Critique Welcomed A Favorite

[Brian Moore]

One of my favorite cameras. It's the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash model.

Introduced in 1949. Production ended in 1961. Made of Bakelite, the camera was designed to use 620 film.

I read somewhere, I think, that 620 film was an attempt by Kodak to enhance film sales. 620 film is basically 120 on a smaller diameter spool. Kodak designed cameras, such as the Hawkeye Flash you see here, to take only the smaller diameter spools of the 620 film, thus guaranteeing enhanced Kodak film sales. (The Bastards!)

But the Kodak designers erred with the Hawkeye flash. On these cameras you can use 120 film (on a 120 spool) in the delivery side. You only need a 620 spool for take-up. (They may have corrected this error in later production cameras, but I have 5 of them and all can use 120 film.)

I took this picture with my scanner.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Brilliant stuff! This looks like one of those promo shots when Canon or Leica or someone is about to unveil their latest creation
Apparently, if you use pair of nail clippers or similar on the protruding plastic spool rims of a 120 roll, you csn get it to fit a 620 space. I've yet to try this myself, but I intend to do so, as I've got an old Ensign Ful Vue to try at some point. I'd be interested to see what comes from that Kodak.

 

[Brian Moore]

Brilliant stuff! This looks like one of those promo shots when Canon or Leica or someone is about to unveil their latest creation
Apparently, if you use pair of nail clippers or similar on the protruding plastic spool rims of a 120 roll, you csn get it to fit a 620 space. I've yet to try this myself, but I intend to do so, as I've got an old Ensign Ful Vue to try at some point. I'd be interested to see what comes from that Kodak.

Thanks Ralph. By the way I've tried the spool-clipping routine and it was pretty frustrating. Maybe you'll have better luck. (I've also wound 120 onto a 620 spool; that went OK.)

 

[Brian Moore]

@Ralph Turner here is one from the Brownie Hawkeye Flash. This is my dog, Sadie, sometime pre-2014.

My first Hawkeye Flash had acquired quite a lot of grime in it's 50-60 odd year history so I removed the lens and viewfinder and cleaned them in soap and water. The lens is a simple, glass meniscus lens. When I replaced it I made sure the convex side was facing out. When I developed my first roll I found that all the photos had the effect you see here,...blurry around the edges and sharper toward the center. I had put the lens in backwards! But I quite liked the effect so I kept it that way in that particular Hawkeye Flash. I subsequently read somewhere that in cameras with the lens behind the shutter diaphragm, as the Hawkeye's is, it is the concave side that should face out. I do not know if that is true, but it's what I read.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Nice one! The sharp fall off of sharpness is quite effective, works well here. Yes, I'd read similar. Another old box camera I have recently acquired (yes, another one, I'm afraid), a May Fair made by Houghton Butcher, has the lens behind the shutter, concave side facing outward. I believe a slightly better performance can be gleaned from a meniscus with it in this configuration. You might find the following website interesting. He talks about the meniscus near the beginning.

Optical Lens Design Forms: An Ultimate Guide to the types of lens design

This Guide is a birds-eye-view of all the optical systems and lens design forms out there, and will be an essential tool for any lens designer's toolbox.

www.pencilofrays.com

 

[Brian Moore]

Nice one! The sharp fall off of sharpness is quite effective, works well here. Yes, I'd read similar. Another old box camera I have recently acquired (yes, another one, I'm afraid), a May Fair made by Houghton Butcher, has the lens behind the shutter, concave side facing outward. I believe a slightly better performance can be gleaned from a meniscus with it in this configuration. You might find the following website interesting. He talks about the meniscus near the beginning.

Optical Lens Design Forms: An Ultimate Guide to the types of lens design

This Guide is a birds-eye-view of all the optical systems and lens design forms out there, and will be an essential tool for any lens designer's toolbox.

www.pencilofrays.com

There's a lot of lens info in that article Ralph.