Yashica Electro 35 GSN (1973-1977)

The Yashica Electro 35 series was a popular line of auto-exposure-only range finder cameras made in the millions during the '60s and '70s. The GSN was near the last of the line. They had good f/1.7-16 45mm lenses in leaf shutters. The aperture was set manually. The shutter speed was set automatically by a photocell on the front of the camera and ran from 1/500 second to as long as 30 seconds. Film speed (ASA 25-1000) was set manually using a dial on the top of the camera. A red light indicated overexposure and a yellow light indicated the shutter speed was too slow (slower than 1/30th second) for hand holding the camera. A red arrow reminded you to close the aperture if the red light came on and a yellow arrow reminded you to open the aperture if the yellow light came on. The aperture ring was marked with weather symbols to suggest the aperture to use: f/16 for a sunny day, f/4 for a cloudy day, and f/1.7 for interiors. The camera took a 6 volt PX32 mercury battery, but an Exell A32PX fits, and an adapter is available to use a PX28A battery.

Front

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Film Chamber

The Retaining Wall at the Battle of Nashville Monument Park

Argus AF (1937-1938)

The Argus model AF was made in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 1937 through 1938. It is a scale focusing version of the Argus model A.

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Rear

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Film Chamber

The AF makes 24 mm x 36 mm pictures on standard 35 mm film. The lens is a scale focusing f/4.5-f/11 Anastigmat triplet with a close focus of 15 inches, The shutter is a self-setting leaf shutter with speeds running from 1/200 to 1/25 second plus bulb and time. The back comes completely off for loading film. Unlike most 35mm cameras, the film travels from right to left. The film counter is manually set and counts up from zero. To advance the film you push a small catch near the exposure counter and wind the knob on the top left of the camera. To rewind the film you turn the knob on the bottom right of the camera. The sprockets free-wheel in the rewind direction so you don't have a rewind clutch button. The viewfinder is a reverse galilean type.

Sample Photo

[Update 9/10/21] Taken on a sunny September 9, 2021, on Ultrafine Extreme 400 film developed with Ultrafine powder film developer. The camera was set at f/11 and 1/200 second. Scanned on a Plustek Opticfilm 7600i using VueScan. Post processed with GIMP.

Wittnauer Festival Camera (1957)

The Wittnauer Watch Co. got into the camera business during the 1950s, selling cameras to the same stores that sold Wittnauer watches. Their first camera was the Wittnauer Festival, which was similar to the Bolsey Jubilee and the Bolsey B3.

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Film Chamber

The camera takes 24mm x 36mm pictures on 35mm film, using an f/2.8-f/22 45mm Steinheil (Munich) Anastigmat lens in an Albert Gauthier Calmbach self-setting shutter with speeds from 1/200 to 1/10 second plus bulb. Obex, Lynbrook, NY, made the body castings. This is a range finder camera with separate viewfinder and range finder. It focuses as close as 2 feet. It is smaller than a lot of compact 35mm cameras, but fairly heavy. The back comes completely off to load film. You need to turn a small wheel next to the film winding knob to set the film counter, which counts down from 36. The shutter release has a long throw and the action is a little stiff because the same movement of the shutter release cocks the shutter as well as releasing it. 1/200 second is a fast speed for a self-setting shutter. The shutter release and film advance are interlocked to prevent blank frames or double exposures. If you're careful about loading film you can squeeze a couple of extra shots from a 24 or 36 exposure roll.
 
[Update] The lens takes a push-on 15/16" (24mm) to Series V filter adapter.

Kodak Pony 135 Model C (1955-1958)

This is one of the Kodak Pony 135 Model C cameras that were made in Rochester, NY, from 1955 through 1958.

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Back

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Hot Glass

The Pony is a very basic camera. It has a molded plastic body with a removeable back for loading film and a reverse galilean viewfinder similar to the Brownie Holiday Camera that Kodak made around the same time. The lens is an f/3.5 44mm Kodak Anaston triplet lens that scale focuses as close as 2.5 feet and stops down to f/22. Unlike the earlier Pony 35s the lens does not retract into the body to make the camera more compact. The set and release shutter is a Kodak Flash 300 Shutter with speeds of 1/300, 1/100, 1/50, 1/25 and B. The shutter has an ASA standard bayonet flash connection. Nothing prevents you from taking an accidental double exposure or advancing the film without making an exposure. One odd thing about the camera is that the lens is slightly radioactive because the glass was made with thorium dioxide to improve the optical performance. A geiger counter placed near the front of the lens registered 0.92 micro-sieverts per hour, which is noticeably above the normal background count of about 0.12 micro-sieverts per hour. This is not a cause of concern for the user of the camera. It is interesting that the Eastman Kodak Company put a special optical glass in the cheapest of their 35mm cameras. This camera is an adequate picture taker. Back then you could load it with Kodachrome film, set lens to 10 ft., set the shutter to 1/50 and the aperture between f/5.6 and f/8, all settings conveniently marked in red, and be ready to take color slide pictures of the family on any sunny day. This shot of a rainbow was made on Kodak Gold 200 color negative film.

Afternoon Rainbow

Kodak Retina IIIc (1954-1957)

Kodak AG, Eastman Kodak Company's German subsidiary, made the Retina line of 35mm cameras from 1934 through 1969 at the Nagel plant in Stuttgart-Wangen. The IIIc was produced from 1954 through 1957. The Roman numeral indicated some basic features of the camera model: the "I" usually is a scale focuser, the "II" has a range finder, and the "III" has both a built-in light meter and a range finder.

Kodak Retina IIIc with 50mm lens.

This IIIc has convertible Schneider lenses: an f/2.0 50mm Retina-Xenon C lens, an f/5.6 35mm Retina-Curtar-Xenon C lens, and an f/4.0 80mm Retina-Longar-Xenon C lens. The optics are split into two parts. The rear components are permanently mounted behind the shutter and iris diaphragm. The front components are interchangeable.

Top Plate

Film Chamber

This camera is a good little picture taker. The picture of the shield of Athena in the Parthenon, Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee was made on Kodak Portra 400 film with the 50mm lens at f/2.0 aperture and a 1/30th second shutter speed.

The Shield of Athena.

No. 1A Kodak Junior Autographic (1916-1924)

The Eastman Kodak Company's Autographic cameras were the equivalent to film cameras with data backs or digital cameras that saved EXIF data with the pictures. You could add a one line note to the negative to remind yourself when the picture was taken or what the subject was. It was a potential solution to the puzzle of a pile of anonymous picture found in an old shoe box - if the photographer remembered to make the note. This is a No. 1A Kodak Junior Autographic folding camera.

 "No. 1A" means the camera uses size 116 film and takes a 2-1/2" by 4-1/4" picture. "Autographic" means the photographer can write notes on the film, in the spaces between the pictures. "Kodak Junior" means it is the cheaper model camera. The expensive ones were "Kodak Special" and the ordinary ones were just plain "Kodak". "Brownies" were different altogether. A No. 2A Brownie took the same size picture as a No. 1A Kodak. Confusing, isn't it? This camera has a focusing meniscus achromatic lens in a Kodak Ball Bearing shutter. You can set the aperture at "1", "2", "3", or "4" (f/12.7, f/16, f/22 or f/32). The shutter speeds are 1/25, 1/50 or 1/100 plus bulb and time. The McKeown book on Kodak cameras says the focal length of the lens is 5-1/4 inches, while the 1916 Kodak catalog says 5 inches. This model was made from 1916 to 1924. My specimen came in a box of old cameras from Goodwill. It looks like it could still take a picture, except that size 116 film is long gone. To make notes on the film you opened the little door on the back of the camera and wrote on the backing paper of the film. You then exposed the open door to sky light (not direct sunlight) for a second. When the film was developed your note would appear on the negative in the blank space between pictures, a little like a modern databack. The stylus is missing from my camera (they are commonly lost). The camera is also missing the leather handle and part of the leather covering. These are not rare or valuable cameras. My camera was the next to the cheapest version of "No. 1A Autographic Kodak Junior" and listed for $11 a hundred years ago. Kodak made autographic cameras for about 20 years. It was an ingenious feature, but not compatible with the higher speed films that began to appear about 1930.