The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Yes, the first Kodak cameras took round pictures. I think there were something like 100 shots on a roll of film; when the roll was all used up, you sent the whole camera back to Rochester. There the film was processed, and your pictures were returned to you along with the camera, now loaded with a fresh roll of film. Pretty nifty!

Indeed--the original 1888 Kodak (which sold for $25) included film for 100 photographs. You sent the whole camera back to Rochester, where the film was developed and prints made, the camera reloaded, and the whole shebang send back. Subsequent printings and reloads were $10. Roll film in much shorter lengths was introduced soon afterwards, at much lower prices. The major breakthrough was the $1 Kodak Brownie of 1900, which brought photography to the masses.

I believe the reason that you had to send the camera back was that the emulsion had to be stripped from the celluloid backing to develop the negative, thus this type of film was dubbed "stripping film." IOW, you couldn't process it in a home darkroom, even assuming the chemicals were available. But not long afterward, c. 1895, Kodak introduced the first of what proved to be many, many sizes of roll film, beginning with 101. In total over the years there were upwards of 30 different sizes of roll film available. Today there are but two: 35mm cassette and 120 roll film, although some suppliers like B&H Photo in NYC list a few of the other now obsolete types in their catalog as specialty items (with associated higher cost!).

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