My First Vintage Camera

The Kodak Autographic is the first really old camera I bought. I found this in a consignment store a few years ago being sold for $40. It was in pristine condition and came with it’s original leather case. I didn’t really know how it worked but I knew I had to have it. Little did I know it would kick off a passion for collecting, fixing and shooting with vintage cameras.

The Autographic System

The No. 1 Autographic Kodak Special Camera, Model B (pictured above) was only produced for a few months in 1921, but there were also lot’s of other Autographic models produced from 1915-1935 which you can find on eBay from anywhere between $20 - $40 depending on year and of course condition. The less expensive models have cheaper lenses and less options for aperture and shutter speeds.

Nearly all the larger models use 120 roll film which is still readily available. The smaller sizes use 127 roll, which you can find but with a darkroom you also have the option of rolling standard 35mm film onto 127 rolls. The Model-B is the more advanced version with a Wollensak lens and shutter speeds of up to 300 with aperture settings from f4.6 — f32.

The Autographic system was launched in 1914 by Kodak. The idea being that the a photographer could add written information, such as date, or place on the film at the time of exposure.

The system was patented by Henry Jaques Gaisman. Gearge Eastman purchased the rights in the US for $300,000. Unlike other roll films the autographic films had a tissue-like carbon paper sandwiched between the film and the paper backing allowing information to be etched onto the film.

Text was entered using a metal stylus, and would appear in the margin of the processed print. Luckily all the Autographics I’ve purchased have had the stylus still attached. It fits pretty snugly, although if you do lose it and want to replace it, replacement stylus are easy to find online. It turns out the Autographic system was never very popular, and was discontinued in 1932. Although considering the number of Autographics that are available I would speculate that the cameras were popular for taking pictures but the Autographic function must not have been used much. The latter model Kodak folding cameras I own are pretty similar in style to the Autographic just with out the Autographic system in place.

Shooting with the Autographic

Typical of folding cameras the Autographic uses a viewfinder offset from the lens for viewing and framing the shot. It’s meant for lining up a shot rather than actual viewing and like all rangefinders suffers from parallax error which you can correct as you learn it’s limitations. The viewfinder can be turned to the side as well for shooting horizontally and in the vertical position there is a small stand to keep the camera upright. The aperture and speed settings are on the front of the lens. The shutter has to be cocked with a lever to one side of the lens and fired with either a button or an attached trigger.

After finally taking out and cleaning the lenses I ran some B&W film through the camera on a weekend trip in the wine country in Sonoma California. Here are a few shots from that roll showing a very soft focus in the lower light. I think some of this is from the lenses being compromised but some of the effect comes from the camera setup itself. One thing to note is that the viewfinder is not the best and keeping things in frame can be challenging. Other than that I love this camera.

Sonoma Wine Country with the Autographic