Kodak Pocket Kodak (1895–1900)
The Pocket Kodak shows up in auction listings more often than in the historical record. Announced in 1895, it was the second smallest box camera Kodak ever made. It used roll film with a small window for reading the exposure positioning numbers. That sounds obvious now, but cameras before this era typically had to be loaded in the dark. It took 102 roll film and made 1½ × 2 inch images through a single fixed-aperture lens. The rotary shutter (T/I settings) sits on a separate wooden panel, and a circular reflecting finder is mounted on top.
The model changed a little in its first years. The early 1895 type had a red covering. The 1896 model switched to brown leather with a square viewfinder opening on top. From 1896 until production ceased in 1900, the Pocket Kodak stayed largely unchanged and came only in the black leather finish. The Science Museum Group Collection holds an example described as a "box camera for 102 rollfilm" with a black finish, and period sources confirm the exposure-counting window was part of the design from the start. A Catawiki listing for an early 1896 example called it "the wanted early model with black leather covering and its original carrying case from Paris, France," and described it as a rare collectible for photography enthusiasts.
Surviving information is thin. No original price, no detailed shutter speed data, no dimensions beyond the film format, and no period reviews have surfaced. The Pocket Kodak sits between the dark-loaded plate cameras that came before it and the daylight-loading roll-film conventions that followed. It is also distinct from the Folding Pocket Kodak that Kodak marketed in 1898, which is considered the ancestor of all modern roll-film cameras. The Pocket Kodak is the simpler, boxier predecessor, and it survives today mostly through the collector market.
- Film format: 102 rollfilm, 1½ × 2 inches
- Lens: single, fixed aperture
- Shutter: rotary, T/I, on separate wooden panel
- Viewfinder: circular reflecting finder
- Finish: brown leather (1896 model); early 1895 type had red covering
- Production: 1895–1900
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