Kodak No. 2 Stereo Brownie Camera (1905–1910)
The No. 2 Stereo Brownie is one of the more elusive cameras in Kodak's early catalog. It's a stereoscopic folding rollfilm camera, introduced in April 1905 and made in the US until 1910, with only about 4,000 units produced. The case is wood covered in imitation leather. The bellows are twin red ones, the lensboard is wood, and the fittings are brass. Period descriptions call it a "pretty instrument," with the wooden lensboard and brass shutters standing out against the red bellows. It was fitted with two meniscus achromat lenses and a brilliant finder with hood, plus sliding focusing with automatic stop. Early examples (from April 1905) used the Brownie Automatic shutter. From April 1906 onward, the Pocket Automatic was used. A pneumatic shutter release came in from serial number 101H.
The camera used Kodak's No. 125 roll film and made 3¼ × 2½-inch pictures, a pair of stereo exposures per frame. Some sources describe the format differently. One dealer cites two 7×8.5cm stereo exposures per roll, and another calls it a camera for 10cm-wide rollfilm. The 125 film and 3¼ × 2½-inch figures from the Brownie Camera Page are the most commonly repeated, so those are the ones used here. Shutter details vary a bit too. Some sources list a "Stereo Brownie Automatic" with T, B, and 1/50 sec settings. The Brownie Camera Page's timeline (Brownie Automatic for the first year, Pocket Automatic thereafter) is the most specific and credible.
The No. 2 Stereo Brownie is related to the Stereo Weno from the Blair Camera Company, a connection noted by Historic Camera. It sits alongside the Kodak Stereo No. 1 in Kodak's early stereo lineup. The camera was priced at $12 when new, which made it an accessible entry into stereo photography for the era.
Today the No. 2 Stereo Brownie is a collectible. Kodak collectors and stereo collectors both look for one, and they don't turn up often. A pair of examples, serial numbers 673-H and 687-H, just 14 numbers apart and both in very good original condition, sold at Leitz Auction for €540 including buyer's premium. That gives a sense of the current market for a good example, though single-camera sales are harder to pin down.
The record on this model is otherwise thin. No weight or dimensions are documented, no aperture data survives, and there's no information on common mechanical issues or maintenance.
- Type: Stereoscopic folding rollfilm camera
- Introduced: April 1905
- Discontinued: 1910
- Original price: $12
- Numbers made: ~4,000
- Film: No. 125 roll film
- Picture size: 3¼ × 2½ inches
- Lens: Two meniscus achromats
- Shutter: Brownie Automatic (1905), Pocket Automatic (1906–10)
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