For sale is a 1940s KODAK VIGILANT JUNIOR SIX-20 FOLDING CAMERA. This iconic camera appears to be in excellent condition but is untested. The shutter functions and the bellows is undamaged. The sale includes the camera’s original leather carry case and original user manuals. A great vintage camera that was one of the last series of Kodak folding cameras.
The Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20 folding camera was manufactured from 1940 until 1949. The camera took 6×9 cm images on 620 film. The camera is similar to the Kodak Vigilant Six-20, but with a simpler lens and shutter. The camera uses a fixed focus Kodet lens. The camera has a DAK shutter, with three different shutter modes; “time”, “brief”, and “instant”. The camera has four different aperture settings; f/12.5, f/16, f/22, and f/32. The view finder can be adjusted to take either vertical or horizontal pictures.
From the company’s founding by George Eastman in 1888, Kodak followed a business strategy of selling low profit margin cameras and then making large profit margins on consumables such as film, chemicals and paper. As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of film sales and 85% of camera sales in the U.S. The emergence of digital cameras sparked a death spiral for this iconic American company.
