Kodak Instamatic X-90
Dan cheng
I just picked up this camera at a garage sale. Does anybody know much
about it/what it might be worth, etc.?
It's a Kodak Instamatic camera, model X-90. It has four shutter
speeds, 60, 120, 250, Bulb, and it is a rangefinger. The person who
sold it to me said that it was the first camera that performed film
loading/winding automatically, via a spring that we had to wind. It's
pretty ingenious, I thought.
Anybody know where I can get 126 cartridge film and magic cube flash
bulbs? I'll need to pick them up, as well as a new battery (PX-30)
in order to test it out. So far it looks good, though. Any info out
there?
Thanks in advance!
Dan
Radimus
I don't think the person you bought it from is correct. I have an
Instamatic that is very similar to the X-90 but appears to be older, a
model 804 I think. It is very similar to the X-90 except it took
standard flashcubes instead of Magicubes.
As for what this camera is worth is up for debate, I think, as I've
seen used camera dealers asking more for this model then what I see
people paying for them on eBay. No one is paying much for them, or any
Instamatic, on eBay.
As for getting film, flashes and batteries for this camera, it won't be
easy. Kodak is halting production on 126 film at the end of this
year. The PX-30 battery is no longer available, but you can subsitute
a pair of PX-825 batteries for it. However, this will set you back
about $14. Magicubes are also not manufactured any more, but there
were tons of them made and new old stock is still available.
Here's some web site you might find helpful:
http://www.flashbulbs.com/Default.htm sells all sorts of old flashbulbs
and cubes at fair prices.
http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/ has a mess of Kodak camera info.
Rad
In article <7ivqhi$l9u$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Chris Eve
Kodak will apparently supply 126 Instamatic film direct to the end user :
*
* Here's the web site where I found the info:
*
* http://www.kodak.com/include/kodakPhoneNumbers.shtml
* <http://www.kodak.com/include/kodakPhoneNumbers.shtml>
*
* They charge "retail price," which was $6.75US/cartridge with a
* 2-cartridge minimum. Shipping in the US was $3.95US per order. I
* believe that the guy I spoke with was named Ethan, a really nice fellow
* who seemed to enjoy his job a lot.
* I hope this info will help many Instamatic Fanatics!
Radimus <rad...@paonline.com> wrote in message
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Philip Hiscock
US$6.75 plus US$3.95 shipping sounds like no sweet deal to me for
cartridges of 126 colour film.
I wonder if anyone is this wide world is packing 126 cartirdges
with b&w film? How about EFKE or perhaps a Chinese
manufacturer....
I'd love to start using my rangefinder and reflex Instamatics
with b&w film.
Here's hoping.
Philip Hiscock
Radimus
any.
Rad
In article <7j7739$7pp$1...@coranto.ucs.mun.ca>,
Wendy Cunningham
dying)? My mother got excellent results with her 126 instamatics (both
snapshot cameras and Instamatic Reflex). I wonder what, if any, impact the
discontinuance will have on the price of old instamatic reflex cameras. I
know they aren't that expensive anyway (and the snapshot types have almost
NO value), but if you can't buy film at all, they'll all end up on the shelf
collecting dust. Such a shame for such a nice camera
Wendy
Radimus wrote in message <7j96fv$kf0$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
mul...@selway.umt.edu
"Wendy Cunningham" <Wendy_Cu...@email.msn.com> wrote:
> What I can't figure out is how come 110 is still
> around but 126 died (or dying)?
There are actually a few cheap 110 cameras still being made, so the
format will last a while longer. Ther have been no 126 cameras made for
25 years or so, and film sales have steadily diminished.
> My mother got excellent results with her 126 instamatics
> (both snapshot cameras and Instamatic Reflex).
There are/were problems with 126, though. The tolerances for the
cartridges were not as tight as they should have been. If your mother's
Instamatic Reflex has an f2 lens, you will note that this lens
(designed for the earlier 35mm Retina Reflexes) won't even open to f2
for focusing- just to 2.8. At f2 the depth of focus is so shallow that
some cartridges in some Instamatic Reflexes will give out-o-focus
results. Nobody ever designed an f2 lens just for the 126 format for
that reason. This doesnt keep you from getting sharp pictures with a
smaller aperture.
Another thing that people were unhappy about at the time 126 was current
was the square format.
> I wonder what, if any, impact the
> discontinuance will have on the price of old instamatic reflex
> cameras.
Based on what's happened with other discontinued film formats, the
values will go down a little, but not a whole lot. Some collectors will
still want Instamatics, whether you can get film for them or not.
> I know they aren't that expensive anyway (and the snapshot types have
> almost NO value), but if you can't buy film at all, they'll all end up
> on the shelf
> collecting dust. Such a shame for such a nice camera
My personal favorite is the German Instamatic 500, very compact, with a
1/30 - 1/500 Compur shutter, a match-needle meter, and a sharp f2.8
collapsable lens. --Chris
Ed Ellers
"Ther have been no 126 cameras made for 25 years or so, and film sales have
steadily diminished."
Actually not that long -- the last 126 camera from Kodak, the X-15F, was
sold well into the early 1980s. This (and the X-35F, discontinued earlier)
used Flipflash rather than Magicubes; they were introduced in 1976 at the
same time as the "8" series Pocket Instamatic cameras.
My suspicion is that the straw that broke the camel's back for Kodak was the
shift, around 1980, away from flashbulb units and to built-in electronic
flash; this required redesigning most of the Pocket Instamatic camera line,
and I'd guess that Kodak didn't see enough future in 126 to justify
designing a third generation (the X series was the second), so they just
sold the existing cameras as long as they could and then quietly dropped
them.
"Another thing that people were unhappy about at the time 126 was current
was the square format."
Some were, some weren't. I was an itty-bitty kid at the time, just getting
into photography, and dearly wanted a camera that took rectangular pictures.
Why? Because the cheap, common cameras I was familiar with took square
pictures, while expensive cameras had rectangular formats. On the other
hand, I suspect that the square format of 126 was chosen specifically
because square formats were already popular in the low end of consumer
photography.
Ed Ellers
"I have one of these in my Instamatic collection. It is a neat camera. I
don't think the person you bought it from is correct. I have an Instamatic
that is very similar to the X-90 but appears to be older, a model 804 I
think. It is very similar to the X-90 except it took standard flashcubes
instead of Magicubes."
Exactly -- the original was the model 800 which used AG-1 flashbulbs, and I
believe it came out in 1964 (not with the inital spring 1963 line). It was
replaced by the far more common 804 in 1965 and that by the X-90 in 1970 or
'71.
Chris Eve
website of interest : http://www.toptown.com/nowhere/kypfer/126timeline.htm
, most of the cameras are detailed at
http://www.toptown.com/nowhere/kypfer/126film.htm
Ed Ellers <ed_e...@msn.com> wrote in message
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