James's Camera Collection: Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic

Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic USA Other Canon Cameras Folding cameras
Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic
Film type: Roll film size 127 (2 ¼ square inches)
Approx. dates of manufacture: 1915 - 1926
Approx. original price: $10
Approx. street value: low

The Vest Pocket cameras are very easily identified by the scissor mechanism that moves the front standard away from the body. For a long time I thought my Kodak Jiffy 620 was a Vest Pocket, and I thought the name derived from some strange source I didn't understand.

So I was very surprised when I finally acquired a proper Vest Pocket: it's a pixie! It won't literally fit in a vest pocket (not without a unsightly bulge), but it's obvious where the name comes from now. Even by modern standards it's small (it's not much bigger than my Elph); by early 20th Century standards it's tiny.

This guy takes 127 film, an obsolete film size that's better known as the film for the Baby Rolleiflex (but I have a couple others that take it too). And it's an autographic, which means you can pop the back open and write a message. Mine actually has the stylus still attached; very often they are missing.

Camera manual: Orphan Cameras.com

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