Retina?

<p>Hello there,</p>

<p>I am in the market to buy a Kodak Retina and have a question, what is the difference between the Retina IIIc (big C) and Retina IIIc (little c), is it the Lens?<br>

Thanks, J</p>

<p>No, same lens. The main difference is that the meter in the C can be set to a higher iso. The price difference is in the Cs rarity. Save your money and just get the c.</p>

<p>Or...get the 'real deal' and get the IIa. I think they lost a lot of the small folder charm with the III. Lens is tack sharp, camera is like a fine swiss watch. :)</p>

I think the C has aa much larger viewfinder than the c. The IIc also ha some good writeups, I've never owned one.

<p>I second the suggestion on the IIc...spectacular camera, no meter problems 'cause there is no meter! I wish I had not sold it, but it wasn't getting the use it deserves.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Third vote for the IIa, if you can live without the meter feature. Mine has the Xenon lens, have always loved the image quality, rivals anything else I've owned in 35mm. Old, but very reliable.</p>

<p>I'd argue in favour of the Big C. The viewfinder is massively better than previous models.</p>

<p>There is no differences of the lens used in these 2 cameras. IIIC has a larger VF/RF which allows to use 35mm or 85mm lens without adding an additional viewfinder.<br>

The design of the "c" series is the best of the Retina. But please note IIc has no light meter and the aperture is f/2.8 instead of f/2 (for IIIc/C only).</p>

I do have a IIa which I used almost exclusively for 40 years. However it has been sitting in a drawer since I retired and discovered the joys of Ebay. It is a candidate to receive my last roll of Kodachrome.

<p>I have a variety of Retinas, including IIa, IIc, IIIc and IIIC.</p>

<p>The lens is pretty much the same, but on the IIc, the lens is mechanically limited to the aperture of f 2.8, compared to 2.0 on the others.<br>

The viewfinder on the "big C" is great and contains bright lines for 35mm, 50mm, and 80mm. The meter on the IIIc is dual range with a folding metal hood for ultra bright conditions. Not having experienced a nearby nuclear explosion, I have never needed the bright range.</p>

<p>The IIIC has only one range on the meter, and it is spot on, depite being an old selenium model, but is limited to about EV 3 on the low end. IIICs cost about three times what a IIIc goes for. The IIa is nice and compact but has a squinty viewfinder. All of the lenses are capable of great resolution.</p>

<p>The IIIC (big C) is the most pleasant to use, although I don't like the bottom mounted film advance. The IIa has it on top, but that negates having a meter readout there.</p>

<p>With all of the models, you can't close the camera unless the range setting is at infinity. And all have that annoying feature that locks the shutter when you count down to zero exposures left on the roll, even thought there are more shots left on the roll. There is a button to slide that allows you to rotate the counter to more shots left but it is not a good design.</p>

<p>Ms. Kay....</p>

<p>We have a similar variety of Retinas. I also have several Retina Reflexes. One of the Reflexes has the same lens as the III. The Schneider Xenons were six-element lenses, no matter what f stop aperture blades were installed on them. It was rumored at the time that they were new on the shelves that the IIc has the same lens as its F:2.0 siblings. The difference was, it was a lens that did not make the cut to be put on the III. Lenses were not computer machined in those days, and like most products in those days, there were firsts and seconds. Responsible manufacturers had a quality cut off where something that might have an imperfection, but was still perfectly useable, was still marked and sold as a "second" and at a lesser price. It was rumored that Kodak took its best "seconds" and simply limited the f stop to 2.8 so that it could not get down to a 2.0 area where flaws were more obvious in the photographic results. I test lenses with both a USAF 1951 chart and in the real world. I would rate the 2.8 lens in between the Ektar (which is a four-element design of very high quality) on my Signet 35 and the Retina IIIc with the Schneider 2.0. </p>

<p>Mr. Van....</p>

<p>One of the drawbacks, at least to me, is the coupled shutter speed and aperture. I'm about to remove the coupler from my favorite and most used IIIc. You may find it handy or you may also want to think about its removal, especially if you have occasion to bracket. </p>

<p>A. T. Burke </p>