Vintage Kodak Brownie Starmatic with Field Case - Stellar Condition

George Eastman and Kodak have been synonymous with photography since before the turn of the 20th century. Kodak's cameras showed the world the first images of far-off wonders, made relatives green with envy over trips to foreign lands, and showed humanity its first images of the atrocities of war. They were almost solely responsible for the emergence of photography for the masses. They were responsible for the word 'snapshot,' and by 1905 a full one-third of Americans owned a Kodak Brownie camera. Kodak's fortunes lay not with the revolutionary cameras they sold, however. The genius of George Eastman was his realization that photography's market lay not with the apparatus, but the media. The company's successes have famously relied on their evolution and development of film standards, not camera technology. Many of their early cameras weren't even theirs. The Eastman Kodak Company bought up several existing camera manufacturers to bolster their credentials and abilities, as well as to ensure their supremacy in the amateur photography market. However, by the late 50s, there were several up-and-coming manufacturers that were producing admirable cameras. Nikon and Minolta were to be developed into impressive photographic manufacturers within the next decade, and FujiFilm, a company started in the 30s on the same premise as Kodak - to provide photographic film to an ever-growing industry - was just entering the middle-consumer camera market. Although Kodak had their fair bit of competition with regards to equipment, they held a great deal of the world market when it came to camera film. By the 50s, 35mm film was prevalent in the industry, with Kodak owning the lion's share of the North American, British and even European markets. Kodak played with various shapes, sizes, films and iterations of the Brownie camera, adding features and shrinking the overall size of the unit. Then, in 1959, the Automatic 35 was introduced. This was Kodak's first automatic, fixed-lens, viewfinder camera. It had a built-in light meter which automatically sets the ISO value, 2 shutter speeds (1/40 and 1/80) and a manual exposure mode. It was immensely successful among a burgeoning amateur photography market. Introducing the lay-photographer to new elements of photography allowed for much higher quality photos. Around this time, we can see photographs slowly wending their way into catalogues and professional publications due to the ever-evolving and emerging photographic technologies of the time. Once these technologies were introduced, it was only a matter of time before these features were added to the exceedingly-popular Brownie range of cameras. Kodak was way ahead of the game, as usual, and anticipated the fervor among their photographic faithful. That same year, they introduced the first Brownie with both an exposure meter and automatic exposure - the Starmatic. It was made mostly of plastic, but important, structural components were still steel (internal housing and film winder). It used 127 roll film (which was and remained so popular that it is still available today!) and took 4cm x 4cm photos. The Starmatic was unusual in the Brownie family in that it offered modern conveniences such as a light meter, AE, and a triplet lens (as opposed to the usual meniscus lenses found in prior Brownies), but it was also significantly more expensive than its predecessors, retailing at $34.50 when most Brownie cameras were priced well below the $15 mark. Regardless of the price, it was a runaway hit. However, it was not around for too long... In 1958, there were almost no cameras with automatic exposure (save for one or two hugely expensive professional cameras), but a mere 2 years later, there were already 15! It's not that the Starmatic wasn't excellent - it was truly a great camera - it was the speed of technological advancement of the time that rendered the Starmatic obsolete in a matter of only 3 years.

The camera itself is in fantastic shape. Physically, it is pristine. There is one tiny area on the lens ring that has lost a bit of the black pigment added to the steel ring, but it is very small and doesn't affect operation in the least. The light meter, shutter, winder and all functions appear to be in excellent working condition. The field case is, for lack of a better word, perfect. It may as well have been bought yesterday. I wish I could describe some more physical features or marks, but there aren't any - it's simply beautiful. One small detail - at some point, the previous owner wanted to keep the light and shutter settings in-place, so they put some scotch tape onto the top, where the meters wouldn't accidentally be moved ; that has left some residue. It should be very easy to remove with a bit of elbow grease and a drop of olive oil.

This is a beautiful piece of Brownie history and you would be hard-pressed to find one in better condition.

As always, should you have any questions or comments, I'm always happy to return messages almost immediately.

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