Kodak No. 2 Flexo (c. 1899–1903)
The No. 2 Flexo is an unusual Kodak box camera. Most boxes of the era were rigid wooden affairs with a hinged back. This one has wooden side panels connected by the leather covering, and the leather itself is the hinge. The removable sides and back simply fold open for loading. The Science Museum Group Collection describes it as a box camera for 101 roll film, producing 3½ × 3⅓-inch exposures through an achromatic lens. It has a rotating plate with three apertures, a rotary shutter with time and instantaneous settings, and a circular reflecting finder. Overall dimensions are listed at 120 mm × 112 mm × 152 mm.
Kodak introduced the No. 2 Flexo in 1899 as a lower-cost alternative to its popular No. 2 Bull's-Eye. It replaced the earlier Falcon. The collector record disagrees on production dates. The Science Museum Group Collection gives 1899-1903, while other sources extend production to 1913. Everyone agrees it is a turn-of-the-century model. The No. 2 Plico was the UK-market version of the same camera. The original price appears to have been $5, though surviving documentation does not always specify currency.
The record is thin beyond that. No detailed shutter speed data, no weight, no user reception from the period, and no market pricing from contemporary listings have surfaced. What is known comes largely from museum records and collector descriptions. They agree on the essentials: an affordable rollfilm box camera from the earliest years of Kodak's consumer market. The leather-hinged opening mechanism is its most distinctive feature.
- Box camera for 101 roll film, 3½ × 3⅓-inch exposures
- Achromatic lens; rotating plate with three apertures; rotary shutter (T/I)
- Circular reflecting finder; leather-hinged wooden panels
- Dimensions: 120 mm × 112 mm × 152 mm
- Introduced 1899; production dates variously given as 1899-1903 or 1899-1913
- Original price: $5
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