Saturday, August 13, 2016

Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20

Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20
I found this Flash Six-20 at a yard sale a couple years ago.  It was missing the carrying strap, but otherwise seemed in shootable condition.  When I got the camera home, however, I found that there was a small misalignment in the metal case which made it very hard to reassemble after loading film.  I put it aside, and only got around to looking at it again recently when I was planning a visit to a car show at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.  Some determined jiggling of the parts showed that the camera could be used, so I rerolled some TMAX 120 onto the 620 spool.  The camera has only two adjustments: a choice of Instant or Bulb for the shutter setting, and focus settings of "5 to 10 Feet" and "Beyond 10 Feet".  The curved back film plane compensates pretty well for the limitations of the simple meniscus lens, though there is a little darkness in the corners of the images.

The car show consisted of many fine examples of the Ford Model T belonging to the members of the Albuquerque Model T club.  They parked them first in front of the Museum's B-29 and then drove them over in front of the B-52 for some additional photo ops.


I thought this little panel truck was particularly interesting.


4 comments:

Jim Grey said...

I had one of these in my childhood collection. I liked its small size and sturdy build. I recall the shutter button on mine making an odd wheezy sound when you pressed it. I also remember that it took some effort to press it. I wonder if mine was working properly.

You got some sharp images with yours.

Mike said...

Mine also had a very stiff shutter button. That is an issue with a lot of the old box cameras. I think the weakest link for this camera, though, is the viewfinder. It really has you looking down the wrong end of a telescope. The 6x9 negatives make up for a lot of small deficiencies.

JR Smith said...

Your work makes me want to start browsing eBay for one of these!

Angela said...

Beautiful camera Mike - I think it's much prettier than my SIX-20 D. Great photos too. Must be a great kick to get good results like these - no matter how many times you do it - and you do it more than most :-)