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B Daylight (1891)

The Daylight models are very special cameras because they freed the photographer from the darkroom to change films.
What's so special about that? 

The first generation of Kodaks were darkroom loaded cameras. The spools of film had no protection against the light. They had to be loaded into the camera in a dark room. When the photographer was on a day out or on a vacation, he or she had to look for a darkroom when a new film had to be put in the camera. Imagine that you are on the beach and you have taken the last shot on the film. Where could you go to put a new film in the camera?
When Eastman introduced the Daylight Kodaks in December 1891, he tried to improve on this. The films for the Daylight cameras were contained in a box, with a black paper or cloth trailer at the beginning and end of the band of film. Both boxes, feed and take up, were put in the back of the camera. In the video you can see the compartments.


Salesman sample photo taken with a B Daylight or B Ordinary Kodak.

 

There are three sizes of Daylight Kodaks: A, B and C. The camera in this video is a size B, taking pictures of 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 inch (7x8 cm).
Being easy to use cameras with almost no settings, the Daylight Kodaks were intended for snapshooters.

The B Daylight cost $ 15, which was less than half of the contemporary No. 2 Kodak.

2350 B Daylights were made until the model was discontinued in 1895.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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