Testing a German-Made 35mm Viewfinder Camera from Kodak
Long, long, ago, amateur photographers had to use judgement to pick the appropriate film, set their camera's shutter speed and aperture, and manually focus on their subject. Have you heard of rangefinder cameras? Well, the Kodak Retinette 1A is a range guesser camera. With the Kodak Retinette 1A, you focus by manually setting the range to your subject. If you can guess the range between the lens and your subject, then you are rewarded with a delightful photograph. When you guess right, this antique 35mm camera is a blast!
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| Kodak Retinette 1A (Typ 035) |
I picked up my Kodak Retinette 1A (Typ 035) on ebay for about $4. When it arrived, I was amazed by its quality, heft, and the solid construction. I also appreciated the Kodak tradition as this vintage 35mm film camera has a Schneider-Kreuznach lens much like the one on my modern Kodak Z950 digital camera. The Retinette 1A has a high quality f:3.5/50mm Schneider-Kreuznach Reomar lens. According to camerapedia.com, the Typ 35 Kodak Retinette 1A was produced sometime between 1959 and 1961 and has a "Pronto" shutter. Over the years, other Retinette 1A cameras have been equipped with Vero, Prontor, or Kodak Angen shutters.
Part of the charm of vintage 35mm cameras is figuring out the placement of the cameras controls. On my Retinette 1A, there are several controls on the lens assembly. The focus range is set by twisting the outermost ring right on the lens. The shutter speed can be set for 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250 or B (for manual long time exposures) by aligning a red hashmark on the next ring in with the desired shutter speed. The shutter aperture can be set by pressing a button and twisting a final ring closer to the camera body to an aperture of 3.5/4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, or 22. The higher numbers correspond to a smaller shutter opening. A red lever beneath the lens assembly is a 10-second self-timer to allow the photographer to move in front of the camera and get in the shot.
On the camera body, the Kodak Retinette 1A has a cold shoe for a flash, a film counter knob (to let you know how many pictures you have left), and a film indicator knob that lets you set the camera for artificial light color, outdoor light color, or black and white photography. A small circular viewfinder window lets you see a remarkably clear square viewfinder with a hashmark on each side at the top that is to be used with your subject is very close. The film is advanced via a lever on the bottom right-hand side of the camera and the picture is taken by pressing a button on the top of the camera. A button on the bottom of the camera opens the back for loading film. On the bottom left hand side of the camera a knob screws in to secure the Kodak Retinette 1A to its leather camera case and also has standard recessed threads to accept my Targus monopod and various tripods.
In practical use, I find the controls on this antique film camera straight forward and easy to use. Obviously, a vintage film camera is a lot different from a fully automated modern film camera like my Canon SureShot Z135. As a beginning photographer, I am still feeling my way in terms of shutter speeds and aperture settings. But, I have seen many references to a "Sunny 16" rule. On bright sunny days a shutter of f/16 can be used and a shutter speed of 1/250th or 1/125th of a second seems to work well. There are a number of film exposure guides on the web that can be used to guide your decision making. In general, brighter lighting requires a smaller aperture and thus a higher aperture number. When I handhold the camera, I sometimes get blurry pictures if I use a longer exposure time of 1/60th or 1/30th of a second. The self-timer is scarily slow and is probably unreliable on a 50-year-old vintage camera. Some photographers have had the self-timer fail and require camera repairs. I would recommend not using it.
Overall, I highly recommend the Kodak Retinette 1A for anyone interested in taking pictures with an antique 35mm camera. This antique Kodak camera is capable of taking wonderful pictures. You'll get a great feeling of accomplishment when you succeed in taking great pictures with it.
Sources:
Camerapedia.com (http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kodak_Retinette_IA)
Kodak Retinette 1A Camera Manual, Eastman Kodak Company
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