Kodak Flat Folding Kodak

Produced by Kodak in the mid-1890s (1894–1895), the Flat Folding Kodak represents an early and significant step towards miniature photography. Utilizing the 135 format (standard 35mm film), it featured a compact folding design, likely made of wood and leather with bellows to collapse for portability. Its primary innovation lay in applying 35mm film, initially used in motion picture cameras, to a still camera format foreshadowing the rise of compact, high-quality photography decades before the Leica popularized it. As a prototype or early production model, it demonstrated Kodak's experimentation with smaller formats beyond the bulkier roll films of the era, marking a crucial, though not immediately dominant, pathway in camera evolution.