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Thank you for the support. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming:
With
Christmas around the corner and everyone going on holiday, I thought I would
close this year’s blog entry with a camera that is aptly named for this
occasion. This post will be looking at the Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash.
I
already went through the history of Kodak in my 200
Color plus and Instamatic
Pocket 10 posts. And for the history of the Brownie series please see my Brownie
Model 1 post.
So
with that I will jump into the camera at hand. The Holiday Flash seems to be
based off of the Brownie Holiday camera, which was designed by Arthur Crapsey
(Camera-wiki). Crapsey was “…an influential camera designer working
for Eastman Kodak, who had a hand in a great many designs. After
graduating in Ceramic Design, he served in the US Air Force during World War
II. Invalided out after losing his legs, he became one of Kodak's first
industrial designers in 1945. Between 1948 and 1958 Crapsey was credited with
patents for a large number of cameras…” (Camera-wiki).
 |
| Kodak Brownie Holiday. Image Source: https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3324/3670649518_ec06edd276.jpg |
But
according to Camera-wiki and Mudd (2024) the cameras were both released in
1953. And both only lasted until 1962 (The Photo Nerd 2025). And according to BCG
Film and Photography the Holiday cameras started using Kodet lenses from
1953-1955 and then Dakon in 1955-1963. And on this camera we can see that it
says Kodet, meaning this camera came out somewhere in between 1952-1955.
But the
Brownie Holiday camera’s design wasn’t just used for the Flash version, but it
was used for the Brownie Bullet (1957), a “…promotional, or ‘premium’, exact
copy of the Brownie Holiday camera…” (BCG Film and Photography),
which is similar to the repurposed design of the Brownie
Model 1 and the No.2
Brownie Model D.
 |
| Kodak Brownie Bullet. Image Source: https://www.brownie-camera.com/13.jpg |
Although
the Bullet camera was labelled as Premium, it was actually a promotional item
with the “…purposes often by third-party companies to encourage customers to
take advantage of their goods or services. This illustrates marketing genius on
Kodak's part. A third-party company benefits by selling their own product, the
customer gets a free camera, and Kodak gains a new customer that will buy their
film and process it!” (BCG Film and Photography).
The
body of the Brownie Holiday was also sold under the name Brownie Chiquita
(Camera-wiki), the Camera Brownie Chiquita and the Camera Brownie Chiquita Flash
for the Brazilian market in 1957 (BCG Film and Photography).
 |
| Kodak Brownie Chiquita cameras. Image Source: https://www.brownie-camera.com/15-2.jpg |
Basically
what I am getting at is that the Brownie Holiday Flash is the same as the
Brownie Holiday, but with a flash attachment.
There
isn’t much else. Unlike the Beau
Brownie, the designer isn’t that well known and also Arthur Crapsey
designed many cameras between 1948-1958, so this camera kind of blends into the
sea of Brownie cameras. Similarly like the Instamatic
33.
But
as Mudd (2024), points out this camera was quite popular back in its day. And
honestly I can see why, because it is so easy to use, it is basically a 127
film point and shoot camera with four steps (wwwiebe 2019): “1. Point. 2. Shoot.
3. Forward. 4. Repeat.”
It
also appears that this camera and all its counter parts and variations came in
the same colour. And as for the name of the camera, I think it was named the
Holiday because of its simplistic point and shoot design. As well as its size
and weight, which is “7.6 cm H x 8.9 cm W x 6.4 cm D” (Science History
Institute 2025) and 295g (Kamera Store 2025), making it ideal to take on
vacation without taking up space or cumbersome to lug around.
This Holiday Flash came with the original box, although battered, is still pretty cool and eye catching with its iconic Kodak yellow (just like the Kodamatic 980L).
But
this box is just the camera, flash sold separately. If you wanted the flash
included one had to buy the bundle set known as the Holiday Flash Outfit (Chris
& Carol 2020).
 |
| Holiday Flash Outfit box. Image Source: https://yashicasailorboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/dscf7619.jpg |
 |
| Holiday Flash Outfit box contents. Image Source: https://yashicasailorboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/dscf7618.jpg |
And
as mentioned (in the Model
1 post), the name Brownie came from the Cox’s comics of the same name and featured
characters from the comics on the advertising and boxes of some of the Brownie
cameras. And for the Brownie Holiday Flash, one can find that a character, who
I am guessing is the Uncle Sam character (Kovel, K & Kovel, T 2021) by the
clothes that the character it is wearing, on the manual.
.png) |
| Holiday Flash Manual front cover. Image Source: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5accb37996e76f10e151b0f9/f96ccaf4-0eac-4fdf-b07f-9ab1fa6b270b/Holiday+Flash.jpg?format=2500w |
Anyway
let’s have a closer look at the camera itself. As mentioned it was released in
1953-1955 and we already know the weight and size. The body of this camera is “…brown
Bakelite combined with silver with red accents just screamed 1950’s…” (Mudd
2024) as well as a metal faceplate (The Photo Nerd 2025).
Now let’s start with the front.
It
has a Kodet 75mm lens with a fixed f/16 aperture. There isn’t much information
on the Kodet lens, but what I could find is that it is a lens that is mostly
used for beginner entry cameras, is most likely a “single meniscus type lens”
(Camera-wiki) and is a single element coated lens with a fixed focus (Dennis
2019) and “Glass lenses don't get much cheaper than this - designed for those
who didn't care to learn how to use a camera. These single element, fixed focus
lenses lacked any sort of diaphragm control and were an alternative to multiple
element adjustable lenses on the Tourist, Duaflex and numerous other
Kodak cameras…” (Camera-wiki).
 |
| Kodak Tourist. Image Source: https://cdn.assets.lomography.com/5d/15674824469f5b14306fc938c68bb90748c988/251x375x2.jpg?auth=3399cdfbec6504a1a3fab0e4efbbf1f349d4a99a |
 |
| Kodak Dualflex. Image Source: https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3356274181_b3434358bc_m.jpg |
The
fixed f/16 f/stop also suggests that when using the camera on a sunny day, the
user should use the Sunny 16 rule (see my Argus A2B
post).
Now
for the Holiday cameras with the Dakon lens, there also isn’t a lot of
information about this lens either, but all I found was that it according to
Google’s AI Overview and Kodak’s track record, the Dakon is probably also just
another single coated meniscus lens made in the 1950’s that was made from acrylic
plastic (Camera-wiki).
.png) |
| Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash with a Dakon lens. Image Source: https://kamerastore.com/products/kodak-brownie-holiday-flash#:~:text=Lens:%20Kodak%20~75cm%20~f16,Weight:%20295g |
Then
above the lens-
Is
the “Simple eye-level” viewfinder (The Photo Nerd 2025), which much like the Instamatic
50, 104,
the Kodak
35 RF and the Agfa
Issolette I, is small and annoying. Which makes the feature listed on the
box: “Large eye-level optical viewfinder” false!
On
top-
Is
the film advance knob.
And
next to that is the shutter button/release.
This
camera, like the other Brownie cameras (Brownie
Model 1, No.2
and Beau
Brownie, except for the Brownie 8mm 2.3
and 2.7)
as well as the Halina
Roy, Ensign
All-20 and the Agfa 54,
this camera has a Rotary shutter. This camera also has a single shutter speed
anywhere between 1/30 and 1/40 second (Kamera Store 2025).
On
the sides-
This
is where one can find the slide locks, which hold the film compartment cover in
place. And are released by just sliding it down until the cover is free.
These
slide locks are also where the neck strap is attached to.
But
on the right side in front of one of the locks is the “synchronized flash unit”
(The Photo Nerd 2025) and socket.
And
according to the manual, these cameras used the “Kodalite Midget; uses two 1
1/2-volt penlite batteries and M-2 lamps; socket adapter can be removed or use
with No. 5 or 25 lamps.”
 |
| Kodalite Midget Flash. Image Source: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7OMAAOSwt0phYIb4/s-l400.jpg |
On the back-
Is
the film compartment cover.
And
on this cover is the red film counter window.
And
above that is the small viewfinder.
The film compartment cover completely detaches from the main body, just like the box cameras, the Rondo Colormatic, the Agfa Clack and the Halina Roy.
Then
finally the film compartment-
This
compartment is similar to the Pucky
I and Beau
Brownie, in that the film carrier is attached to the main body and can’t be
removed. The only difference is that the Holiday Flash’s film carrier moves the
film horizontal (and moves right to left instead of left to right), instead of
vertical.
The Holiday flash takes 127 film, making it a mini-cam (please see my Falcon F post). This camera has a negative size of 4 x 6.5 cm and can take up to 8 photos with the 127 film.
And
to load the film is quite easy:
.png) |
| Pages 4-7 from the manual. |
To
learn about how film works, please see my 200
Color plus post.
And
that is that. Another perfect example of Kodak’s brilliance and promise to make
photography as easy as possible. If 127 film was still easily accessible, I
would recommend that those wanting to venture into film, use this camera.
But
just like the Instamatic cameras, getting the right film is going to be hard.
So I will stick to saying that the best starting point for new film
photographers are the point-and-shoot cameras, like the Sinpo
PQ-3, the Praktica
Sport AF or the Sounex
YN9000.
But
other than that, I really do love this camera. Its unique look and simple
premise makes me wish that 127 film was still as widely available as 35mm. But
if there was one thing I would change on the Holiday Flash, is that annoyingly
small “Large eye-level optical” viewfinder!
But
what are your thoughts? Do you think I am overreacting to the viewfinder? Do
you want 127 film to make a comeback or is 35mm good enough? Or should we just
let go of film already and embrace the digital age? Let me know in the
comments.
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:
BCG Film &
Photography. Brownie Bullet. https://www.brownie-camera.com/13.shtml
BCG Film &
Photography. Brownie Chiquita Camera Camara Brownie Chiquita Camara Brownie
Chiquita Flash. https://www.brownie-camera.com/15-2.shtml
BCG Film &
Photography. Brownie Holiday Brownie Holiday Flash. https://www.brownie-camera.com/28.shtml
Camera-wiki. Arthur H
Crapsey. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Arthur_H_Crapsey
Camera-Wiki. Kodak
Brownie Holiday. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Kodak_Brownie_Holiday#:~:text=From%20Camera%2Dwiki.org,by%20Sylvain%20Halgand%20(in%20French)
Camera-wiki. Kodak
Lenses. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Kodak_lenses
Chris & Carol. Kodak
Brownie Holiday Flash Outfit – 1956. https://yashicasailorboy.com/2020/01/25/kodak-brownie-holiday-flash-outfit-1956/
Dennis. 2019. … just
a couple of Tourists. https://oldcam.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/just-a-couple-of-tourists/
Kamera Store. 2025. Kodak
Brownie Holiday Flash – Camera. https://kamerastore.com/products/kodak-brownie-holiday-flash#:~:text=Lens:%20Kodak%20~75cm%20~f16,Weight:%20295g
Kovel, K & Kovel
T. 2021. Brownies cartoon characters featured on trade cards, rubber stamps. https://www.farmforum.net/story/news/2021/09/13/brownies-cartoon-characters-featured-trade-cards-rubber-stamps/8255040002/
Monroe County GenWeb.
Brownie Holiday Flash Manual. https://mcnygenealogy.com/book/kodak/brownie-holiday-flash-manual.pdf
Mudd, J. 2024. Another
1950's Bakelite Wonder – the Kodak Brownie “Holiday” Flash. https://www.jeremymuddphoto.com/blog/2023/7/26/another-1950s-bakelite-wonder-the-kodak-brownie-holiday-flash
Science History
Institute. 2025. Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash Camera 1954 – 1962. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/mk61rg95s
The Photo Nerd. 2025.
Kodak Holiday Flash. https://thephotonerd.ca/kodak-holiday-flash/
Wwwiebe. 2025. Brownie Holiday. https://actifit.io/wwwiebe/brownie-holiday
