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home - list of brownie cameras - No.3 Brownie

No.3 Brownie

Type: Box rollfilm
Introduced: Nov 1908
Discontinued: 1934
Film size: 124
Picture size: 3 1/4 X 4 1/4"
Manufactured: US
Lens: Meniscus achromat
Shutter: Rotary
Numbers made: Probably over 1,000,000 (470,000 before 1921)
Original price: $4.00

Description:
This camera is the basic leatherette covered card case design. The case is removed for loading film by releasing two pivoted catches and pulling out winding key to expose the metal film carrier. It has two reflecting viewfinders and tripod sockets. On the top front of the camera are slide-outs for a bulb(time) setting and f/holes.

Variations:
Aug 1911: "Model B" was added to the name. Additionally, the lens board had internal changesdone. Aug 1917: The film tension springs were adjusted to bear on spool ends rather than the center of the film.
Oct 1917: New case latches, with rounded milled ends, were added.
1920: A trigger guard was fitted.
1926: The coarse grain leatherette covering was changed to a finer grain.


Fun Facts:
The No.3 Brownie used 124 film and produced a very large negative perfect for contact printing. This camera was marketed with the idea of grabbing the business of vacationers. This demographic would flock to places like Coney Island, where photographers would photograph them and, at the end of the day, produce a "post-card" print. This is one of the Brownies that did that very same thing, cheaper with a bit longer waiting time for the print, of course.

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