On Fri, 28 May 2004, Tony Duell wrote:
While
trying to find a Kodak Retina possibly lost off the back
Why would you want to find
one of those? It is my opinion, based on
dismantling and repairing many cameras, that Kodak have never made a
decent camera. Not one! (and yes, I've worked on Retinas, Retinettes, and
Retina Reflexes).
While I agree with you about the Retin*,
I don't blame you :-). An example. The Retina Reflex is very similar
inside to the Voigtlander Bessamatic. One of the main differences is the
exposure meter coupling. On the Voigtlander it's a train of brass gears.
On the Kodak it's a loop of string (and you can't install the string with
the front assembly in place, you can't install the string without the
exposure meter in place, but it would be a lot easier to install the
front assemnly before the meter. Hmmm..)
it's a little like saying that IBM never made a
decent computer.
You mean IBM did make a decent computer??? (only joking :-))
I have a fairly decent cherry, mahogany? and leather
8x10" view
camera made by Kodak. (actually apparently continued production
Yes, OK. And IIRC Graflex are actually part of Kodak, and their stuff
isn't too bad (although I prefer my 4 MPPs...)
under Kodak name by companies swallowed up by Kodak
(the MICROS~1
of the early 20th century)
If you're willing to wade into WWW:
http://www.fiberq.com/cam/ekc.htm
http://www.geh.org/fm/toronto/htmlsrc/mE13000111_ful.html
Mine is one of the earlier ones (Century 1920s? 2D), and could
use some substantial restoration work (such as replacing the
bellows that I have a dozen patches on, and finding original
Totally off-topic, but for camera / repairs in the UK, I'll recomend 'The
Camera Bellows Company' in Birmingham. They can make just about any
bellows, and are not that expensive (around \pounds 50 for a bellows for
the MPP 5*4 camera). And they're pleasant to deal with, which counts for
a lot!
lens and lens boards instead of what I'm using)
-tony