I couldn’t help but notice that in the most recent Progressive Insurance commercial that they chose to use a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye as a prop camera. I can see why they would have chosen this camera, since it has a very distinct and interesting design. However it is still odd to see a camera from the 50s in use today.
I actually have a Hawkeye that I bought several years ago. I bought it mainly as an oddity and display piece. The one I have actually has the original box and manual. It is quite interesting to see the old 1950s design work.
As far as actually using this thing goes, it is really not worth the effort. Even though there has been quite the resurgence in popularity of older toy cameras such as the Diana and Holga these Kodak box cameras present a whole extra set of challenges to be able to use them. This camera takes 620 film, which was discontinued by Kodak in 1995. 120 film is essentially the same size as 620 but has a different type of spool that either has to be trimmed or the film has to be respooled onto a 620 spool.
I did try to use this camera one time but the lens on the one I have had fungus growing on the lens. This left the lens in such a state that all images taken with it were extremely hazy.
In general using old cameras like these is no longer very appealing to me. In fact, I am kind of sick of seeing images with the toy camera look because of all the photos that are coming out of phone apps like Hipstamatic. This has ruined any appeal that they ever had, since I wouldn’t want to waste the effort to achieve the exact same look that anyone with an iPhone can get with a $1.99 app.
I think I will stick with my Nikon…
