127 Film

127 Film

127 Film Format Specifications

Introduced: 1912
   
Type: roll film
   
Typical Frame Sizes: 4 x 3 cm
  4 x 4 cm
  4 x 6.5 cm
   
Currently: in production

127 Film Format Overview

127 Film is a roll film debuted by Eastman Kodak in 1912 as a compact alternative to 120 and other larger format films. Like many of Kodak’s other film formats, 127 was released alongside a new trendsetting camera. In this case, it was the diminutive Vest Pocket Kodak, a model whose selling point—as its name might suggest—was that it was small enough to fit in a gentleman’s vest pocket. Because of this, 127 was also commonly referred to as “Vest Pocket film” during the early part of its existence.

There are three frame sizes commonly used with 127 film: 4×3, 4×4, and 4×6.5 centimeters. Frame numbers for the different sizes are printed in different heights on the paper backing so that only the relevant set of numbers are visible through the red window on the back of the camera. The original size, 4×6.5, has its numbers printed in the center. Cameras such as the Acro Model R and Zeh Goldi that use the half-frame 4×3 format have a pair of red windows aligned to the center through which the photographer would count each 4×6.5 frame number twice. As for 4×4 square format cameras, models like the Bilora Bella 44 had red windows on the bottom.

Because its size allowed for smaller cameras, 127 film enjoyed widespread success immediately after its introduction. When the First World War erupted two years later in 1914, compact cameras like the Vest Pocket Kodak were marketed heavily towards British and American soldiers, many of who went off to battle with them in tow. Even the Great Depression did little to affect the popularity of the film; many new cameras simply shifted from 4×6.5 to 4×3 format to double the number of frames per roll. It wasn’t until Kodak’s standardized 35mm cassette started taking off that 127’s pervasiveness began to wane.

Near the end of the 1950s, there was a renewed interest in the format as 4x4cm “Super Slides” were introduced and the market became flooded with inexpensive cameras like the Kodak Brownie Starflash and Imperial Satellite 127. This revival, however, did not last long and 127 declined rapidly by the early 1960s as manufacturers began abandoning it for good in favor of 35mm and the Kodak’s new easy loading 126 cartridge. Eventually, mainstream production of 127 film ceased in the mid 1990s but other smaller companies have since picked it up, making it readily available to this day.

In a veritable sea of plastic boxes, there are a relative handful of intriguing 127 cameras out there. These include the Ihagee Exakta A which was one of the format’s only SLRs, the half-frame KW Pilot Reflex folding TLR, the stylish Kodak Brownie Vecta which was designed by Sir Kenneth Grange (who also did the modern London Black Cab), and the Purma Special which had a unique gravity-powered shutter mechanism.

Interested in finding 127 film or cameras that use it?
Check eBay to see what’s available.
References:

McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 2001-2002. (Grantsburg, WI, USA: Centennial Photo Service, 2001), p 271, 282, 289-290, 331, 333, 407.

“The Vest Pocket Kodak was the Soldier’s Camera,” The National Science and Media Museum, https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/the-vest-pocket-kodak-was-the-soldiers-camera/

“127 film,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/127_film

“127 film,” Camera Wiki, http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/127_film

“Kenneth Grange,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Grange

Other Film Formats

Ricoh Ricohmatic 44

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Ricoh Ricohmatic 44

The Ricoh Ricohmatic 44 is a compact twin lens reflex camera designed by the Riken Optical Company (now Ricoh) for 4x4cm exposures on 127 film. Like several of its contemporaries, the Ricohmatic 44’s color schemes (aside from this example’s grey-blue on beige, the camera also came in dark grey on beige and creme on beige) deviate from the standard black and silver palette in favor of something a bit more playful to set it apart from its larger, more serious 6x6cm siblings.

Monarch Royal Reflex

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Monarch Royal Reflex

The Monarch Royal Reflex is a pseudo-TLR (a box camera that superficially resembles a twin lens reflex camera) made of an early plastic named Bakelite and introduced in 1939 by the Monarch Manufacturing Company. Monarch (sometimes also spelled “Monarck”), was just one of a many names that made up the Chicago Cluster—a collection of Chicago-based camera brands including Spartus, Acro, and Falcon which appear to be multiple fronts for a single manufacturer. As such, the Monarch Royal Reflex was also sold under different names such as the Monarch Kando Reflex, Remington Flex-Master, and Pickwick Reflex. Its basic design also exists in the form of models like the Metropolitan Clix-O-Flex, Metropolitan Metro-Flex, and the aluminum-bodied Utility Falcon-Flex.

Bencini Comet III

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Bencini Comet III

The Bencini Comet III is an unconventional viewfinder camera built for the 127 film format introduced in 1953 by Italian manufacturer Bencini as the latest model to bear the Comet name. This camera was sold as the Bencini Akrom I in the South American market and also has another clone called, confusingly, the Comet 3 (using Arabic numerals instead of Roman) which features a white pinstriped faceplate along with an unfocusable lens. Unlike its predecessors such as the original Comet and Comet II which feature a more traditional design, the Comet III is vertically oriented which helps set it apart from other Bencinis as well as the overwhelming majority of other cameras from its day.

Zenith Comet

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Zenith Comet

The Zenith Comet is a vertically-oriented viewfinder camera debuted by the Zenith Camera Corporation of Chicago in 1947. As part of the Chicago Cluster, a group of Chicago-based brands active in the 1940s including Spartus, Falcon, and Rolls which are generally believed to be multiple fronts for a single company, Zenith produced only a handful of basic models including the Comet’s close sibling: the Zenith Comet Flash. As its name might suggest, the only real difference between the Comet and the Comet Flash is the ability to use an accessory flash unit. Other than that, both models are functionally identical.

Kodak Brownie Vecta

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Kodak Brownie Vecta

The Kodak Brownie Vecta is a simple plastic box camera manufactured by Kodak Ltd., London—Kodak’s British division—in 1963 for the 127 film format. The camera’s stylish looks can be attributed to world-renowned industrial designer Sir Kenneth Grange who, in addition to a handful of Kodak cameras, is also responsible for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train as well as the modern London Black Cab).

Bilora Bella 44

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The Bilora Bella 44 is a viewfinder camera introduced in 1958 under the brand name Bilora by Kürbi & Niggeloh, a manufacturer based in the German town of Radevormwald some 40 kilometers west of Düsseldorf. So named because it produced 4x4cm exposures, the Bella 44 was very similar to the original Bella of 1953 and the Bella 46, both of which delivered 4x6cm negatives. During its production life, the Bella 44 was also sold in the US as the Tower No. 5 and the Ansco Lancer as well as in Germany as the Foto-Quelle Revue 44.

Ferrania Ibis 34

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The Ferrania Ibis 34 is a viewfinder camera introduced in 1959 by Ferrania, an Italian camera manufacturer based in the village of the same name. The Ibis 34 is basically a slightly more compact version of its predecessor, the Ibis 44 which took 4x4cm exposures on 127 film as opposed to the Ibis 34’s 3x4cm images.

Vest Pocket Kodak

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The Vest Pocket Kodak (commonly known as “VPK”) is an early compact folding camera introduced in 1912 by Eastman Kodak. Designed to fit neatly into users’ pockets and later heavily marketed to British, American, Australian, French, Italian, and other Allied soldiers during World War I, the Vest Pocket Kodak was one of the most successful cameras of its day, reportedly selling over two million units during its 15 year production life. The VPK is also famous for having accompanied English mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine during their fatal expedition to Mount Everest in 1924. While Mallory’s remains were discovered in 1999, Irvine’s body and camera are still missing. Once found, the hope is that the film inside Irvine’s Vest Pocket Kodak may finally tell us whether or not the two climbers had succeeded in reaching the summit nearly thirty years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay‘s 1953 expedition.

Rolls

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The simply named Rolls is a viewfinder camera made of Bakelite—an early plastic—introduced by the Rolls Camera Mfg. Co. in 1939. This same camera was sold under a wide variety of names in many different variations, particularly by what is commonly referred to as the “Chicago Cluster,” a group of Chicago-based brand names that produced so many near-identical cameras that it’s widely believed to be just one actual company.

Bell & Howell Electric Eye 127

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The Bell & Howell Electric Eye 127 (also known as the Infallible Electric Eye 127) is a premium automatic exposure box camera introduced in 1958 by the Bell & Howell Company of Chicago. While better known for its motion picture cameras and projectors, Bell & Howell also manufactured several still camera models from the late ’40s to the early ’60s and sold rebadged Canon cameras in the 1970s.

Kodak Hawkeye

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The Kodak Hawkeye (also commonly sold as the “Baby Hawkeye,” “Hawkeye Ace,” and “Hawkeye Ace De Luxe” in several slight variations) is a simple box camera made of leatherette-covered cardboard with a metal face. The Hawkeye was manufactured by Kodak Ltd., London—the British subsidiary of Eastman Kodak—and appears to have only been available in select European markets when it was introduced in 1936.

Acro Model R

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The Acro Model R is a relatively obscure World War II era rangefinder camera introduced in 1940 by the Acro Scientific Products Company of Chicago. Like Spartus, Acro was part of the “Chicago Cluster,” a group of Chicago-based camera brands that produced a series of nearly identical Bakelite cameras. However, unlike the vast majority of those cameras that were designed to be simple and cheaply made, the R is an upscale model for advanced amateurs.

Zeh Goldi

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The Zeh Goldi is a small folding camera introduced by Dresden’s Zeh-Camera-Fabrik in 1932. Designed for Kodak’s 127 film format (often called vest pocket film), the Goldi is significantly smaller than the 35mm cameras that would eventually herald the end of 127 and is actually on par with many modern-day compact digital cameras.

Kodak Baby Brownie Special

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The Kodak Baby Brownie Special is a very simple box camera constructed of Bakelite, an early plastic. It has a basic meniscus lens with a minimum focus distance of five feet and a single fixed shutter speed (estimated to be about 1/40) activated by the button on the side. The optical viewfinder runs across the top of the camera next to the film advance knob. A nice braided hand strap is supposed to span the top of the camera from the metal brackets on either side but it’s missing on this one.