1950s Optical Excellence: Kodak Retina IIa Camera

Kodak Retina IIa, made in West Germany from 1951-1954

Background

The Kodak Retina was a highly-respected camera in the 1950s and 1960s. I never used one, but several friends said the lenses and output were excellent. So, in one of my occasional GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) episodes, I started looking on the infamous eBay (now known as ePrey). Amazingly, some bargains in film equipment are still to be found there, but you need to be patient and look at the descriptions carefully. In early March (2022) this handsome little Retina model IIa (Type 016) came from a US vendor for all of $37, including shipping. It also included a medium yellow filter and a case. $37? How is this possible?

Retina Cameras

The most famous Retinas were folding cameras. This means the lens would pivot or fold into the body to make the unit more portable. You click a button to release the front door, and it swings open and shifts the lens into position. Before WWII and through the 1950s, folders were popular because they were compact. Medium format models tended to have problems with lens alignment, but 35mm models were smaller and more rigid. Zeiss Ikon, Agfa, Voigtländer, Certo, and other companies made various models. The finest may have been Voigtländer's Vito III with its superb 50mm Ultron lens, one of the best 50s of the mid-20th century. But Kodak sold the largest number of folders.

By the mid-1950s, solid body cameras became the dominant design because the lens could be mounted more precisely and remain aligned over time. 

Kodak made these superb little Retina cameras at their Nagel-werke subsidiary in Stuttgart, Germany. For reasons that I never understood, the mighty Eastman Kodak Company was unable to successfully make higher-end 35mm cameras in the USA. They made millions of snapshooter-level cameras for casual photographers, and their large-format lenses were well-respected, but precision 35mm cameras for enthusiasts eluded them. 

Dr. August Nagel himself designed the original Retina in 1934. It held Kodak's 35mm metal film cassette, the same format that we still use today. Various Retinas of increasing sophistication followed for the next 35 years. 

The models are confusing, and a Wikipedia article and retinarescue.com list the varieties of the post-war models in more detail than I can:

1. I series. 1945-1960. Viewfinder folding cameras with ƒ/3.5 to ƒ/2 lenses.
2. II series. 1946-1958. Nagel-werke added a rangefinder to improve focussing. My IIa is in this group and has a superb 50mm ƒ/2 Schneider Xenon lens.
3. III series. 1954-1960. The most sophisticated models with both a selenium light meter and rangefinder. Most of the selenium meters have failed by now.
   • The IIIc models allowed the front optical group to be exchanged with 35mm and 80mm groups. It was clumsy but worked. 
   • The IIIC (large C) models had an improved viewfinder and also accepted the interchangeable front lens elements. 
4. S series. Rigid bodies, 1958-1966. The IIIS used interchangeable lenses with the DKL (or Deckel) mount. They needed the S series lenses with a focus cam for the rangefinder. Beautiful cameras but very complicated internally
5. Retina Reflex. 1957-1967. Totally different leaf shutter bodies. The Type 025 could use the same lens elements as the IIIc series above, while the later Reflex S used the DKL lenses. These did not successfully compete with Japanese reflex cameras in the 1960s. When working, they were excellent optically.
6. Retinette series. These were lower cost with Reomar triplet lenses. Some of there bodies were almost identical to Retina bodies. 

Retina IIa with front panel closed. The lens and shutter are protected.

Coated Schneider-Kreuznach 50mm ƒ/2 Xenon lens (6 elements), approx. 1952-1953. Filter size: 29.5mm

Shutter with range 1 sec to 1/500 sec. The distance scale is in feet for the US market.

Film guide and spools - all precision machining

My IIa has a 6-element Schneider Xenon lens, a unit focus 6-element design. Unit focus means the entire lens moves forward and back as you focus. This lens is coated, as indicated by the blue tinge and the red arrow on the label. I assume this was a post-war computation, but the early-1950s would have been before the designers used computers for lens design. Rodenstock also supplied lenses for Retinas, usually the models sold in Europe. Notice the precision labels, metalwork, and mounting of the shutter and focus scale.

The filter size is 29.5 mm screw-in. Genuine German Kodak filters are thin enough to remain mounted when the lid is closed. Why do the most modern 50mm Über-lenses for mirrorless cameras need 67 mm or even larger filters? 

More Information

You can find many reviews of Retinas on the web. They are popular with their current owners. I am surprised I do not see them in use. Of course, one rarely sees film cameras at all in use, but someone is buying them as well as film. 

Cameraquest states that the IIa is his favorite model.

Photography & Vintage Cameras also prefers the IIa to other Retina models. 

My friend, Jim Grey, loved his IIa but then let it go, which he now regrets (he will probably buy another one...). He also demonstrated the excellent optics of a IIc model. 

Mike Eckman dot com wrote a detailed review of the IIa and a summary of the Kodak company's association with its German subsidiary. He has reviewed other Retina models, as well.

Chris Sherlock in New Zealand is the reigning expert.

Photo Thinking also loves the IIa.

Random Camera wrote a good review of all German folders, with emphasis on the Retinas. He liked the IIa, too.

Photojottings described the superb and sophisticated Retina IIIC, the one with auxiliary lenses.

All My Cameras liked the II (Type 014), the predecessor to my IIa. 

Is this Retina camera any good?

Well, that is the big question, of course. How is it optically? Here are some Kodak Gold 200 photographs from a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest. Click a frame to see 1600 pixels on the long dimension. You can judge for yourself, and I welcome comments, criticisms, insults, anything.

Olympia, Washington

Port of Olympia (next to the Dancing Goats® Coffee Tasting Room!) 

Swantown Marina, Port of Olympia

Thurston County Food Bank, 220 Thurston Ave., NE, Olympia

The Food Bank serves hundreds in need in the Olympia area with food and other essentials. 

Frog Pond Grocery in the historic South Capitol area (1/250 ƒ/5.6)

Olympia is a nice little city at the south end of Puget Sound. You will see more Olympia photographs in the future. 

Southwest Washington

Driving through rural Washington, interesting photo topics popped up and said, "Photograph me."

I am in the Danger Zone, Rte. 101, Skokomish (1/250 f/8)

Fixer-upper hotel, 311 Main Street, Pe Ell, Washington (1/250 ƒ/11)

Room with a view, Park Avenue, Aberdeen (the building really is curved; 1/100 ƒ/5.6½)

Aberdeen has a wealth of delicious grunginess. It is on my return list.

Astoria, Oregon

Great blue heron, Columbia River, Astoria, Oregon

Summary

This little Kodak Retina is a jewel of 1950s Germany precision manufacturing and optical excellence. I certainly can't complain about the lens resolution or body rigidity. Imagine the skill of the technicians who assembled these cameras on workbenches. 

On mine, the rangefinder was cloudy and a bit out of alignment. I sent it to Paul Barden in Corvallis, Oregon, for a thorough cleaning and adjustment. After seven decades, I need a cleaning and adjustment, too! Mr. Barden said the camera was in good condition and minor fungus in the rear group cleaned off without etching the coating. The rangefinder is rather squinty and is not as brilliant and clear as one in a Leica M, but what do you expect?

The leather case was seriously stinky, but I washed it and re-glued the lining to the outer shell. It works well, although normally I am not a user of camera cases. I also fixed four "Zeiss bumps", bumps where rivets under the leather build up a blob of tarnish.

These Retinas are still somewhat inexpensive on the 'Bay. When will they become the next trendy in-thing for film photographers? Buy before the prices go up, and enjoy.

Update July 2022: The cleaned and overhauled the IIa is home. Now I need to make time to use it. Here are photographs of Houston, Texas, in November of 2022.

 

 

Cheap Hack for Leica: 30mm ƒ/10 Kodak Disposable Camera Lens

Some clever entrepreneurs in China have introduced an inexpensive lens for Leica thread mount cameras: a plastic housing containing a Kodak 30mm ƒ/10 lens from a disposable (i.e., one-use) camera. They must have removed the lens units from the Kodak KB32 camera (or sourced brand new ones) and remounted them in 39mm, Leica M, and several other plastic mounts. The lens has no aperture control and it is fixed focus. In other words, you must use it at ƒ/10 and hope that depth of field will cover the focus of anything in your scene. 

Some of these little lenses for disposable cameras are rather sophisticated and consist of aspherical units molded out of some plastic. Up through the 1990s, aspherical glass surfaces were very expensive to make because of the super-precise grinding that was necessary. But modern molding machines made cheap one-use cameras with reasonably good optical output possible. They were not discarded. After the lab processed the customer's film, the factory (or a contractor) loaded the body with fresh film for a new customer. 

Here are some examples from my Leica IIIC camera on Fuji Acros 100. On film, it is optically fair. Mine is uneven left to right. But it makes interesting B&W shots of the type of grubby stuff that I photograph. Best focus may be about 2 - 3m from the camera. It works best to crop a couple of mm from the edges of each frame. Oops item: finger in some frames. When using this 30mm hack lens, I will need to hold my Leica IIIC without wrapping my hand around the front. 

Iron window frames from former Federal Courthouse and Post Office, 820 Crawford St., Vicksburg

Loading dock of former Post Office

Magnolia School, Bowman Street, Vicksburg

Magnolia School, Bowman Street, Vicksburg

Mounted on my digital Fuji X-E1 camera, the Kodak lens has rather poor contrast and does not handle flare well. In the example below, I added contrast and sharpened significantly.  

Pecan tree, Drummond Street, Vicksburg

Summary. Not too good optically, but compact and well worth packing in the camera bag. Works well with gritty topics.

Return to the Dead Car Wash, Robinson Road, West Jackson

A few months ago, I wrote about an abandoned car wash at 4420 Robinson Road in Jackson (near the semi-unused Metrocenter Mall). The paint was imaginative, but it looked like a suitable topic for black and white film, as well. Without further ado, here it is, a monochrome visual treat for the eyes.

Across the street is an old pizza restaurant and a closed Shell gasoline station. I recall buying fuel there because it was a bit cheaper there than at many other outlets. But now - a gas station that could not make a profit? 

These are 4×5" Super-XX frames from my Tachihara 4×5" wood camera. I took the two of the car wash with a tiny little 90mm ƒ/6.8 Angulon lens. 

We will have more Jackson photographs in the future. Can't you wait?

Last Time Ever: 135-size Kodak Panatomic-X (Abandoned Films 05b)

Dear readers, this is it, the last time for 135 size Kodak Panatomic-X film. I exposed my last roll in and around Vicksburg and will likely never use any again (although I still am using 120 format rolls for medium format cameras). The Panatomic-X from eBay sellers is usually older than the rolls I used, and they almost never have information on how it was stored. Here are some examples from this last roll of the famous Panatomic-X. I exposed it at exposure index (EI) = 20 and sent it to Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine, to develop.

 

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Cherry Street bridge, Feb. 16, 2021 (Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter, 1/30 ƒ/8)

This was one of our two unusual snowfalls in February.

Kroger supermarket, Pemberton Blvd. (Leitz 5 cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, deep yellow filter, 1/100 ƒ/4)

This is the site of the short-lived K-Mart store, which was poorly run and seldom had customers. This is a new building because the Kroger company tore down the K-Mart structure.

Pemberton Blvd., Vicksburg (Leitz 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, deep yellow filter)

Parking lot north of Bunge terminal, Levee Street, Vicksburg (Summitar lens, ½ sec ƒ/11.5)

Kansas City Southern rail yard, Levee Street (Leitz Summitar lens)

"America" moored at the Vicksburg Waterfront, view down Grove Street (Leitz Summitar lens)

Kansas City Southern rail yard, Levee Street (Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter, 1/20 ƒ/11)

Port of Vicksburg

Vicksburg Forest Products (formerly Anderson-Tully)

Vicksburg Forest Products, view north (Jupiter-8 lens, deep yellow filter)

Ergon Bio-fuels, Haining Road (Summitar lens)

DTE PetCoke company, 745 Industrial Drive

DTE is at the north end of Industrial Drive. I often bike there, and one of the ladies who works at DTE has given me bottles of chilled water on hot days. DTE stores and handles pulverized petroleum coke.

Falco Lime from Port Terminal Circle (Leitz Summitar, 1/60 ƒ/5.6)

Louisiana

Port of Lake Providence, Louisiana (Jupiter-8 lens, deep yellow filter)

Former cotton gin, Tallulah

Barn on Rte 602 near Tallulah (Jupiter-8 lens)

Po-Boy Don's, Louisiana Rte. 602 near Tallulah

Summary

 

This ends my Expired Film Treasures (Films from the Dead) series as it pertains to 35mm size. This has been a fun exploration, but I want to concentrate on contemporary films and stop experimenting. 

• Panatomic-X was a beautiful film and very characteristic of the 20th century black and white aesthetic. 
• The last two rolls of Panatomic-X that I used were more grainy than I remember. Possibly this is a result of development, but more likely it is a result of the film being 30 years old.
• Today, Fuji Acros, Ilford Delta 100, and Kodak TMax 100 have a higher and more convenient film speed. They are finer grain and higher resolution, as well, showing the benefits of several decades of photo-chemical research and development. 
• Once you scan film and display it on the web, honestly, it is hard to distinguish different types of black and white film.
• Some of my pictures had out-of-focus areas. There may be a lens alignment problem with my Leica IIIC, and I sent it to DAG camera for a check-up. (Update: the camera is back and I need to test it.)
• I recommend that you do not seek out Panatomic-X film unless you can be sure that the rolls have been frozen all the years. Even then, having been discontinued about 1991 or 1992, it is bordering on being too old, although some bloggers say it has almost indefinite keeping properties.
  

Thank you for reading. Keep exploring your world and take pictures of things, people, or scenes that move you.

Small Towns in the Texas Panhandle: Quanah (Panhandle 2019-04)

Let us continue on our way west through the Texas Panhandle on US 287. Quanah is sort-of a big town. It is the county seat of Hardeman County and now has a population of about 2600. I wanted to stop here because I read that you could still see the remains of a drive-in cinema.

In Quanah, Texas (Moto G5 digital file)

This was not the first time I noticed that my car was puny compared to what the Texans drive. Oh, oh, I felt inadequate.

I found a somewhat tired but clean motel on the west end of town. I wanted to take a swim - oops, no pool any more.

The old drive-in was on Spur 133 not far from the motel. Most of the screen had collapsed, but there are pictures of it on the internet.

Only a mile or so into town, I came across an old garage with a Cadillac parked on the concrete. Oddly, the car was in good condition, with full tires and upholstery that looked fresh. Someone must have driven it there recently. Hmmm, long wheelbase, soft suspension: the perfect road trip machine.

 Quanah has some nice 1920s cottages, but sadly in poor condition (this one was on W 3rd.).

The Fire Department's van on Mercer Street was also sort of tired.

An early-20th century store on Mercer, possibly once a car dealership, had an old fire truck parked inside.

Although it was Sunday, the fellow who ran the garage on Mercer was getting equipment together to make a repair call. He said someone called from a motel with a stalled car. There was not much else happening in Quanah, and I headed back to US 287.

West of Quanah, I saw two of the lonely and abandoned farm houses of the type I wanted to photograph as I proceeded on 287 towards Amarillo. The second one above was a distance from the road, and I needed my 250mm Sonnar lens to get this frame. I was a bit hesitant to walk in the grass because of rattlesnakes. Maybe I should buy snake boots for my next Texas trip.

The square photographs are from Kodak Tri-X 400 film exposed with a Hasselblad 501CM camera with 50mm, 80mm, and 250mm Zeiss lenses. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner.

Wandering around east Jackson, Mississippi (B&W film)

South Commerce Street, Jackson, view south. The tracks are no longer in service

When in Jackson, I often go to Jackson Ice, at the corner of South Jefferson and East South Streets, to fill up with 100% ethanol-free gasoline. The area near South Jefferson is semi-industrial, with warehouses and various businesses. I have never been able to do much photographically there, but one early morning in December, the weather was suitably gloomy to lend a certain air to the scenery.

Several ice companies were clustered near or along South Commerce Street because they had access to the railroad. Jackson Ice, where I buy the 100% gasoline, is still in business. The Morris Ice Company on South Commerce closed in 1988.

High Street runs east-west from the Pearl River levee past the fairgrounds and then ascends a hill to State Street and downtown Jackson proper. A modern but unused building sits at the very east end of High Street, just below the levee and just beyond the driveway that leads into the Herrin-Gear automobile dealer complex. I had never paid any attention to the empty building and drove in one morning. It was the abandoned Junior Achievement of Mississippi building. According to the Mississippi Business Journal, Achievement closed in November of 2009:

JACKSON — The recession has claimed one of Mississippi’s most respected charities. After nearly a half-century of bringing work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy programs to the state’s school children, Junior Achievement of Mississippi Inc. is shutting the doors. 

“This decision is not one with which anyone associated with Junior Achievement of Mississippi was happy to make,” said David Barrentine, chairman of the board of directors, Junior Achievement of Mississippi. “This organization has a 40-year history of educating young people about economics and the marketplace. Accordingly, it is with sincere regret, but with a prudent view of its financial condition and prospects, that this decision was made.”

This was a nice-looking modern building. No one could use it? This type of inability to recycle a structure always baffles me.

The 1927-vintage Hinds County Armory sits unused and only minimally repaired at the State Fairgrounds. In 2009, I took pictures inside, but now there is plywood over the door. In 2013, I photographed workers doing some stabilization and repair. This time, I was able to place my Leica on a small opening on a side door and take a 1-second exposure of the interior.

I have never been able to do much of interest photographically with South State Street. But this time, the old fire trucks caught my eye.

East Rankin Street is pretty dumpy, too (OK, it is horrifying). But at least there is a car shop that repairs old Volvos! What nice and practical cars compared to the lookalike bloated SUVs that pollute our highways now. Blaine's Upholstery Shop does excellent work. (These sepia frames are from a Moto G5 mobile phone.) Please see my 2020 article on East Rankin Street.

We will continue our exploration of Jackson in future articles.

Most of these photographs are from Kodak BW400CN film exposed with my dad's 1949 Leica IIIC camera and a 5cm ƒ/2.0 Summitar lens. This is a C-41 film (sadly, now discontinued), meaning it can be processed with the same chemicals as any color print film. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i film scanner using Silverfast Ai software.

UPDATE July 2022:  The tracks running in the center strip of South Commerce Street have been removed and it looks like the City will install sewer pipes under  the right-of-way.