“Very Retro” said the shop assistant.
“Yes” said I.
I was to later find out that my Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic, as it’s also affectionately known as, appears to have been made sometime during 1921. So yes “very retro’. For a camera that is over 100 years old, I’m impressed with its condition. It was dusty when I purchased it, nothing a little tlc couldn’t sort out.
This was an incredible hit for Kodak. During the years 1912 through to the 1920’s it would receive a number of ‘tweaks’in terms of lenses and exterior looks. My particular version has a Rapid Rectilinear Lens and has the black ‘crackled’ finish on the body…. Oooo!
What makes this the ‘Autographic’ version is this little door, which when opened, allows you to ‘scratch’ notes on the backing paper of the 127 film that the camera takes. Sadly the stylus is missing on mine. The orange window can be twisted open, which then allowed me to cleaning the back lens element.
The vest pocket opened.
The film door has to be removed and the 127 film inserted, like a ‘scroll’, into the camera chamber.
Two shutter speeds are present on the VPK, 1/25th and 1/50th. I was interested to see what a hundred years has done to the shutter mechanism. So I took a movie of the shutter which you can view below.
What do you think? From this movie, even when slowed down, it looks to have only one shutter speed of around 1/50th. I could remove the shutter mechanism and clean/adjust, but I wanted to see if the camera worked properly first.
Looking closer at the shutter reveals three options:
- f8 Average View/Portrait
- f16 Distant View
- f32 Clouds/Marine View
It always intrigues me how the descriptions for the aperture stops are chosen by a camera manufacturer.
Of course you can move the aperture in between these setting but you are on your own when trying to gauge exposure.
For my first outing with the camera I decided to respool some 35mm film onto some 127 backing paper I had kept from a film I had developed here.
I couldn’t use the little glass viewfinder because I couldn’t see anything, so I found myself pointing the camera in the general direction of my subject and hoping for the best.
You can see just how foggy it was when I took these images
The lens definitely renders close objects better than it does distant ones.
I’m not sure what happened with the photo below. I may not have fully retracted the bellows out of the camera body.
I used f8 mostly because of the foggy conditions I found myself in, but the aperture operates freely which I was pleased about. I would like to try it on other apertures.
This truly is a point and shoot camera. It is easy to carry around …in …well..a pocket or bag. But it is also a piece of history. I am sooo pleased to have it. The results have encouraged me to try a ’real’ roll of 127 film. I have recently acquired a roll of Kodak Super XX which I mention here, that would be very appropriate to try. I just need the right occasion 🤔
arhphotographic 