Kodak Brownie Fiesta

The Kodak Brownie Fiesta sat under many Christmas trees and on many birthday gift tables between 1962 and 1965 (or 1966; sources disagree). It was available by itself for about $6 or in a $10 outfit containing a flash holder, batteries, flashbulbs, film, and a strap. That $10 kit was meant to impress in its cute dual-clamshell box. That’s equivalent to the purchasing power of about $100 today, so the Fiesta was a respectable gift. A child or young adult opened the box and found a complete photographic system, ready to make pictures immediately. I imagine my Fiesta’s original owner receiving it and feeling thrilled. First impressions The Fiesta is a stylish camera. Its clear faceplate is more than decoration — the lens is molded as part of it. It’s a clever piece of cost reduction. That bit of penny-pinching came with risk, though. Even a small difference in lens-to-film distance matters in a fixed-focus camera, and molding the lens into a broad plastic faceplate left little room for…