Ansco N° 3A Folding Buster Brown

Photos by FLAND text by FLAND. From the collection of François Landais. Last update 2023-10-30 par Sylvain Halgand.

Manufactured or assembled in USA from 1910 to (After) 1910.
Index of rarity in France: Rare (among non-specialized garage sales)
Inventory number: 13869

See the complete technical specifications

Chronology of cameras Ansco

The Buster Brown series takes its name from a small character, the hero of a comic strip that appeared in the Sunday edition of the American newspaper New York Herald starting in 1902. The author was Richard Felton Outcault. The character was extensively used in commercial franchising.

The choice of a name so similar to "Brownie," used by Kodak, was likely not a random decision.

Ansco used the name for both box and folding cameras.

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This folding camera is quite large! While it's in the so-called postcard format, it takes up space with its 25.5 cm length and 6.5 cm thickness. However, its technical qualities do not match its size, featuring a meniscus-type lens with an aperture of only f/16 and an exterior covering of coated canvas. Therefore, it was not intended for the most demanding photographers.

However, some positive aspects include the large black leather bellows, the quality of the nickel plating on the plate and other metallic parts, and a unique distance focusing system using a radial lever.

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