Kodak No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak (1903–1915)
The Kodak No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak was Eastman Kodak's first postcard-format camera. Introduced in 1903 and sold until 1915, it was a folding rollfilm camera taking 122 film, which produces 3¼ × 5½-inch images - the same proportions as a postcard of the era. The Science Museum Group describes it as a "folding camera for 122 rollfilm 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches."
Several variants carried the 3A name, which muddies the record. Surviving examples are identified as Model B-2, B-4, B-5, Model C, and Model D. The sources available don't document the differences between these sub-models. The Model C is better known. The Science Museum Group's example has a Bausch and Lomb rapid rectilinear lens, an automatic shutter with speeds of 1/2/5/25/100 plus B and T, an aperture range of f/4 to f/128, and a pneumatic release valve. A Pacific Rim Camera Catalog listing for the same model notes the shutter was "working although occasionally sticky in bulb mode" and that the advance was "not uni-directional." Some listings describe red bellows, and the camera was commonly sold with an original leather case.
Anyone thinking of shooting one today has a problem. 122 film is no longer manufactured, though expired stock can occasionally be found. As Art Deco Cameras puts it, the film "is still available as expired film but difficult to find."
Reproduction instruction manuals surface periodically. A 1908 edition has been listed at $12.00 and a 1913 edition at $9.38, which brackets the production period of at least some variants between those years. Beyond that, the documentation is thin. No original price, no dimensions or weight, no details on what distinguishes the B models from the C and D, and no period reviews have surfaced in the research. The camera appears in collector listings mostly as-is, untested, or with condition notes like the sticky shutter mentioned above.
Known specs (Model C, per Science Museum Group):
- Film: 122 rollfilm, 3¼ × 5½-inch exposures
- Lens: Bausch and Lomb rapid rectilinear
- Shutter: automatic, 1/2/5/25/100/B/T, with pneumatic release
- Aperture: f/4 to f/128
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