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Which Board? => Main Forum => Topic started by: astrobeck on July 28, 2014, 11:17:05 PM

Title: Old Kodak glass question
Post by: astrobeck on July 28, 2014, 11:17:05 PM

A question for the all knowing Filmwasters...

I have a few old Kodak Brownies and was wondering if Kodak actually made the glass lenses for them, or were they outsourced?
Did the ones made in the UK make the lenses there, or were they made elsewhere...so many things to wonder about!    :)

The reason for my question is just out of curiosity, since I have an old Kodak Hawkeye cartridge #2 Model C that is tack sharp and only has a meniscus lens.  It was apparently made in 1926, and the lens is very clear and free of scratches and fungus.

Thanks!

Title: Re: Old Kodak glass question
Post by: Bryan on July 28, 2014, 11:50:25 PM

Camerapedia has a great article on Kodak lenses.  It sounds like some where made by kodak and others were outsourced.

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kodak_lenses (http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kodak_lenses)

Title: Re: Old Kodak glass question
Post by: Francois on July 29, 2014, 03:46:24 PM

As far as I know, they had facilities to make the lenses. Lets not forget that for a long time Kodak lenses were considered the best in the world.
Even the very early Hasselblads came with Kodak lenses! Hasselblad actually dropped Kodak because they were too expensive and opted for the much cheaper Carl Zeiss lenses... that really sounds like an aberration these days but it was like that in the far distant past.

Eventually when German engineering became "acceptable" after the war, Kodak did use lenses from Schneider notably on the Retinette 2A.

But for the rest, I believe it was mostly Kodak all the way in their equipment.
Kodak was a vertically integrated company. They had factories that produced parts, chemicals, films and so on.

Title: Re: Old Kodak glass question
Post by: astrobeck on July 29, 2014, 05:32:45 PM

Thanks guys!    :)

I guess I'll just call my brownie the

Brownie Blad as it has reasonably sharp optics considering it was a cheap camera back in the day....

attached is a photo from the critter. 

Title: Re: Old Kodak glass question
Post by: Bryan on July 29, 2014, 06:12:31 PM

The Kodak Anaston lens is by no means their highest quality lens but I've always liked the results I get from it.  It's a triplet lens from the 1940's.

This is from my Kodak Tourist II with a Kodak Anaston Lens.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5535/12040880973_ac7195305c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/jm1Eq6)Old Machinery in Plain, WA (https://flic.kr/p/jm1Eq6) by bac1967 (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

This is from my Vigilant Six-20 also with a Kodak Anaston lens.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8386/8530553648_b3341b0444.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/dZPjpb)Space Needle (https://flic.kr/p/dZPjpb) by bac1967 (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr