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Recently a friend saw my Kodak Brownie Hawkeye while visiting my house. He knew I collected and used vintage cameras, and he himself had an Argus C-3. Upon inspecting the Brownie-Hawkeye, he remarked that he didn’t know how to adjust the shutter speeds nor the lens aperture. I pointed out to him that there were no such controls and that perhaps the Brownie Hawkeye was the great grand-daddy of today’s point and shoot cameras! The Kodak Brownie Hawkeye is probably the "classic" box camera of the 1950s. Manufactured from 1949 through 1961, the Brownie Hawkeye featured a molded Bakelite body, brilliant viewfinder, a rotary shutter and a Meniscus single element lens that was in focus from 5 feet to infinity. The lens aperture is actually about f/22 and the single shutter speed is between 1/30 and 1/60 of a second, depending on the camera. With today’s wide latitude films, you can easily shoot modern films rated between ISO 100 and 400 in a Brownie Hawkeye. There is a provision for bulb exposure, but that seems a bit odd considering there is no tripod mount on the Brownie Hawkeye. The original Brownie Hawkeye retailed for $5.50 and the Flash model sold for $7.00. Accessories included a choice of two flash guns, a leatherette ever-ready case, a Kodak # 13 close up lens attachment, and a # 13 black & white high contrast filter. Today these cameras are available in abundance dirt-cheap on eBay and at flea markets and yard sales. Many vintage camera collectors/users avoid box cameras that take 620 film because of the unavailability of the now-discontinued film format. Believe it or not, the unavailability of 620 film is not an impediment to anyone who wants to use a Brownie Hawkeye, as there are several ways around the problem. First of all, you can still buy "620" film, (but at a pretty high price…$8.00 to $12.00 for a 12-exposure roll) from online retailer Film For Classics. They carry a variety of fresh black and white and color film on 620 spools. If you are a little resourceful, you can use readily available 120 film in your Brownie Hawkeye. 120 film is the exact same size as 620 film, including the spacing of the exposure numbers on the backing paper, but the 120 spool is a bit larger than the 620 spool. The larger diameter of the 120 spool prohibits it from easily fitting in many old cameras that were built for 620 film only. Solutions to the spool size problem include trimming the plastic ends of a 120 spool to fit in the smaller film compartments on 620 cameras, or re-spooling the 120 film onto a 620 spool. The good news is that neither trimming a 120 spool or respooling film onto a 620 spool is necessary when loading the Brownie Hawkeye as a 120 spool of film easily fits into the top (source) compartment of the camera. The 120 spool will not, however fit in the lower (take-up) film compartment and thus, you must use a 620 spool for take-up of your exposed film. If you send your film to a commercial lab for processing you have two options. You can bring the exposed film on the 620 spool to the lab and request that they return the 620 spool (and hope they comply), or you can respool the exposed film onto a 120 spool before taking it to the lab. I prefer the latter method, as there is no risk of loosing one of my rare 620 spools. Respooling film from a 620 spool to a 120 spool is remarkably simple. It does require either a darkroom or a light-proof changing bag, and the empty 120 spool. Working in the total darkness, first wind the exposed film completely off of the 620 spool. It will coil around itself as you remove it from the spool, so it’s easy to minimize touching the actual film surface. Once the film is completely off of the 620 spool, begin winding it onto the 120 spool starting with the end that came off of the 620 spool last. In my experience, the only tricky part occurs when you get to the spot where the actual film begins as you wind it onto the 120 spool. The paper backing on 120 film is longer than the film that is attached to it. When you begin winding the exposed film onto the 120 spool you will only be winding the paper backing. Once you get to where the film starts, you have to be careful that it wraps onto the spool as it is not attached on that end to the backing paper. The film will have the tendency to separate from the paper backing and curl alongside the spool unless you are careful to start it onto the spool. For excellent directions on respooling 120 film, complete with illustrations, go to Glenn E. Stewart’s page on Respooling 120 Film onto 620 Spools . There are other fine web pages that will help you get the most from your Brownie Hawkeye camera that include:
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This photograph of my wife Lynn and my in-laws was taken in August 2001 with my Kodak Brownie-Hawkeye with Kodak Portra 160VC film. For me, the novelty of shooting a Brownie Hawkeye is the personal nostalgia I experience when I use mine. However, overall I prefer the Argoflex 75 due to its large bright viewfinder, plus I think the lens is a little sharper on the Argoflex. |
