CLassical Cameras

I have collected quite a number of old and classical film cameras. The largest share have Kodak Retina 35mm folding cameras.

For Leica cameras click here

For other cameras click here

Thanks to David Jentz from the Historical Society for Retina Cameras
for helping to identify the cameras and for pointing out some of their special features!

What is special about the Kodak Retina cameras?

The Kodak Retina cameras were introduced in 1934 by Kodak as the first product of their newly aquired German branch. The acquisition of the former Nagel company which produced very similar designs ("Nagel Pupille") made Kodak a veritable producer of high quality cameras.

The business model of Kodak was based on the sale of the consumption material film, not on the sale of cameras. Cameras were sold to create a demand for film. As such, Kodak introduced with the Retina also the extremely popular 35mm daylight film cartridge which is still sold today.

In some respects the Kodak Retina is the "Volkskamera". There are many parallels to the Volkswagen:

The design was not original but an optimization of existing technical designs
It was continued with comparatively small changes over a very long time
The design of both products was simple but ingenious and introduced a new kind of convenience and usability
Both products were invented around the same time

After the models listed here Kodak continued with a line of cameras with rigid lenses. In parallel there also existed the Retinette model line of simpler cameras without, e.g., depth-of-field scale.

For further description of the different models please click on the images below.