Oliver G Pike

Baby Brownie Camera

It might seem odd that Oliver Pike would have a Baby Brownie camera, but it was a useful item. The photograph below shows how Oliver Pike used it in a rig with a microscope to take photographs of minute subjects.

Microphotography Setup

 


The light source is on the left. The camera is on the right supported by boxes and a book.

The Kodak Baby Brownie camera was very simple but, in the hands of Oliver Pike, became a precision instrument for taking photos of tiny creatures.

The Baby Brownie was made of Bakelite (a kind of black plastic) and it took 127 roll film, the same as his Exakta.

A great deal of skill was needed to mount the specimens to be photographed on to microscope slides. The fashion was for highly decorative patterns to be made.