For sale is a 1950s KODAK BROWNIE HAWKEYE FLASH MODEL CAMERA. The Brownie Hawkeye Camera was sold by Kodak from 1949 through 1961. The Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model was made to accept a wide range of Kodak pin and screw flash attachments. The camera was made for 620 medium format film, which is no longer commercially available but 120 film is still available which is the same as 620 film. This box camera is untested and has a crack in the Bakelite camera body which has been repaired with electrical tape. Camera uses a single element meniscus lens. Arthur H Crapsey is responsible for the Art Deco inspired camera design with minimalist fluting on the sides. A great collectible camera.
The Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model Camera is recognized as one of the most popular Brownie cameras made. It is easy to use and is still extremely popular with film photographers. The big square negatives it produces are large enough for contact prints or can be enlarged for spectacular sharp prints. The bulb setting for time exposures rounds off this great camera.
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.
