Kodak VR35 K14 Medalist (1986-1989)

The Kodak VR35 K14 Medalist was the top of a line of point-and-shoot 35 mm cameras that Eastman Kodak Company introduced in 1986 and discontinued in 1989. It was the first Kodak 35mm camera since the Kodak Motormatic 35R4 was discontinued in 1969. The list price was an expensive $240. In 1986 the cartridge loading Instamatic camera had pretty much run its course, Kodak was losing a patent fight with Polaroid over Kodamatic instant cameras, the Kodak Disc was a flop, and Advantix cameras were nearly 10 years away. A new camera was needed. The VR35s were made for Eastman Kodak Company by Chinon Industries, Nagano, Japan. Kodak had a close relationship with Chinon and bought the company in 2005. Chinon is now an independent firm again.

The K14 has a blocky plastic body with a flip up flash. The top of the camera has just the shutter button. The front of the camera has two "eyes" for the infra-red auto focus system, the switch and warning light for the self timer, a flash control switch and a door that flips up to uncover the lens and viewfinder. Opening the door turns on the camera. The electronic flash is attached to the door and is raised about 3 inches above the lens when the door is open. The extra distance helps to reduce red eye. The back of the camera has the film data window, the date back, a green LED that flashes when the film advances, and the exposure counter. The bottom has the door for the battery compartment, the rewind switch, and a tripod socket. The camera strap clips onto the left side. The latch for the camera back is between the strap lugs.

The lens is a four element, f/2.8 35 mm Kodak Ektar lens. One of the lens elements is an aspherical lens made by Eastman in Rochester, NY. Close focus is 3 feet. An icon in the viewfinder glows red when the camera is in focus or flashes when the subject is too close. The viewfinder shows a head and shoulders icon for closeups, two persons for groups and mountains for scenes.

The shutter is electronically timed from 1/8 to 1/500 second. Holding the shutter button half way locks the focus. Holding the shutter button all the way in will take pictures continuously at the rate of one picture every two seconds. Exposure is programmed auto exposure. There isn't any exposure compensation setting. Film speed is set to 100, 200, 400 or 1000 by the DX code on the film cassette and defaults to 100 if the cassette isn't DX coded. The flash fires automatically in low light, although it can be switched off, and can be switched on for fill flash in daylight. This is a camera in the tradition of the first Kodak, "You press the button and we do the rest."

The camera takes a now-discontinued size 323L, 9V lithium battery. In a pinch, the battery compartment has extra contacts for a 9V transistor radio battery and a sticker to show the right way to it put in, but the transistor radio battery will run down fairly quickly. The date back takes a 3V lithium battery. The date back battery door is difficult to open and you frequently see cameras with broken door latches. The date back has three modes: month/day/year, time of day, and off. The year setting only goes from '85 to '09, which isn't much use for the year 2021. Did the camera come out a year late in 1986? Who knows.

The VR in the name comes from the VR technology used in Kodak color negative film, which improved sharpness and resolution. Kodak used the Medalist name for several different products, including a medium format camera and a disc format camera.