Vintage Cameras

Rochester Premo B

Folding plate camera · Rochester, New York · c. 1894–1902

The Premo B came from Rochester Optical Company during Rochester’s rise as a major American camera-making center. Built in mahogany with polished metal fittings, bellows, a folding bed and camera movements, it represents the transition from large studio equipment toward more portable serious photography.

POCO Folding Large-Format Plate Camera

Folding plate camera · Rochester Camera Co. · Rochester, New York · late 1890s–early 1900s

Made during Rochester’s emergence as a center of American camera manufacturing, this POCO is a mahogany folding plate camera with dark bellows, brass hardware and period metal fittings. Its surviving front standard bears the POCO Rochester Camera Co. name, while the shutter is marked Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., Rochester, New York.

The Rochester camera concern traces to H. B. Carlton’s Rochester Camera Manufacturing Company, established in 1891. In 1899 it became part of the merger that formed Rochester Optical & Camera Company. George Eastman acquired the combined concern in 1903, bringing this camera-making lineage into the company that became Eastman Kodak. More than a century later, the worn leather, polished wood and engraved metalwork still carry the marks of photography’s early portable era.

Eastman Kodak No. 2 Folding Cartridge Premo

120 roll-film folding camera · Eastman Kodak · Rochester, New York · 1916–1926

The No. 2 Folding Cartridge Premo used 120 roll film for approximately 2¼ × 3¼-inch photographs. Its folding body, bellows and ornate gold-lettered front standard place it squarely in the period when portable roll-film cameras were moving into everyday life.

Zeiss Ikon Folding Camera

Folding camera · Zeiss Ikon · Germany · c. late 1920s–early 1930s

Zeiss Ikon was established in 1926, bringing several important German camera-making traditions together under one name. This example carries a Contessa-Nettel-marked Nettel-Anastigmat lens and a Klio shutter, preserving the lineage of one of the companies that became part of the Zeiss Ikon story.

Its collapsible bellows, folding bed, leatherette body and engraved metal fittings belong to the interwar era when capable cameras were becoming compact enough to travel. The surviving wear and original markings make this piece both a photographic instrument and a record of the transition from earlier German camera makers into the Zeiss Ikon era.

Cine-Kodak Eight Model 20

8mm motion-picture camera · Eastman Kodak · c. 1933–1946

A compact spring-driven 8mm movie camera from the era when home movies became practical for families. This example carries an Anastigmat f/2.7 lens.

Kodak Brownie Junior Six-20

620 roll-film box camera · Eastman Kodak · 1934–1942

A simple family camera wrapped in striking Art Deco geometry, the Brownie Junior Six-20 helped make photography part of ordinary American life.

Eastman Kodak Bullet

127 roll-film snapshot camera · Eastman Kodak · 1936–1942

The Kodak Bullet combines uncomplicated snapshot mechanics with streamlined molded styling characteristic of the late Art Deco period.

Kodak Six-16 Senior

616 roll-film folding camera · Eastman Kodak · 1937–1939

A self-erecting folding camera for 616 roll film, with bellows, direct-view finder and a compact prewar Kodak body.

Falcon Miniature

Miniature snapshot camera · Utility Mfg. Co., New York · c. late 1930s

A compact American snapshot camera with a molded black body and bold circular faceplate, reflecting inexpensive Art Deco camera styling.

Kodak Brownie Reflex Synchro

127 roll-film reflex-style camera · Eastman Kodak · 1941–1960

The Brownie Reflex Synchro paired a large waist-level finder with simple family-camera operation and synchronized flash capability.

Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20

620 roll-film box camera · Eastman Kodak · 1946–1955

A postwar Brownie that kept family photography simple while adding flash synchronization for indoor and evening snapshots.

Balda Baldinette

35mm folding camera · West Germany · c. 1950–1955

The Baldinette brought the classic folding-camera form into the 35mm era, combining compact portability with postwar German precision.

Herco Imperial 620

620 snapshot box camera · Chicago, Illinois · c. 1950s

An inexpensive molded-plastic snapshot camera from Chicago, characteristic of colorful mid-century consumer-camera design.

Kodak Brownie 8 Movie Camera

8mm home-movie camera · Kodak Brownie movie line · 1950s

Kodak’s economical Brownie 8mm movie cameras helped families preserve birthdays, vacations and everyday life in motion.

Imperial Satellite 127

127 roll-film snapshot camera · United States · c. late 1950s–early 1960s

Its turquoise body and Space Age name turn a simple snapshot camera into a vivid piece of mid-century popular design.

Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super

35mm leaf-shutter SLR · Zeiss Ikon · West Germany · 1959–1963

A sophisticated postwar 35mm SLR combining Zeiss optics, a leaf shutter and a coupled selenium exposure meter in a compact metal body.

Zeiss Ikon Contessa LK

35mm camera · West Germany · c. 1962–1966

The Contessa LK combines a bright finder, selenium-cell light meter and precise German construction in an elegant mid-century 35mm camera.

Polaroid Swinger Model 20

Instant camera · United States · 1965–1970

Introduced in 1965, the Swinger helped make instant photography youthful, inexpensive and social through its light molded body and simple black-and-white instant system.

Canon AE-1 Program

35mm SLR · Canon · Japan · 1981–1985

Introduced in 1981, the Canon AE-1 Program refined Canon’s enormously successful AE-1 concept with a fully automatic Program exposure mode while retaining shutter-priority and manual control. Built around Canon’s FD lens mount, it helped make sophisticated 35mm SLR photography approachable to a broad generation of photographers.

This collection example is shown with a long telephoto zoom lens, giving the compact silver-and-black body a striking working-photographer profile. The AE-1 Program remains one of the most recognizable cameras of the early electronic SLR era, bridging classic mechanical controls and increasingly automated exposure.