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April 10, 2006 7:37 PM

What kind of camera might a child own in 1963 in Canada? (Nova Scotia to be precise.)

I am writing a character who received a camera for Christmas 1963. What would have been readily available and affordable to purchase at that time?

posted by typewriter to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (14 answers total)

I would suspect the Kodak Brownie was pretty-near ubiquitous.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:38 PM on April 10, 2006

Best answer: To be more precise.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:40 PM on April 10, 2006

Response by poster: Thank you! I suspected the Brownie, but didn't know if it was still being made at that time.
posted by typewriter at 7:59 PM on April 10, 2006

The Kodak Instamatic 100 was the hot seller for kids by Christmas '63. (Including me)
posted by Snerd at 8:04 PM on April 10, 2006

The Instamatic was introduced in 1963.
He got it from his aunt Mildred in New Jersey.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:11 PM on April 10, 2006

I don't know when they stopped making Brownie cameras, but I got my first camera in 1974 and it was a Brownie. I don't think it was new, though. I was able to buy film for it for a few more years and then had to switch.

My parents' camera during that period was an Instamatic.
posted by litlnemo at 8:15 PM on April 10, 2006

I grew up with this one. It sure brings back memories. I haven't thought about it in years. We have scrapbooks full of pics taken with that camera.
posted by wsg at 11:47 PM on April 10, 2006

The Brownie went through many film formats; there was deifinitely a 110 Brownie in the 1970s. Don't think there was a disk Brownie, but pretty much every other format in between.
posted by scruss at 4:31 AM on April 11, 2006

As a young child in 63 or 64 I saved $ and bought a camera out of the back of a comic book. It took 120 roll film. Was grey and plastic, and had a flash that took flash bulbs. I can't imagine it cost more than $5.00 (It wasn't a Diana, it looked more like a brownie like this: www.adsbanners.com/yprojex/RAC/1506.html )

OTOH, Instamatics and Grandma's Brownie 126 roll film camera (also with flash bulb attachment) were ones that I also remember using.
posted by Gungho at 6:14 AM on April 11, 2006

I seem to remember a Hawkeye given to me as a child for Christmas in 1963 or there abouts.

The problem was not the camera, it was the cost of film, developing, and oh yeah, those little paste on corners for the picture albums.
posted by fox_terrier_guy at 6:41 AM on April 11, 2006

I would recommend checking with some Canadian photography buffs to make sure the Brownie was available in Nova Scotia at that time. Just because something was on the market in the US or Toronto does not mean it was available in Nova Scotia. However, it depends whether you need to be that accurate.
posted by acoutu at 9:26 AM on April 11, 2006

My mother grew up in Nova Scotia and would have been ten years old in 1963. Her first camera was a Brownie, but I'm not sure how old she was when she got it. I'll ask.
posted by heatherann at 12:23 PM on April 11, 2006

Scruss, the Brownie I had in the '70s was the kind with the roll film (same format as in the URL that Gungho posted, but a different model camera), and I'm pretty sure it was used, but I don't know how old the model was. That the roll film stopped being sold in the local five and dime only a few years later indicates to me that that format was probably already obsolete by the mid-'70s. Whether that camera would have been new in 1963 is what I don't know. (Apologies to the OP for getting slightly off-topic here.)
posted by litlnemo at 12:45 PM on April 11, 2006

(Clarification: the Brownie with 127 film was obviously sold in 1963 as the "best answer" indicates. But I think the model I had must have been older. It was made of brown plastic and the design seems older than the 1960s one pictured in the link. It was probably a hand-me-down from an older relative.)
posted by litlnemo at 12:59 PM on April 11, 2006