Vest Pocket Kodak Series III

Format

127

System

Kodak Vest Pocket

Shutter

Kodex with the Kodar, Diomatic with the Anastigmat

Metering

none

Spec Notes

Autographic. Three dimensions from the Model B: lens, shutter and focusing. *** A SOURCE CONFLICT RESOLVED RATHER THAN OMITTED ***: the upper rung is given as Kodak Anastigmat f/6.3 by the 1928 catalogue and the instruction book cover, and as f/5.6 by the 1931 catalogue and secondary sources. Reading Kodak's catalogues year by year shows NEITHER IS WRONG - the ladder changed for the 1930 season: f/6.3 at $17.00 in 1928 and 1929, f/5.6 at $15.00 in 1930 and $18.00 in 1931. Both rungs are recorded with their date qualifiers. The Kodar f/7.9 with Kodex at $12.00 is constant throughout. This is one dimension and does not split the row. DATING: NONE EXISTS. No Kodak serial-to-year table was ever published for any pre-1940 body, and the CAMEROSITY lens code runs only from about 1940 and appears on lenses, not bodies. Bodies of this era DO often carry a serial - museum records show 116880 on a 2C Autographic Junior and 15128 on a 3A Autographic Special, and AA-13 itself notes the highest known serial on the 1888 Kodak as 5192 - so the common claim that only the Medalist and Ektra were serialled is wrong. But an observed serial is not a dating input here. Date these by Kodak's own model letters and hardware notes instead: 'collapsing front', 'wood lens mount' against 'metal lens mount', '1917 Model', 'Model B'. NO PRICE IS RECORDED ON THIS ROW, and that is a finding rather than a gap: AA-13's 'ORIGINAL LIST PRICE' column is a TOP-OF-LADDER figure, not a list price. Verified against Kodak's own catalogues on five Autographic Special rows where AA-13 lands exactly on the dearest rung - and for the Folding Pocket rows it matches NO rung in any of eight catalogue years. The column cannot be ingested as a price field. DATES ARE MARKET DATES, NOT PRODUCTION. Kodak's AA-13 heads its columns 'ON THE MARKET FROM / TO'. No Kodak-published production date exists for any camera in this slice.

Fitted Lens

Kodar f/7.9, and Kodak Anastigmat f/6.3 to 1929 then f/5.6 from 1930

Rangefinder

No

Fold Notes 9d

*** ABSORBS THE VANITY KODAK, AND KODAK FILES IT HERE ITSELF. *** The 1930 catalogue prints the Vanity's lens as an option line INSIDE THIS CAMERA'S OWN DETAILS AND PRICES BLOCK: 'Lenses: Kodar f.7.9, 3-3/8-inch focus; or Kodak Anastigmat f.5.6, 3-5/8-inch focus. Kodak Anastigmat f.6.3, 3-5/8-inch focus, ON VANITY KODAK ONLY.' The index line reads 'VANITY KODAK. PAGE 31, RESEMBLES IN EQUIPMENT V. P. K., SERIES III, WITH ANASTIGMAT LENS'. THE ENTIRE RESIDUE IS ONE LENS RUNG - f/6.3 where this camera had moved to f/5.6 - AT THE SAME FOCAL LENGTH, which is what proves it a rung rather than a different lens design. Everything else is colour, a matching case and price. The Vanity is sold in RED, BROWN, GRAY, BLUE and GREEN, which Kodak's marketing named Redbreast, Jenny Wren, Sea Gull, Bluebird and Cockatoo, at $20.00 with case to match. CONFLICT RECORDED, NOT RESOLVED: AA-13 dates the Vanity 1928-1933 but the word appears in only ONE catalogue year, 1930, and is absent from 1924, 1929 and 1931. The 'on Vanity Kodak only' clause exists in that single year, which independently corroborates this row's own f/6.3-to-f/5.6 change and explains the Vanity as a one-season holdover of the retired rung.

Alternate Names

—

Introduced

1926