Wood version
The Boston Bull's-Eye appeared on the market around May 1892, when Samuel N. Turner established the Boston Camera Manufacturing Company to sell this camera. The camera measures 4½ x 4¾ x 5⅘ inches (W x H x D) (11,5 x 12 x 14,5 cm) and takes 3½ x 3½-inch (9 x 9 cm) photos on roll film.
The Boston Bull’s-Eye is historically important because it combined three innovations for the first time: daylight-loading roll film, a red window that displayed the exposure number, and a front-roll design. Over the next seventy years this configuration of features appeared on millions of box cameras that flooded the worldwide camera market. The materials used may have changed over the decades from wood to cardboard to metal to plastic, but the basic combination and design of these three features remained unchanged.
On the front of the camera are two round openings, one above the other. In the lower opening the shutter is visible. This shutter is a simple element that moves to and fro, does not need to be cocked, and is operated by moving a lever left or right. Worth noting are arrows on the shutter that indicate the direction in which the shutter release lever must be moved. The Bull’s-Eye camera has a fixed-focus meniscus lens. It is hidden behind the shutter and has a focal length of about 4⅓ inches and a maximum aperture of f/17.5. It takes sharp pictures from distances of about 8 feet and farther.
On the back side of the camera is the D-shaped red window that displays the frame number.
Ebonite version
Leather version
The curious D shape is characteristic of Boston Bull’s-Eyes. The explanation for the D shape can be found in Samuel N. Turner’s patent 539,713 : “Underneath each figure on the opaque sheet is a straight line r, which is intended as a guide to indicate when to stop moving the strips, the strips being stopped when such a line comes in line with or close to the edge t, of the opening P.” The red window needed a straight side to allow the photographer to align the markings on the film, hence the D shape. In daily practice, this alignment proved unnecessary, so later cameras used a simple round window.
There also is a 4 x 5 Bull’s-Eye. It took 4 x 5 photos on roll film and cost fifteen dollars. A comparison with the No. 4 Kodak and the Kodak C Ordinary, 4 x 5-inch contemporaries of the 4 x 5 Bull’s-Eye, shows that the Bull’s-Eye was significantly smaller and lighter.
Behind the lens opening in the center of the front panel of the 4 x 5 Bull’s-Eye, the brass plate of the shutter is visible. Arrows are engraved on this plate to indicate shutter direction. This shutter has only one speed. Although this limitation cannot be changed, the user may take timed exposures.
Visible on the top of the camera is a small lever set into an ivory plate. This lever sets the focus distance. If taking a picture of up to about 3½ x 3½ inches, it is possible to use a fixed-focus lens and everything between 8 feet to infinity will be rendered sharp. With picture sizes of 4 x 5 inches and larger it is not possible on this model to use a fixed focus lens, because it would limit depth of field to, for instance, objects beyond 100 feet. One would not be able to photograph objects closer than that distance.
No. 4 Bull's-Eye
The period in which Bull’s-Eye cameras were manufactured was notable for the sheer number of new camera designs entering the market. With so many choices available, it is entirely possible that the prospective buyer was dazzled by the number of camera models on the market and perhaps overlooked the Bull’s-Eye, however innovative it was. It is also possible that the financial crisis that began in 1893 contributed to the commercial failure of the Bull’s-Eyes, whose sales were rather disappointing. It was only after George Eastman took matters in hand that the Bull’s-Eyes became successful (continued on the Bullet page).