BLAIR'S
"THE 400" CAMERA
Blair Camera Company, Boston,
Massachusetts 1893 - 1897
Making its appearance in 1893, Blair's "The 400" can be found in their Illustrated Catalogue of Blair's Hand
Cameras and Films, copyright July,1893. The origin of its rather
distinctive name is unknown, which stands out in contrast to Blair's other
cameras that were named for people, places or things.
Billed in E. & H.T. Anthony's Descriptive Catalogue and Price List of Photographic Apparatus,
November, 1893, as "positively the most compact 4x5 camera for
roll film in existence and the highest grade folding hand camera in the
world", Blair's "The 400" Camera's main competition was
Eastman's Flat Folding Kodak
(1895-1897). It's believed the Flat
Folding Kodak was brought out to compete with Blair's "Folding Kamaret", the name
"The 400" was marketed under in the U.K.
|
Capable
of 50 exposures and weighing four pounds, "The 400" was finished in
the finest morocco leather. Featuring
the same lacquered brass hardware found on Blair's Folding Hawk-Eyes, it was
equipped with Bausch & Lomb's venerable Iris Diaphragm Shutter. As
seen in the photos below, accessing the cameras internals will take a few
steps. First, a lever accessed from
the inside front above the bellows is slid to release the camera's back. The back has a latch at top and is mounted
at the bottom with detachable hinges.
Once the back is removed, the take-up spool chamber's side door is
removed by pulling backward on its brass retaining strip. At the opposite side, the film holder is
removed simply by sliding it out. Very substantial in construction, a solid
sheet of brass encloses one side which can be seen in the last photo at
bottom . Blair's "The 400",
makes its last appearance in Blair's
Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus and Supplies, Season of 1897.
Despite having a longer run than the Flat
Folding Kodak, both were commercial failures as evidenced by the very few
seen today. But the essence of their
roll film designs would live on in Eastman's Cartridge Kodak series, as well
as other Kodaks and cameras by other makers, many
of which would prove to be highly successful. Blair's "The 400" ,
the Folding Kamaret
and the Flat Folding Kodak are
all considered to be very rare cameras. For
more information on the Folding Kamaret and the
Flat Folding Kodak, click on the links below: |
|
From Blair's 1893 Illustrated
Catalogue Image courtesy of
Pacific Rim Camera
From Blair's 1893 Illustrated
Catalogue Image courtesy of
Pacific Rim Camera
From Blair's 1893 Illustrated
Catalogue Image courtesy of
Pacific Rim Camera
|
|
Blair's 1893 Illustrated Catalogue Image courtesy of Pacific Rim Camera |
