This camera from the period 1895-1897 took 4x5 inch (10x12,5 cm) pictures on plates or darkroom loaded rollfilm. It was the poor man's alternative for the $ 60 No. 4 Folding Kodak Improved (1893-1897). The No. 4 Folding Kodet Special had a price tag of $15 to $32, depending on the lens and shutter.
The lens of the model in the video has four stops and the shutter has only instantaneous and time setting. The instantaneous setting can be manipulated slightly by changing the tension of the spring.
Only 1950 cameras were made.
You can categorize Kodaks in a matrix, with price on one axis and the kind of photographer on the other axis. The four possible combinations are:
The No. 4 Folding Kodet Special is clearly a camera in category 2: an instrument for the serious amateur who couldn't afford a better camera. It has a rising front and double swing back. This allowed the photographer to correct the perspective of the image and change the plane of focus, things the snapshooter wouldn't know what to do with.
Through the back door the photographer could judge the image on the ground glass and through the side door s/he could change the plates, draw the dark slide out of the plateholder or manipulate the plate holding mechanism for the horizontal or vertical swing. Through the side door the plates and ground glass could be changed for a Kodet rollholder with darkroom loaded film for 48 exposures.
The camera could be bought with several more versatile shutters, giving the photographer a wider range of shutter speeds and apertures.