Kodak Baby Brownie Special

8 My Vintage Camera Collection

Kodak Baby Brownie Special 1939-1954

The Kodak Baby Brownie Special is a solid body eyelevel roll film camera produced from September 1939 until 1954. This camera has a film size of 127mm and a picture size of 1 ⅝ x 2 ½. It had a rotary shutter and a meniscus lens. This camera was largely a replacement for the Kodak Baby Brownie, adding an optical viewfinder. The body was made in two halves out of molded plastic and is held together by a sliding latch on either side for film loading. The front panel carried the shutter, lens and film transport; the back box just the viewfinder. The normal Baby Brownie was even more basic with flip-up metal brackets instead of the Special’s optical viewfinder and a shutter release lever very similar to the one seen on the Six-20 Bull’s Eye.

Fun Fact: The camera originally cost $1.25 which is equivalent to around $20 today.

My Vintage Camera Collection 9