Kodak Signet 50

The Kodak Signet 50 basically is the Kodak Signet 30 with a selenium cell exposure meter built in. It was sold from 1957 through 1960 and the original list price of $82.50 in 1957 dollars had the purchasing power of $767 in depreciated 2019 dollars. The succeeding Kodak Automatic 35 had a similar body.

Front

Back

Exposure Meter

Aperture and Shutter Speed Rings

Exposure Value Ring (f/8 at 1/60 second equals EV 12)

The body was molded resin with metal parts. The film advance lever and the tripod socket are on the bottom. The exposure meter, an accessory shoe and the rewind knob are on the top. A slot for a film reminder card is on the back. Kodak provided for its 35 mm films reminder cards with exposure guides to fit the holder. The exposure counter and the shutter release are on the front. The cable release is on the die of the shutter. A pin-and-screw attachment for a "Kodalite" flasholder is on the side of the camera.

The lens is a three element, coated, f/2.8-22 44 mm Kodak Ektanar lens with front cell focusing. The lens focuses as close as 2.5 feet. The distance scale is marked for zone focusing (Scenes, Groups and Close-up) and distances in feet. The lens has thorium glass and is slightly radioactive. The shutter is a Kodak Synchro 250 shutter with speeds of 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and 1/250 second plus B (bulb). The shutter speed and aperture settings are interlocked and an EV scale is provided. A depth of field scale is provided.

The selenium cell exposure meter has film speed settings from ASA 10 to 400. The meter readout is in exposure values from 5 to 18. To set the camera to an exposure value you set the shutter speed, then push in the aperture ring and move the red exposure value index mark to the needed exposure value on the scale at the bottom of the lens. In addition to the meter reading you can use exposure values from the exposure guide on a Kodak film card. The card for a given Kodak film can be inserted in the holder on the back of the camera.

The viewfinder has bright frame lines with parallax correction marks for 3 feet and 5 feet distances. The word "wind" appears in the field of view to remind you to advance the film after taking a picture.

The film advance is by a lever on the bottom of the camera. The exposure counter, located on the front of the camera, resets to zero when the back of the camera is opened, and counts up. The rewind knob lifts for rewinding the film. The is a tiny rewind release on the front of the camera, near the exposure counter.

This is a nice, easy to use camera. The viewfinder is very good. The lens is adequate.