A Brownie No. 2 Model E Camera!

This is a little different than my normal posts, though this is still costume related! I hope to use this for costume photography. How fun to take a picture of costume with a period camera! This is the second one I bought--the first was a model with bellows which were full of light leaks.





I took the front cover off to clean it, which, while a little stressful, was necessary. There was what looked like a piece of thread with a glob on the end in the lens area, which was easy to remove with tweezers once the cover was off, and the lens and viewfinders were both quite dirty. Not surprisingly, there were also a few dust bunnies inside. I just used paintbrushes to clean it. I first swept it with them, and then used a little window cleaner on the lens and viewfinders.

The lens looks nice and clear now, and you can see things in the viewfinders. At first, you could just see lamps. Not too helpful! Now you can see everything.

The viewfinders are the two little holes on the upper left. Each has a matching square hole. They have mirrors on the inside so they reflect what's coming through the lenses.

I don't have any film yet. I should've bought some so it'd be ready! I'm very excited to try it though :)



Here it is with the back open. The metal box inside comes out and the film winds around it. A lot of cameras for sale weren't clear on whether this box was still with the camera or not. There were clear pictures of it for this one, so that was good.

Of course, I had an awful time getting the box out the first time. You see, the first line of directions in the manual was alone on a page and I skipped it. Turn the film advance key and pull it out slightly was a very important direction!



And now the two parts!



A 120 spool, ready to take up film!



The film winder key fits into this slot to turn the film.



Another view of the inside box. The metal pieces release to hold the film.



A view including the shutter and the winding key.



The handle. I do want a replacement, as I'm not sure this is strong enough. It slips easily off--it's meant to--so it'll be easy. And I'll keep this with the camera, don't worry!

I'm planning on making a case for this. I bought a really cute art deco print today, and I'm going to use it to cover a cardboard box and then put a long ribbon handle on it. One of the cameras I found online had a leather case, and I'm using that concept to make one for this.

I took some videos when it was open.


Here's how taking pictures works.

And it has three f-stops, as shown here!