The Brownie Camera Page | Hacker News Reader

The Brownie Camera Page

brownie-camera.com

30 pointsbrudgers10 comments

I have a Brownie Hawkeye stashed away. Solid, smooth, and bulletproof. I'm hoping someday, my grandkids will have access to some actual film and someone who can develop it, so they can play with it.

Anyway, if you look in the junk shops, the going rate on those seems to be about $24, which might be surprisingly low until you realize how many were made. Millions?

$24 doesn't seem that low considering how limited brownies are. For that money you should be able to find a basic MF folding camera that'll give you a lot more control over your picture and fits nicely in your pocket(edit: well, coat pocket).

Yes, but at this point, the Brownie is a cultural icon and a working camera. $24 is pretty OK for that.

Props to the FPP for selling film adapters https://filmphotographystore.com/collections/film-related-ac...

Waiting for a MF digital sensor that uploads the pic to a smarthphone. That would be instagramming in style.

I don't thinks its value is in it's picture-taking capabilities which are quite crude by modern standards. Any value it may have is based upon it collectability and rareness. Based on that valuation, it doesn't seem to be either collectable nor rare. In that case, its probably more of a nostalgia item.

I've shot numerous rolls of 120 through my Hawkeye, spooling onto a 620 reel. While the image quality leaves something to be desired the camera itself is beautifully designed and so dirt simple that you never have to worry about anything malfunctioning. Folding cameras are technically superior but quite fiddly and prone to issues with lubricants turning to glue.

Is nobody at all making film anymore? I know the big companies have all moved on to digital but I figured there had to be a niche market for film.

There's actually a resurgence in film making. A bunch of small film makers are starting production again (ADOX and Ferrania come to mind) and Kodak recently reintroduced T-Max P3200 and is in the process of ramping up Ektachrome production.

Some Brownies use the physical format of 620 film. It is no longer manufactured.[1] People can respool 620 spindles from commercially available 120 physical format.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/120_film#Other_similar_6_cm_ro...

This is a topic where a big chunk of the highest-quality information is available only offline. A recent book has an entire chapter (22 pages) about the history of Brownie cameras:

Old Fields: Photography, Glamour, and Fantasy Landscape by John R. Stilgoe (2014), ISBN 978-0-8139-3515-7.

This has a side question: is there a business model for curated information about what ISN'T online (not even in Google Books)? I want a product that intercepts my Google web searches and tells me "You're wasting your time. Searches for this topic prove satisfactory in only 12% of cases. Consider buying some books or hiring an expert."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com