Kodak Retina Reflex S (1959-60)

The Kodak Retina Reflex S is the successor to the Retina Reflex. The main change was to have the complete lens interchangeable instead of just the front components. This allowed a wider range of focal lengths: 28 mm to 200 mm instead of only 35 mm to 80 mm. The original list price was $235. About 78,000 cameras were made in 1959-60 at the Kodak AG - Dr Nagel Werk factory in Stuttgart-Wangen, West Germany.

The Reflex S has a die cast metal body finished with black leatherette and chrome. The top of the camera has the rewind knob with a film reminder dial, an accessory shoe, the exposure remaining counter, the shutter release and the light meter. The front of the camera has the selenium cell for the light meter, a PC flash sync connector, and the lens mount. The shutter speed dial is around the lens mount and the aperture setting dial is at the bottom of the lens mount, next to the latch for the bayonet lens mount. The bottom of the camera has the film advance lever, the rewind clutch button, the tripod socket and the latch for the camera back.

The lens mount is the same Deckel bayonet used on the Retina IIIS range finder camera. Available lenses included a 28mm, a 35mm, two different 50mm, an 85mm, a 135mm and a 200mm. Setting the aperture is different from other 35mm SLRs. The aperture is controlled by a dial on the bottom of the camera instead of an aperture ring on the lens. The shutter speed is interconnected with the aperture so that the exposure value remains constant when the shutter speed is changed. For example, if the shutter speed is 1/500 and the aperture is f/2.8, changing the shutter speed to 1/250 changes the aperture to f/4 in order to keep the amount of light reaching the film a constant.

The exposure controls are coupled to the built-in light meter. Matching the yellow needle to the meter needle by turning the aperture setting dial matches the exposure value set on the camera to the light value read by the meter. The light meter can be set to film speeds from ASA 10 (DIN 12) to ASA 3200 (DIN 36).

The shutter on this example needs to be cleaned and re-lubricated.