The Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera is another fairly simple box cameras from Kodak. Thousands must have been made as I see them all the time at flea markets and garage sales. It has a single shutter speed that I guess is around 1/45, as well as a bulb setting for long exposures. The single aperture looks to be around f/16. The flash version of this camera enjoyed a long run being produced from around 1950-1961 according to McKeown. It produces 6x6cm images on 620 film.
There is a small park and playground that within walking distance of my apartment, so I decided to take the camera over there one grey afternoon to put it through it's paces. The light was an almost perfect match to the single aperture and shutter speed combination the camera is limited to.
Ohioblack and whiteclassic cameraketteringkodak brownie hawkeyeneopan acrosplaygroundrodinaltoytrain
I was surprised by the general sharpness of the images produced by the simple lens. I thought the shots would have been much softer than the final results, which seems to beat the results I get from what should be superior cameras. There was only a little vignetting that is barely noticeable on the negatives and not too apparent on the scans..
Ohioblack and whiteclassic cameraketteringkodak brownie hawkeyeneopan acrosplaygroundrodinalswings
Thanks to the small aperture, the camera has nice, deep depth of field as you can see here.
Ohioblack and whiteclassic cameraketteringkodak brownie hawkeyeneopan acrosrodinalsign
February 2011
Neopan Acros at 80 ISO developed in Rodinal 1+50Ohioblack and whiteclassic cameraketteringkodak brownie hawkeyeneopan acrosrodinaltree
