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Blair Tourist Hawkeye Camera. 1898 - 1904

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Wood Cameras10 of 283Quta Photo Machine, c.1904-11Victorian or vintage wet plate camera?
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    Posted 3 years ago

    rniederman
    (343 items)

    While rummaging around looking for something in my camera inventory, I ran across this camera. It was purchased long ago during my early years of collecting. FWIW, I still like these humbler American folding cameras. Although scarce and only in fair condition, I consider it an interesting, very portable piece of amateur equipment.

    Blair Camera Company’s “Tourist Hawkeye Camera” was inexpensive, small, and lightweight; it was made for amateurs and recommended for cyclists. This camera made 3½ x 3½ inch pictures on a 12-exposure roll of film. A larger 4 x 5 inch model was also available.

    Inside the morocco grain leather covered body is a polished wood interior and maroon leather bellows. Dominating the interior is a wooden front standard with a built-in lens and shutter; a departure from the usual external shutters and lenses.

    Blair, probably to keep costs low, made a “non-returning” shutter. This means that once fired, the rotary shutter blade does not return back to its original position, and cocking the shutter for the next picture is a little bit different. Shutter speeds are set and tensioned by a brass wire on top of the wooden standard. To ensure it could be set correctly for the next picture, the shutter blade has two crudely engraved arrows instructing photographers the direction to move the shutter tension-setting wire. The camera shows the arrow pointing to the right, a visual reminder to shift the tensioning wire to the right to set the shutter. After taking a picture, a left-facing arrow appears, which means the tensioning wire is moved to the left. And so forth.

    Although the Tourist Hawkeye is a no-frills model, it includes a nice feature to track the number of pictures taken. A tiny counter is located in the back panel.

    Offered from 1898 to 1904, this camera was advertised for $9 (about $284 adjusted for 2020).

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    Comments

    1. racer4four racer4four, 3 years ago
      Nice history there, and it sounds a simple but workable mechanism.
    2. rniederman rniederman, 3 years ago
      Thanks!
      Foundaroundtown
      Michael
      jojowasthemanfrommars
      BHIFOS
    3. rniederman rniederman, 3 years ago
      Thanks!
      fortapache
      Ben
      Phonoboy
      AntigueToys
    4. rniederman rniederman, 3 years ago
      Thanks!
      sugargirl
      usedcarlady
      oldpeep
      racer4four
      vetraio50
      vintagelamp
      Longings
    5. rniederman rniederman, 3 years ago
      Thanks!
      Cisum
      leighannrn
      vintagegirl66
      shughsshughs
      Beachbum58
    6. rniederman rniederman, 3 years ago
      Thanks!
      Lady_Picker
      mtg75
      f64imager
      trukn20
      BB2
      Designer
      sanhardin
    7. rniederman rniederman, 3 years ago
      Thanks!
      verbatim
      Sunmoon2679
      chrissylovescats
      TheGateKeeper
      JohnK
      Chevelleman69
    8. rniederman rniederman, 3 years ago
      Thanks, egreeley1976!
    9. rniederman rniederman, 2 years ago
      Thanks, Trey!
    10. RichmondLori RichmondLori, 2 years ago
      This is an excellent post. thank you. Lori
    11. rniederman rniederman, 2 years ago
      Thanks!
      RichmondLori
      Sean
    12. rniederman rniederman, 2 years ago
      Thanks, mcheconi!

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