Photography | Contrasting iPhone with Kodak Brownie cameras (1920s and 1952)

I tried out a new camera Kodak Brownie C No.2 dating from the 1920s and shot another roll in the 1952 Brownie Hawkeye Flash model.  This time I reassembled the camera and the results were much better in terms of sharpness and exposure.  I do, however, like the strange effects of the inverted lens assembled camera.

In this blog I am going to compare two very popular Kodak Brownie cameras from one hundred years ago and 69 years ago to a 2020 iPhone 11 pro max.  

I like some of the old film camera images better because the feeling of history and nostalgia for less complicated times they evoke in me.  And I like the smart phone camera for its crisp beautiful exposed images that record instantaneously viewable images of high quality resolution.  It documents relatively indiscriminately the record of moment that is immediately history.

Please note that after I loaded the Brownie C camera the viewfinder discontinued to function.  A piece of the viewfinder after 100 years had come lose, so I had to questimate what I was taking a picture of. I thought of somehow placing the iphone next to the camera with the approximate focal length.   Too much work and the weather was windy, cold with rainfall eminent.

First comparisons will be with the Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model (1952)

All pictures were taken at the Calvary Cememtery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I like the old film camera version better.  The angle is more dramatic and it has a timeless quality about it.

Here the iPhone image has more impact. The sharpness and beauty of the grave statue are stunning.  Note that I took the same image with the Model C No. 2 and I like it better.

Kodak Brownie Hawkeye C No. (1920s)

Here's the same image but with the older camera.  Even though I wish it had been centered better | the consequent of now viewfinder - probably | I like it better.  Again it is sharp enough for details but has a gentle softness to it that's soothing and familiar.