Kodak Tourist

I picked this camera as the first for my new blog after hearing about it on the latest Film Photography Podcast.  They did a review of the Tourist II and while listening to the podcast I realized that there was an earlier model in the collection, so I grabbed it out and started giving it a closer look.

This camera was made in the USA by Kodak between 1948 and 1952, which puts in right in the middle of the baby boom fueled snapshot craze that griped the US after WWII.  This camera, while produced as an affordable version of the Tourist range has a nice feel to it.  It has the heft of mid 20th century camera quality that lets you know that there is more metal than plastic in its construction.

This Tourist has a single Kodet lens which makes it the lower quality model.  It has a single shutter speed of 1/50 plus a bulb and time mode.  The only exposure adjustments are the aperture which is adjustable from f/12.5 to f/32.  This allows the user to adjust for different light levels but it is pretty much limited to outdoor use.

There is no focus adjustment, which simplifies shooting with this camera and due to the smaller aperture the focus seems like it would be pretty good over a large depth.  It seems like this is a precursor to the point and shoot cameras that became popular in the 1980's.  Unlike many earlier folding cameras this one does not require the user to cock the shutter.  It also has the shutter release on the front plate of the camera which when unfolded becomes the side.  This makes using the shutter much easier than earlier camera that had the shutter release on the lens.

This version of the Tourist takes the now unavailable 620 film that Kodak made exclusively for their cameras.  Luckily the film is the same as the popular and still available 120 format, the film spool being the only difference, which means that if you can find an empty 620 spool you can put 120 film onto it and use this camera.  Because it used the larger 620 film it creates a negative that measures 6cm tall and 9cm wide, which is huge compared to the 2.4x3.6cm size of a 35mm negative.  I think that the reason behind the large negative on a camera with such a low quality lens was the ability to do contact prints yielding 6x9cm prints.  This made it much easier and cheaper to print the film because with contact printing you place the negative directly on the paper, eliminating the need for a large costly enlarger.  This made home printing much more accessible for the average person.

The folding of this camera makes it very easy to carry for a medium format film camera. It also folds with a much smoother feel than older folding Kodaks that I have seen.

I don't know if my grandpa ever shot with this camera but of the folding cameras that I have seen in his collection this seems like one of the more user friendly models.  Pretty much all you have to do is unfold, pick the aperture, frame your shot and click.