Recycled Kodak No.3 Folding Pocket Camera

On my recent visit to South Wales I called in to see my parents for a couple of hours, whilst there I picked up a bag of photography equipment given to me via one of my uncles via a friend. It contained some interesting books, an Ilford sports camera and this Kodak No.3 folding pocket? camera. Pocket? They must have had huge pockets.

The Ilford had a damaged shutter and aperture and now sits on the prop shelf, books have been added to the library in the studio and on closer inspection I decided to give the Kodak an overhaul.

The Kodak No.3 has a Bausch and Lomb f4? (if this a US aperture then thats f8 equiv) lens in a fully working shutter with Bulb & Time settings. The metalwork was very poor and flaky. The leather covering brittle and damaged. I was just going to replace the leather and quickly rub off the damaged metalwork but I got a little carried away.

You can see the exterior was in a bit of a state…

After a lot of scrubbing, scratching, sanding and waxing….

I really like the result, kind of a steampunk/industrial camera, why they covered up the wood I don’t know. I might re-think the plain metalwork and add some paint or even new leatherette. Not bad for something over 100 years old.

Whats really interesting about this camera is the “combination back” that allows the use of a ground glass screen and double holders for glass quarter plates…..sadly missing from this one and apparently as rare as hens teeth. So they are now on my list of “must find” items.

EDIT: This post originally referred to the camera as a No.3A, further research has led to this being revised to a No.3 camera. The 3A takes postcard size images whereas the No.3 takes 1/4 plate size.