Cine-Kodak Model BB

Format

16mm

Is Film

Yes

Metering

none

Research

Doug Kerr, The film and cameras that made home movies possible (http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/Kodak Cine-Kodak.pdf); Lens mounts of Kodak Cine-Kodak movie cameras (http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/Kodak Movie Lens Mounts.pdf); The Kodak Cine-Kodak Special (http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/Kodak Cine-Kodak Special.pdf).

Confidence

high

Spec Notes

Introduction price $140 (April 1929). 50 ft spool ONLY, about 2 minutes. 16 or 8 fr/s by button; 8 fr/s gives about 1/16 s exposure. Spring motor. Finder rear element on the camera, front element for the 25mm; other lenses carry their own. MOUNT UNRESOLVED FOR ONE VARIANT: Kerr's mount monograph attributes the Model K mount to "the Model BB, f/1.9 version", while his camera monograph says the BB "was arranged from the outset for interchangeable lenses" and shipped with either a 25mm f/1.9 or a 25mm f/3.5. The two documents are in mild tension. Modelled on the camera monograph as the more specific claim about the body; the f/3.5 variant's mount is flagged unresolved. SEPARATE TRANSCRIPTION HAZARD: an extraction of Kerr's Appendix A placed the BB f/1.9 under TYPE M. That is wrong - Type M is defined as all MAGAZINE cameras and the BB is a spool camera. Trust the prose. SERIAL NUMBERS: these bodies DO carry serials (Kerr's own Special is number 330; a Science Museum Group Royal Magazine is 65678) but NO Cine-Kodak serial-to-year scheme is published anywhere - checked across all four Kerr monographs, Wikipedia, Pacific Rim Camera's Cine reference library and two museum catalogues. Date these bodies by model production window only.