Description
The Bell & Howell Electric Eye 127 is an auto-exposure 4×4cm 127 film viewfinder camera made by Bell & Howell around 1958. It has a single fixed shutter speed, and the aperture is controlled either by the selenium cell or by an aperture slider hidden under the nameplate below the lens. Two film speed settings are controlled by a dial on the side of the viewfinder: a red triangle for Anscochrome/Ektachrome/Kodacolor and a white dot for Super Anscochrome/All Weather Pan/Verichrome Pan. A red flag will appear in the bottom of the viewfinder if there is insufficient light.
The camera appears to have been sold with two different finishes: silver enamel with black leatherette and black enamel with a grey, denim-like covering. The flash handle and camera cases used a matching covering.
The camera was advertised in 1957 as follows; The Infallible ELECTRIC EYE STILL CAMERA–This amazing new Electric Eye still camera sets itself for you automatically…instantly…continuously. All you do is point and press the button. You’ll take 12 sharp, brilliant colour slides, exciting full-colour prints, or crisp, black-and-white size “127” snapshots on your first try.
https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Bell_%26_Howell_Electric_Eye_127
The Electric Eye 127 is a cast metal-bodied box camera for 4×4 cm pictures on 127 roll film. It was introduced in 1958 by Bell & Howell.
The 1938 Kodak Super Six-20 was the first camera to offer photocell-controlled autoexposure, but fewer than 730 were sold. Bell & Howell’s Electric Eye 127 brought autoexposure to the popular snapshooter market in a whimsically-styled cast-metal body.
A selenium photocell adjusts the two-bladed diaphragm in response to the scene brightness. The automatic exposure control can be overridden by opening the small door below the lens and moving the slide adjuster.
The Electric Eye 127 was offered in two finishes: black leatherette on a silver body or grey tweed on a black body.
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Bell_%26_Howell_Electric_Eye_127
