The Vigilant is the drama of the whole collection — press the button and she unfolds like a stage set, black leather bellows stretching out on chrome struts, a proper 105mm coated Anastigmat lens at the end of them. Kodak built her in Rochester just after the war, 1946 to 1949, for photographers who wanted big 6x9 negatives from a camera that folded flat into a coat pocket.
Eighty years on, her bellows are still completely light-tight — not a single pinhole, which is the thing collectors check first and almost never find. The shutter is honest about its age: it fires, but the original factory lubricant has gone gummy, so it’s sticky and slow. She’s sold as the display piece she was born to be — opened up on a shelf, she’s sculpture.
Another one from Haley’s collecting years, back when she was the one behind the lens.
Folded, she’s about 6½ inches tall and slim as a paperback; open, the bellows reach out about 5 inches.
