The No. 4 Kodak took 4 x 5 inch pictures on celluloid rollfilm. It came loaded with 60 exposures worth of film, which undoubtedly would have delighted the prolific photographer. The rollfilm holder could accommodate up to 100 exposures at one time, or, in a special promotion coinciding with the 1893 Columbian Exposition, 250 exposures with a special rollfilm holder. George Eastman knew that 60, 100, or 250 glass plates would have been prohibitively heavy and just plain difficult to carry about, so this camera was clearly a landmark model for those who favored a negative size larger than the original Kodak's 2½" round negatives.

No. 4 Kodak open showing rollfilm holder and 4 x 5 mask.

Detail of No. 4 Kodak rollfilm holder

To keep denizens of plate photography interested in the No. 4, Eastman also produced a version of it with interchangeable plate/rollfilm holder backs. This version was known as the No. 4 Kodak Junior Camera.

This particular example is special because it bears a very low serial number. Of the 10,000 (+/-) No. 4 Kodak Cameras that were produced from 1890 to 1897, this camera was number 570 in the production run. According to Kodak factory records, this places manufacture within February of 1890.

The No. 4 Kodak was used to shoot a photo book of the 1893 World's Fair (a.k.a. Columbian Exposition), click here to go to that page.