It doesn’t look very exciting – a cardboard box about 5in (13cm) tall, covered in leatherette, with a small round opening at the front. You might have some trouble working out what it was for if you didn’t know. But the Brownie might be the most important camera ever made, writes the BBC’s Stephen Dowling.

via BBC News – The most important cardboard box ever?.

Interesting article! Above my 1900 Kodak Brownie. Unfortunately I can’t take any pictures with it. Everything seems to work, but it takes 117 film, which has not been available for a long time. Maybe I’ll get one of the later models that takes 120 film and give it a try.

I also have another Brownie, my first ever camera: A Kodak Brownie Vecta, but of a much later vintage: sometime early to mid 1960s. This one took 127 film, which was still readily available. Apparently you can still get it if you look hard.

My Kodak Brownie Vecta

The only remaining picture from this camera: my father with our dog, Peg in front of the house where I grew up.