Kodak Retina Series

Kodak Retina Series

I/Ia/Ib/II/IIa/IIIc

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

OK, so let me get my collecting biases on the table: I hate Kodaks!

I've 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.

* OK, I've been informed the Kodak Medalist is equally as nice and has perhaps as strong a cult following, despite its 620 film size.

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.

I own six Retina rangefinder cameras: the Retina I, Ia, Ib, II, IIa, and IIIc. The Retina series all share the following characteristics:

• Folding lens design (there were some non-folders later on, but I will bar them from inclusion in this write-up as I don't collect them)
• Coupled rangefinder (except the I series)
• Compur-type leaf shutter, allowing electronic flash sync up to the maximum speed of 1/500 sec (try that on your Nikon F!)
• Excellent German optics
• The same design flaw in converting the winder rotation to the lens winding mechanism - it's easy for the L-shaped crank pin to get jammed (which is what happened with my IIIc below) Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law and your terms of serivce.

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
I purchased the Retina Ia to round out my collection. This model (015) was made from 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 leather case 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.

David Jentz of the Historical Society for Retina Cameras tells me:

Retina Ib (Type 018) 1954-1957
The Ib adds several improvements to the Ia. The wind lever is moved to the bottom of the camera. The film counter is moved slightly to the left. The viewfinder is enlarged and much easier to see through than the Ia. According to this chart, almost 161,000 Retina Ib cameras were made between 1954-57, quite a lot! The lens (like the Ia) is a coated Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenar 50mm f/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 and then it's cut off. I'm not sure what that number is for. I'm realizing that the reason most of the Retina I series cameras that I'm coming across are mint is that 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.

David Jentz of the Historical Society for Retina Cameras tells me:

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.