No.3B Quick Focus Kodak Camera. 1906 - 10

Before exclusively acquiring early wood and brass cameras, some delightful 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.

For a while I went through a “Kodak” phase and looked for innovative cameras, and this No.3B Quick Focus Kodak (Model C) had a wonderfully quirky design. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary leather covered box camera with a carrying handle and small viewing lenses. But it had a special feature that, in practice, made it very novel.

The photographer would estimate the distance to the subject and then turn a dial on the side of the body to correspond with the focusing distance; in effect presetting the focus. Upon pushing the shutter button, the front of the camera popped out to the proper focus point and a picture was taken!

Oddly, it worked surprisingly well and I found the camera amusing. The $12.00 Quick Focus Kodak is a very uncommon model and only about 9,000 were made. The 10 exposure film cartridge made 3¼ x 5½ inch pictures.