Kodak Retina Iia Serial Number

[Tammara Freimark]

Ive been to too many antiques shows and seen just way too many Brownies, Instamatics, and broken folders stacked up to the ceiling and worth their weight in scrap metal. To me, the notion of a "quality Kodak camera" is an oxymoron. Kodaks are cheap, mass-market commodities, the early equivalents of disposable cameras.

But... there was one Kodak camera* that actually attempted to be quality. This was the early Kodak Retina series that was first released in 1934. That was until the bean-counters at Kodak realized they could cheapen the quality and mass produce it in the 1960s. The later non-folding Retinettes and SLR Retinas were nowhere as nice as the early rangefinder ones.

Not to be unpatriotic, but there's perhaps a reason why the early Retinas were great: they were designed and built in Germany (Stuttgart) by the Nagel Camerawerks. Kodak bought the Nagel company in 1931 and while the German government seized it during the War, Kodak regained control in 1945 and produced cameras until 1969. The Nagel-era Retinas ooze German quality. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Kodak went on to produce a series of non-folding rangefinders (Retina IIIs and kin [1959-1969]), low cost Retinettes, and SLRs under the Retina Reflex name (1956-69), but none of them quite reach the brilliance of the original Nagel Retina series.

If you find a good condition Retina for below $100-150 (the later series are more expensive), buy it. The cameras are real jewels. The lenses are fantastic German optics. They fold down to smaller than any SLR and while they are a bit heavy because of the all-metal body, they can take a real beating.

There are pre-War (1930-1941) and post-War Retinas. Although Retinas are numbered I, Ia, II, IIa, IIIc and so forth, the numbering is confusing. The I series have no rangefinders; the II series have a rangefinder but no meter; and the III series have both a rangefinder and meter. However, each Retina model had several variations and the model numbers overlap, so there are about 9 different pre- and post-War variations of the Retina I for example.

Retina I (Type 148) 1939-1941

Like the Leica Barnack cameras and the Contax RF cameras, the I & II in the Retina I & Retina II do not necessarily indicate a temporal sequence (i.e., "first the Model I, then the Model II came out...") but rather the absence or lack of a rangefinder. The I series had no rangefinder and just scale focused. The Retina I was produced in several different variations from 1934-1950; the Ia was produced from 1951-194; the last Ib model was produced into 1960. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

I bought this pre-War Retina I (Type 148; 1939-1941) at an antique market in Saint Paul in early 2004. The wind-shutter-release mechanism was frozen (it could be manually released from the front but the sprocket mechanism that interlocked with the top shutter release was frozen) and the shutter did not work on the slow shutter speeds. But it was otherwise in excellent outside condition with good leather, so I bought it. Oleg Khalyavin later restored the shutter function for me.

Retina Ia (Type 015) 1951-1954

Ipurchased the Retina Ia to round out my collection. This model (015) was madefrom 1951.01-1954. My unit, with the Synchro-Compur shutter and Retina-Xenar lens was produced between June 1951 to Spring 1954, according to this historical chart. I was fortunate to buy a unit in excellent condition with the leathercase and original instruction manual. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Retina Ib (Type 018) 1954-1957

TheIb adds several improvements to the Ia. The wind lever is moved to the bottomofthecamera. The film counter is moved slightly to the left. Theviewfinderisenlarged and much easier to see through than the Ia.According to thischart, almost 161,000 Retina Ib cameras were made between 1954-57, quitealot! The lens (like the Ia) is a coated Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenar 50mmf/2.8. My lens front element serial # is 3831017 with a body serial # of 61090.Interestingly, there's another serial number on the barrel, reading 1062283 andthen it's cut off. I'm not sure what that number is for. I'm realizing that thereason most of the Retina I series cameras that I'm coming across are mint isthat people don't like scale focus cameras and never used them. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Retina II

The II series was produced in roughly the same time period as the I series (1934-1960) and represented the model with the rangefinder. The first II came out in 1936 (type 122) and the last IIC (type 029) was manufactured in 1958. My camera pictured here is the Type 142 variation Retina II produced 1937-1939. A rapid winder replaced the winder knob and the shutter button was downsized compared to the original 122 version.Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Retina IIa

Although the Retina IIa was produced from 1951-1954, for some reason my Retina IIa (serial #74716x) is stamped on the inside [December 3 '57]. Maybe that's when it was last serviced. I'm also lucky to have the relatively rare Retina case, although it's in rather poor shape. It needs a good leather repair store.

David Jentz of the Historical Society for Retina Cameras contacted me and informed me that judging "from the serial number and the camera's attributes," my camera, "was manufactured in the last week of June, 1953. The camera was originally sold thru the PX system to US military personnel in Europe."

The Retina IIa was priced at $168.50 on its release in 1951. Using the AIER calculator, that's $1,172.37 in 2003 dollars! So the Retina IIa was pretty expensive, much more than any of the other Kodaks and certainly rivaling the other German, U.S., and Japanese cameras of the day. I'm guessing that the Retina series was most probably Kodak's most expensive series to date. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Retina IIIc

The IIIc was produced between 1954 and 1957. The III series added the coupled selenium meter to the top of the camera. My version has the coated lenses and was in excellent condition. The III series is also famous for having interchangeable lenses, you can remove the front element and replace it with telephoto and wide lenses. The one bug in this design is that if you replace the standard lens or add a filter, you cannot close the camera fully. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

The IIIc a beautiful piece of machinery, quite a jewel. My shutter cocking mechanism was jammed - a standard problem with all the Retinas due to a design flaw (the rack and pinion drive that converts the horizontal rotational force of winding the film to the vertical rotation of cocking the shutter is a weak point). Oleg Khalyavin fixed it and it's now a great shooter, although I take care of the winding mechanism more than I like to.

At an estate sale in April (2004), I bought another Retina IIIc that was almost new in the box, with just slight wear. It also came with both accessory lenses: the 35mm f/4 Curtar and the Longar Xenon C 80mm f/4, also new in the box.

Did you know the Nagel Retina (Type #117; 1934) was the first to use the Type 135 cartridge that's now the standard 35mm camera cartridge format? Until then, each manufacturer had their own proprietary cartridges. The wildly successful Retina popularized the 35mm format and the current style of felt-lined, disposabled, light-tight cartridges became the standard. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Close-up set: In early September of 2003, I went to an antique fair and found the Retina Close-up set in the display case of a vendor who didn't know what it was. It comes with an automatic parallax-compensating auxiliary rangefinder and two diopter lenses. You have to buy them for the particular focal length you have. Mine was marked "f=50mm" and fits well with my Retina IIIc above. It's a very nice design except for the fact that at 10cm (about the minimum distance), your depth of field is essentially zilch and the scale on the aux rangefinder and Retina body really aren't accurate enough for this kind of work. Pics of the set will be uploaded.

Separated at birth? The lines of the Retina (especially with the case closed) are very reminiscent of the Zeiss Super Ikonta foldable medium format camera.Were they separated at birth? You be the judge. From a distance, can you tell them apart? The difference is that the Retina is cute and truly pocketable while the Super Ikonta can be used as a weapon of mass destruction when swung. Photos below not to scale! The Super Ikonta is about twice the size and weight.

Let me get something straight: Kodak was never about high quality photography. George Eastman wanted to make photography available for the masses, to put a camera in every hand. Previously, photography was a messy, icky affair with wet chemistry glass plates that had to be coated before each exposure and processed immediately in a darkroom tent. You literally needed your own pack mule to take photos anywhere.

Kodak developed the technique of putting film emulsion onto a thin flexible backing and thus developed the first roll film. Kodak also gave us the numbering system (Type 135 for 35mm film; Type120/220 for medium format roll film, etc.). Originally, 35mm film was designed solely for motion picture usage. It was Oscar Barnack's brilliant idea to use it for still photography that led to the Leica, and the development of 35mm miniature cameras.

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