2 Brownie Camera Model D

 

Jumping into 2025 with an iconic camera series and also the new record holder of oldest camera on this blog. No, it isn’t another Agfa, as in the past, but a Kodak, specifically the Kodak No. 2 Brownie Camera Model D.

I already went over the history of Kodak in the Kodak 200 Color Plus Film post and I went over the history of the Kodak Brownie series in the Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera post. So, I will be jumping directly into the camera concerned. 

The Brownie No. 2 was produced from 1901-1935, and came in different models (A-F) and appears to be the first camera to use 120 film (Peggy 2019). These cameras “are pretty hard to kill. They’re both so simple and robustly enough manufactured that even the jankiest one you find in the back of some dumpy junk store can probably still make images…” (Grey 2019). With even BCG Film and Photography noting that “The No.2 Brownie was a fantastic addition to the Brownie line, they just don't seem to stop working.” This camera and its five variations were a runaway hit with the public, with the No. 2 holding a world record of 2.5 million units sold all over the world (Solomon 2017). 

Speaking of the variations, they all seem to be the same, but with minor changes (except for the Model F). The Model A, first had a detachable winding key, but that was replaced with a pull-out winding key that most box cameras have (BCG Film and Photography). It should be noted that the first No. 2 is not the No. 2 A, because the No. 2 A worked that same as the first No. 2, but it used 116 film instead of 120 (Film Cameras 2019). But I will be referring to the No. 2 (120 film camera) as Model A, even though this doesn’t matter because it seems to be working the same way as the Model D, which I will be getting to shortly.

Kodak Brownie No. 2 (A). Image Source: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5935fa15579fb38a23d59301/1508110614324-NOKFVHM4YJG42CG67CA5/Kodak+Brownie+No+2+medium+format

 

BCG Film and Photography further writes that by 1904, the Model B was released and the only change was that the fine grain leatherette was replaced with a coarser one and the lens and viewfinders were fitted with metal eyelets. It also seems that its film compartment and film carrier was opened from the front. Then by 1907 the Model C were made with spoolcenters.

Kodak Brownie No. 2 Model B & C. Image Source: https://www.brownie-camera.com/56.jpg

Kodak Brownie No. 2 Model B. Image Source: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/IVsAAOSwwYlh8ZT~/s-l400.jpg

And then with the Model D (1914), this camera is the variation that had a clamp (Purcell 2020) or “the sliding latch for hinged back was replaced by a spring catch” (BCG Film and Photography). The winder key was also changed to a “bar style” (Purcell 2020). By 1917, a metal name plate was added to the back (BCG Film and Photography). 

The later versions of the Model D also saw the exclusion of the back mask (Grey 2014), which was a piece of cardboard that is a frame guide that covers up the excess film, held the film in place and possibly protected the film from light.

Kodak Brownie No. 2 Model A-C Back Mask. Image Source: https://shutterlogue.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2050016-768x576.jpg

Kodak Brownie No. 2 early Model D, with Back Mask attached to Film Carrier/Holder.
Image Source: https://live.staticflickr.com/2934/14615455123_6771a982dd_c.jpg

Then according to BCG Film and Photography, by 1919, the Model E was released and the wooden film carrier was replaced by metal and the camera had a trigger guard.

Kodak Brownie No. 2 Model E. Image Source: https://i0.wp.com/photothinking.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/pt-KodakNo2BrownieModelE-01.jpg?resize=960%2C721&ssl=1

Then the final model, the Model F was released in 1924 and unlike the previous models, that were all made out of cardboard, the Model F was made from aluminum. The trigger guard was removed, tripod sockets were added and the leatherette was changed back to a fine grain. (BCG Film and Photography) 

Kodak Brownie No. 2 Model F. Image Source: https://foticoscollection.com/storage/media/18819/conversions/hmrwY_orig-zoom.jpg

Over the years, the Model F came in different colours and some of these colours were made for special occasions, such as the 1930 Christmas model that had a “special Modernist finish, black with slight relief, wax-like feel…” and the 1935 version that came in silver to celebrate King George V of the UKs silver jubilee. There were also the 1931 models that “had rectangular line decoration of earlier models…” It also had the winding key replaced by a knob. (BCG Film and Photography)

Now let’s have a closer look at the Model D, starting with the body.

The No. 2 Brownie Model D is made out of cardboard, covered in a coarse grain leatherette and is slightly bigger than the Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera, but functions in a similar way.

The front of the camera is interesting because unlike other cameras, there is no lens in the front, only the shutter. That is because the lens is behind the shutter, instead of in front of it.

The shutter is a rotary shutter (see Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera post), with a speed of what is assumed to be 1/50 of a second (Eckman 2016) and this is probably the same for all the variations.

Then in the left top corner, are the viewfinders or brilliant finders. Top finder is to help take a picture in portrait mode and the bottom finder is for landscape, the same as the Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera.

 

But as many reviewers point out these “brilliant finders” aren’t really brilliant. As Kohl (2017), points out that the finders are very dim and hard to frame due to the small size, by writing that “There are small viewfinder lenses on the front of the camera and a small ground glass on the side and top of the camera. Not sure if it's due to age, the mirrors coming unsilvered, or by design but the viewfinders are really dim. They're almost usable with a loupe.” It gets worse when dirty, with Grey (2019) writing: “Any No. 2 Brownie’s viewfinders will be dim even when clean, but when they’re dirty they’re useless.” 

Now for the left side…

There is the small landscape (or horizontal) brilliant finder. Underneath that is the shutter lever or shutter rocker (Eckman 2016). This shutter lever is interesting because the user must move the lever down to take an exposure and unlike other cameras, the lever doesn't jump back into place.

Instead it stays down and if the user wants to take another exposure, then the lever must be pulled up. In other words: “… you move the rocker in either up or down position.  The shutter fires regardless of the original orientation of this rocker…” (Eckman 2016).

Then underneath the shutter rocker, is the winding key, that advances the film and keeps the film holder (or carrier) in place by locking into the take-up spool (see Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera).

Now on top…

Is the vertical or portrait brilliant finder.

Next to that are two slides. The wide one is the aperture settings and the narrow one is the exposure or shutter speed settings.

The exposure slide has three settings. According to Eckman (2016), Kodak never made any indications of what each aperture setting is, but that many people have speculated that it is either f/8, f/11 or f/16 on the widest and the other two is f/22 and f/32.

 

Solomon (2017) seems to agree that the last two f/stops are correct. But it is still unclear, with even the Brownie No. 2 manual giving no clue to the aperture size:

Page 20 from the Brownie No.2 manual

What is also interesting, is that like the Sinpo PQ-3 Point and Shoot Film Camera and Agfa Clack Film camera, the camera doesn’t use aperture pedals, but instead a plate that has three holes punched in it.

The shutter slide has two settings. An “I” setting when down and a “B” setting when it is pulled out (see Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera).

 Then there are the two studs that held the strap, that like the Model 1, is missing.

Kodak Brownie No. 2 (Model A) with Strap. Image Source: https://shutterlogue.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2050026-768x576.jpg

And behind that is the latch that locks the film compartment cover in place.

Now for the back…

This is where the cover or hatch is covering the film compartment. On this hatch, top right corner, is the red film window, used to tell what number frame the film is on.

Inside the film compartment is the film holder/carrier, also made from cardboard and has some damage.

 And just like the Model 1, the user must pull the winding key out to release the holder, so that it can be taken out and loaded with film. Loading the film seems to be similar to loading film into the Model 1.

Then inside the film compartment is the lens, behind the shutter as mentioned above. According to Eckman (2016), the lens is a single element meniscus lens (see KODAK Pocket Instamatic 10 Camera post), with an unknown focal length.

 But according to Solomon (2017), that is a fixed focus lens, that “can only shoot from ten feet onwards…” but if we go back to Eckman (2016), who states that the focal length probably is 75mm, with a focus range of eight feet to infinity on the smallest f/stop and only goes up to ten feet to infinity when on the last two large f/stop settings. But both focus ranges of eight and ten aren’t exactly the best, because as both Eckman (2016) and Solomon (2017) agree, this makes close up or portraits impossible (or at least incredibly difficult) to shoot.

The camera uses 120 film (see Agfa Clack Film camera post for more information) with “eight 2¼” x 3¼” exposures” (Eckman 2016). To learn how film works please see the Kodak 200 Color Plus Film post.

Now it doesn’t seem that the Brownie No. 2 had a flash mount, but according to the manual, using a flash was possible with Kodak Flash Sheets, an equivalent to flash powder (Aperture Preview 2023). A flash sheet is a piece of paper, coated in highly flammable chemicals, that the user ignites with a match. Once the match touches the sheet it instantaneously burns up creating a bright flash.

Kodak Flash Sheets. Image Source: https://nwmangum.com/Kodak/images/FSheets-1.jpg

For more information on this camera, please check out the manual here:

https://www.cameramanuals.org/kodak_pdf/kodak_brownie_2.pdf 

And there it is, an amazing example of a box camera and a literal box at that. Simple and easy to use, with some drawbacks, but the design has definitely influenced the new brownie cameras. This camera is the perfect representation of the old saying of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (just add “only improve on it”).

And as always, thank you for making it to the end and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did researching it.    

If you want to help this site out, please consider joining my Patreon: patreon.com/OnlineCurator

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List of sources:

Aperture Preview. 2023. Kodak Vest Pocket Model B. https://www.aperturepreview.com/kodak-vest-pocket-model-b#:~:text=The%20shutter%20speeds%20were%20reduced,/11%20to%20f/32.&text=That%20is%20all%20for%20the,including%20a%20case%20and%20cosmetics.

BCG Film and Photography. No. 2 Brownie. https://www.brownie-camera.com/53.shtml

Eckman, M. 2016. Kodak No. 2 Brownie Model D (1914). https://mikeeckman.com/2016/10/kodak-no-2-brownie-model-d-1914/

Film Cameras. 2019. Kodak No. 2 and No. 2A Brownie: How to use - Video manual. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nk2jPa53kA

Grey, J. 2014. Kodak No. 2 Brownie, Model D. https://blog.jimgrey.net/2014/08/18/kodak-no-2-brownie-model-d/

Grey, J. 2019. Kodak No. 2 Brownie, Model F. https://blog.jimgrey.net/2019/02/15/kodak-no-2-brownie-model-f/

Kohl, N. 2017. Kodak No. 2 Brownie. https://kohlweb.com/essays/2017/10/kodak-no-2-brownie/

Peggy. 2019. Kodak Browne No. 2. https://cameragocamera.com/2019/07/27/kodak-box-brownie-no-2/

Purcell, D. 2020. No 2 Brownie Camera Eastman Kodak Co. / Canadian Kodak Co. / Kodak Ltd. http://redbellows.co.uk/CameraCollection/Kodak/No2Brownie_gen.htm

Solomon, J. 2017. Kodak Brownie No. 2 Camera Review – Shooting a Hundred-Year-Old Film Camera. https://casualphotophile.com/2017/02/05/kodak-brownie-no-2-camera-review-shooting-a-hundred-year-old-film-camera/

Rondo Colormatic

Sticking with eye catching cameras, this post will be looking at a rather unusual, but still cool, colour correcting camera, the Rondo Colormatic.

As with most posts we will start with the company, which funny enough is similar to the Eugen Ising Pucky I Flex Camera, in that there is almost no information on the company that made the Colormatic. It seems that according to the manual, the Ronod Colormatic was made by the Ronod Company Ltd., but further research shows that this could be a subsidiary or at least the new name of the company, because the real company the owned the Rondo brand was “Yamashita Shoten, Tokypo, active already in 1921; dealer and distributer of cameras; also owned brand name 'Rondo' under which it sold a variety of photographic products; also owned the 'Sun' brand name; became Chiyoda Shokai in 1946, based in Ginza, operating until 1950s; confusingly, KK Yamashita Yujiro Shoten began operating from 1950, quickly becoming Chuo-Shashin-yohin KK (Central Photo Supply Co) and used the brand name 'Rondo' from 1951-1959…” (Science Museum Group).

Just like the Eugen Ising Pucky I Flex Camera the company name, KK Yamashita Yujiro Shoten, suggest that the founder was Yamashita Yujiro. According to Camera-Wiki, the company was first a camera dealership, mostly selling cameras from Shinko, the most popular camera being the Shinkoflex.

Shinkoflex. Image Source: https://img.aucfree.com/350340287.1.jpg

 

The company name is also confusing as stated above, from the excerpt from the Science Museum Group. But it seems that (according to Camera-Wiki, so take it with a grain of salt), that the company might have first gone by the name Yamashita Shōten or Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, while being a dealership and was established by Yamashita Yūjirō and Hashimoto Tadamasa. This was before/during WWII and when they started selling their own cameras under the brand names Sun, such as the Sun Stereo Camera (1935) and Rondex, a range of folding cameras, such as the Tsubasa Super Semi (1940).

Sun Stereo Camera. Image Source: https://www.kesef.de/Auktion/bild1266c.jpg

Tsubasa Super Semi. Image Source: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Tsubasa_Super_Semi

But then after the war, they most likely changed the name to KK Yamashita Yujiro Shoten, then Chuo-Shashin-yohin KK or Central Photo Supply Co and possibly Ronod Company Ltd., which still acted as a dealership and distributor for other camera companies.

The reason why I believe they went with the name Ronod Company Ltd., is that according to Camera-Wiki, “The most recent mention of the company found so far is dated February 1959…” but the Rondo brand still appeared on cameras between 1960-62, according to CollectiBlend (2024). This could have been when the company was feel the strain of the post-war economy and was on its last legs. But this is all speculation on my part, due to the fact that they “lasted long enough to export a basic camera model and multiple slide projector models to the United States market, both organizations were very short-lived…” (Rinker 2024).

These projectors also had the company name listed as Ronod Company Ltd., as seen on the 8mm Movie Editor/Projector’s box and user manual. But seeing that information on this company is so rare, it is safe to say that it no longer exists, or operates on a much smaller scale.

Now time to look at the object of this post, the Rondo Colormatic. This camera was released in 1961 (CollectiBlend 2024), although Ravasio (2021) states that it went even further back to the late 1950s. 

Just like the company that made it, I can’t really find any information on the Colormatic, so I will just jump in to talk about the camera itself. Starting with the front.

First the lens.

Which is a Fixed Rondonar-W F-35mm Color-Corrected lens. Let’s break that down. Rondonar, likely refers to that this lens, like the Nikkor lens from Nikon (see Coolpix L19 Compact camera and Nikon Coolpix S01 compact digital camera) is made by the Rondo company and the W is probably an indication that the lens is a wide-angle lens. This is confirmed by the manual that states: “Rondonar 35mm super wide-Angle Lens, color-corrected with excellent resolving power, giving amazingly sharp and clear images.”

But let’s go a bit further, which is the “plastic bubbles” surrounding the lens, known as selenium photo(-electric) cell (Ravasio 2021), which controls the aperture.

To simplify what a Selenium photo cell is here is an excerpt from Megatron (2010): “Selenium photo-electric cells convert the energy from the light falling on them directly into electrical energy. The advantage of selenium photo-voltaic cells over other cells is that their response is very close to that of the human eye; this makes them particularly suitable for use in light measuring instruments. Their efficiency as energy converters of the total spectrum is not as high as some other photocells, and so they are not used as solar cells.”

As well as an excerpt from the Oxford Reference (2024):

“Either of two types of photoelectric cell; one type relies on the photoconductive effect, the other on the photovoltaic effect (see photoelectric effect). In the photoconductive selenium cell an external e.m.f. must be applied; as the selenium changes its resistance on exposure to light, the current produced is a measure of the light energy falling on the selenium. In the photovoltaic selenium cell, the e.m.f. is generated within the cell. In this type of cell, a thin film of vitreous or metallic selenium is applied to a metal surface, a transparent film of another metal, usually gold or platinum, being placed over the selenium. Both types of cell are used as light meters in photography.” 

A selenium photo-electric cell is mostly used on lightmeters, such as the Minox 8x11 Lightmeter and the ROWI Selenium Lightmeter. But here it is on the lens directly to control the aperture to automatically get the best picture in different lighting conditions, thus correcting the colour.

Minox 8x11 Lightmeter. Image Source: https://butkus.org/chinon/flashes_meters/minox_light_meter/minox_2.jpg

ROWI Selenium Lightmeter. Image Source: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/EfoAAOSwrG5hCnBv/s-l400.jpg

But the Colormatic isn’t the only Rondo camera to have this accessory. Other Rondo cameras include the Rondomatic and the Rondo Harmony.

Rondomatic. Image Source: https://corsopolaris.net/supercameras/35mmwide/Rondomatic_1.jpg

Rondo Harmony. Image Source: https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/images/Rondo-Camera-Harmony.jpg

In fact, Rondo isn’t even the only camera company to include a selenium photo-electric cell in the camera’s design. There are many, such as the Olympus Pen EE, Olympus Trip 35, the Dust Automatica, Kowa H, Agfa Optima, Kodak Retinette IIA and Olympus Auto-Eye. 

Collection of selenium photo-electric cell cameras.
Image Source: https://www.35mmc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/alwaysthesun-1.jpg

Rondo wasn’t even the first, for the first camera to have a selenium photo cell was the Contax III, in 1936 (Pattison 2020).

Contax III. Image Source: https://foticoscollection.com/storage/media/24050/conversions/iMenU_orig-zoom.jpg

The Rondo Colormatic’s selenium photo cell, “which forms the lens facia…” (Camera-Wiki) is connected to a trapped-needle, which is an “exposure system is used in several popular cameras (examples include the Olympus Trip 35, the Paxina Electromatic, and one model of the Mansfield Skylark). It is one mechanism by which auto-exposure can be achieved using a selenium meter. The voltage of the selenium cell deflects the needle of a galvanometer. The lens aperture, often formed by just two shaped blades, is spring-loaded so that when the shutter-release is pressed, it begins to close (or in some versions of the mechanism, begins to open). The needle of the galvanometer obstructs this motion (this may be achieved, for example, by one blade of the aperture having a stepped metal plate attached to it, which projects up toward the meter needle), so that the light value determines the aperture...” (Camera-Wiki)

But this seems to only be when the Colormatic is set to automatic. For on top of the lens barrel is two sides, indicated by an M (manual) and A (automatic).

The M side allows the user to set the f/stop and therefore the aperture. It can be set to an f/stop of 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and 22.

The A side is used to set the lens to the ASA (ISO) or DIN to the film’s ISO indication. This then most likely sets the trapped-needle and selenium photo-electric cell mechanism in play.

To get a better understanding, here is a screenshot from the manual:

Page 10 & 11 from the manual.

There are no focus settings, meaning that the Colormatic has a fixed focus of 35mm (Ravasio 2021).

On the side of the lens is the shutter release/lever.

 

The shutter seems to be a leaf shutter and has a speed of 1/50 second with a one stroke releasing system, according to the manual. The shutter also, like the Eugen Ising Pucky I Flex Camera, locks the shutter to prevent double exposure, only unlocking once the film has been advanced to the next frame.

Above the lens on the right is the viewfinder, which has a yellow border that helps indicate if there is sufficient light. But it is also not above the lens, which can cause problems (see KODAK Pocket Instamatic 10 Camera).

On the side of the camera is the flash sync socket (Ravasio 2021), where a flash is attached to sync the bulb with the shutter through a PC flash connector (see Eugen Ising Pucky I Flex Camera). 

Page 16 from the manual.

On top of the camera…

Is the film advance lever and the film counter, that must be pushed down when rewinding the film.

A cold shoe plate.

The film rewinding handle, to well… rewind the film.

Back of the camera is the viewfinder and the insufficient light indicator, that shows a red line to warn the user that the light exposure is too low and once that is corrected, the red line disappears indicating that the exposure is ok and the shot can be taken.

 

Page 6 from the manual.

Now underneath the camera…

Is the tripod/wrist strap socket.

Page 16 of the manual.

Next to that is the back cover opener, which like the Agfa Clack Film camera, opens the film compartment, by splitting the camera in two, when it is twisted towards the O (for open, shocker!) and then closed when the two pieces are put back together and the opener is twisted toward the C (for closed, who would have guessed?).

To learn more about this camera, check out the manual:

https://www.cameramanuals.org/pdf_files/rondo_rondomatic_35.pdf

The camera takes 35mm film. To learn about this film please see my Kodak 200 Color Plus Film post.

Other things to note is that the Colormatic “has a metal body and a plastic barrel…” and has a frame size of 24x36 (Ravasio 2021).

This camera is both the simplest and complicated camera that anyone can use. Just like the Pucky I, the Colormatic seems to be well known, but yet no one knows anything about it! But other than that, it is an interesting looking camera that catches many people off guard with its lens.

Thanks for making it to the end and as always, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did researching it.

If you want to help this site out, please consider joining my Patreon: patreon.com/OnlineCurator

https://patreon.com/OnlineCurator?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Please see the Please help this site post on this blog, for more information.

If you want to help in another way, well I have opened a shop on Displate, where you can own a piece of the Online Museum. There I will have the drawings you see at the start of every blog which you can now buy and proudly display in your home.

As of this post there is only one poster, but more will be coming soon, so please keep this link booked marked:

https://displate.com/BFennSW?art=66e809bf952d9  

List of sources:

Camera-Wiki. Rondo Colormatic. http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Rondo_Colormatic

Camera-Wiki. Trapped Needle. http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Trapped_needle#:~:text=A%20trapped%2Dneedle%20exposure%20system,light%20value%20determines%20the%20aperture.

Camera-Wiki. Yamashita. http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Yamashita#:~:text=(Image%20rights)-,Postwar%20period,an%20advertisement%20in%20Ars%20Camera.

CollectiBlend. 2024.Yamashita. https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Rondo-Camera/

Megatron. 2010. Selenium Photo-Electric Cells. https://otc.co.uk/megatron/selenium/index.html#:~:text=Selenium%20photo%2Delectric%20cells%20convert,use%20in%20light%20measuring%20instruments.

Oxford Reference. Selenium Cell. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100453399#:~:text=In%20this%20type%20of%20cell,as%20light%20meters%20in%20photography.

Pattison, C. 2020. Always the Sun – In Admiration of the Selenium Cell Compact Camera – By Chris Pattison. https://www.35mmc.com/17/08/2020/always-the-sun-in-admiration-of-the-selenium-cell-compact-camera-by-chris-pattison/

Ravasio, L. 2021. Rondo Colormatic. https://www.fuorifuoco.it/rondo-colormatic/

Rinker, H. 2024. Rondo [Film Projectors]. https://www.worthpoint.com/dictionary/p/tools/manufacturer-film/rondo-film-projectors

Science Museum Group. Yamashita. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp135808