No. 4 Kodak Junior

      No. 4 Kodak Junior Film Size: Darkroom-loaded celluloid roll film, 4"x5" image, 60 or 100 exposures per roll

      Shutter: String-set sector shutter

      Lens: Bausch & Lomb 6½" Universal, 4 wheel-set apertures, rack-and-pinion focus

      Dates: 1889-1897

      Original List Price: $50.00

      Condition: 8+

      Made only in the No. 3 (3¼x4¼) and No. 4 (4x5) sizes, the Kodak Junior camera was a major improvement over the original line of Kodak cameras. Kodak Juniors are historically important because they were the very first Kodaks made that allowed the user to handle film. Prior to this, all Kodaks all had to be returned to Rochester for film processing and reloading.

      No. 4 Kodak Junior, rearThe Kodak Juniors were fitted with a variation of the Walker rollfilm holder, as shown at the right, which allowed the owner to remove and process the film and reload the camera. Film unloading and loading had to be done in a darkroom, however, since the celluloid film did not yet have an opaque leader or backing. That invention was not to come along until 1892, and did not appear on a Kodak camera until 1895.

      The Kodak Juniors were also available with a glass plate holder instead of the rollfilm holder. These models were known as Junior Glass Plate Kodaks.

      No. 4 Kodak Junior, frontThis photo shows the front of the camera with the hinged faceplate opened, exposing the unique string-set shutter mechanism and the aperture wheel. Pulling the string cocked the shutter mechanism, which is then tripped by pressing the button on the side near the reflecting viewfinder. The faceplate had to be opened like this to select the shutter aperture.

      The large wheel on the top of the camera is the rack-and-pinion focusing mechanism.   This mechanism moved the entire box to which the lens and shutter were mounted fore and aft inside the outer camera case.