No. 1A Autographic Kodak Special + rangefinder. 1921 Model

Before exclusively acquiring early wood and brass cameras, some delightful non-wood stuff made its way through my collection. While cleaning my archives, I came across pictures of cameras that once held honored places in my collection and, until now, forgotten.

For a while, I went through a “Kodak” phase and looked for cameras with innovative features. Although a rather dull looking camera - all black body, leather bellows with Bakelite side panels - this is a rather unusual Kodak roll film bellows camera because it includes a rangefinder at the base of the front standard (below the lens).

The rangefinder was very novel and, for some reason (in my opinion), not a lot were sold ... probably less than 2,500 internationally even though the No.1A Autographic Special (with rangefinder) appeared in catalogues from 1917 to 1925. I tried using the rangefinder and found it to be somewhat difficult which could be why there are so few of these.

The Velosto shutter mounted on this particular camera was unique to the U.K. market and only available in 1921.

I have only seen two other rangefinder models since selling this example a long time ago.