The Kodak Brownie Twin 20 looks like a cute, happy little camera and was introduced by Kodak in April 1959, it was made at first in New York, then later on in England during the early 60’s, until 1964 when it was discontinued. Cost wise in 1959, they would have been around $11 (£4.00)
I don’t think I need to go into much detail about Kodak, they are one of the biggest producers and innovators of photography and photographic equipment.
It takes 620 film, producing 12 6x6cm negatives. The lens is a f/11 meniscus lens with continuous focusing from 4ft to infinity, marked on the lens at 3 common intervals – Close-Ups (4-6ft) – Groups (6-12ft) and Scenes (12ft-infinity). The aperture has 3 exposure values of 13 (colour film in bright sun), 14 (B&W film in sunlight with average surroundings) and 15 (B&W film exposed in bright sun, sand or snow) so there is some aperture control. The shutter is single speed and there are flash pin contacts on the side.
What makes the Twin 20 kind of special, and also gives it it’s name is the two view finders, one an eye-level sports finder on the rear of the camera, and the other a waist-level finder on the top (incorporating a 45° mirror in the body). Both viewfinders are ‘brilliant’ finders, giving crisp and bright images of your subject. The finders also have ‘Super-slide’ markings; these are raised lines on the viewfinders that indicate the area for Super Slides.
The film is loaded by sliding a button on the base of the camera to the ‘OPEN’ position and sliding the base plate out of the body. There is a second small sliding button that needs to be switched to the ‘LOAD’ position to be able to load the film – once the film is loaded into the holder and inserted back into the camera (and locked) the small switch has to be moved to the ‘EXP.1-12’ position to be able to wind the film on. This is a double exposure prevention device, meaning; the shutter won’t fire unless the film has been advanced to the next frame. When winding to the next frame the shutter will cock and the film will stop winding at the correct point. There is no need to check the numbers through the small red window unless you need to see how many shots you have left.
The Kodak Brownie Twin 20 was a moulded plastic box camera, produced by Kodak initially at Rochester, NY, USA, and later in England. It was similar to smaller Kodak cameras in the Star series.
- Dates of production: April 1959 to September 1964.
- Film: 620, 12 6×6cm images
- Lens: Continuous focusing 4ft-∞, marked into zones; f/11, stops for Exposure Values 13, 14 & 15
- Shutter: single-speed, with flash synch.
- Screw and pin flash contacts. The instruction manual recommends the use of the Kodak Midget Flashholder or "if you want real speed and ease, ask your dealer about the Kodak Rotary Flasholder, type 1."
- Two finders: eye-level sports finder & waist-level brilliant finder, with "super slide" markings.
- Winding knob on base, cocks shutter; roller on film is supposed to stop winding at correct point.
- Double-exposure prevention.
This is a great camera, which is sturdy and well built. It handles really nicely and because of it’s brilliant view finders it is a joy to shoot with. I preferred using the waist level finder as the hole to view the eye level one is a bit on the small side.
I am however not too keen on the double exposure prevention, there is no way around it, so double exposures (something I like to do occasionally) are out of the question but it was probably a useful feature to the average family photographer.
If you like happy looking cameras and blurry edges get yourself one of these, it’s a great little camera, and these pop up on eBay quite often for not much money at all.
EGPhotography x
