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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
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