Brownie Reflex (1940)

The Brownie Reflex is an extremely simple camera from the 1940s (production stopped in the US in 1952 but continued in the UK until 1960!) Made of that omnipresent material of the Art-Deco age, Bakelite plastic, it uses 127 film to make twelve 4x4cm exposures.  It's "focus-free", which is to say you can't focus the thing, so your target has to be at least five feet away.

Still, it was cheap ($5.25) and the synchro version allows you to hook up a flash.  It's quite easy to use, too: the top opens up, and you look down into the view lens, almost like an inverted periscope.  This is the "reflex finder", which is nifty because it shows you exactly what will be in the frame of the picture.  The trigger is at the bottom right, and the film winder is on the bottom.

It shoots color, too, if you use color film — C129 does nine exposures.

(you can read the manual if you like)

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55 years ago: Science Fact and Fiction