Camera used on original Mount Everest climb 1953

I have been watching the PBS series “Hillary” about Sir Edmond Hillary’s conquest of Mount Everest( which is very good BTW) but I noticed immediately when he pulled out his camera, once he reached the peak, that there was an obvious error. The climb was in 1953. In the film, the actor used Kodak Retina Reflex. This is wrong on several levels. My first reaction was a dedicated climber would never lug an SLR up Mt Everest because of the weight and bulk. Secondly the Retina Reflex was introduced in 1957!

 

The biggest error was that the camera actually used was Kodak Retina Type 118 introduced in 1935: a compact ,foldable, and lighter weight camera. Allegedly Edmond Hillary purchased this camera in a 2nd hand shop(he was just a poor bee keeper) and modified the camera somehow slightly so he could use it with gloves.

 

Film production crews can be forgiven for errors like this as there are just a few of us that would catch this. There was only 9144 Type 118 models made after all and locating one may have been difficult. There are whole threads about camera errors in films and TV that are fun to read.

 

 

Some images made by Hillary with this camera.

 

What is the series called? Is it available on demand?

The series is called "Hillary" and can be streamed from PBS. At least I can from my Roku. The camera scene is toward the last few minutes of episode 5 and it happens very quickly.

Nice! I'll have to check that out. So, I got to thinking, what cameras do climbers nowadays take with them up in those high mountainous regions?

 

I came across an interesting read on the Luminous Landscape website. It's a pretty comprehensive guide with good suggestions; however, it is several years old being from 2011. The pictures in the article are both beautiful and terrifying!

 

Mountain Climbing Photography - Luminous Landscape

Thanks Jason. Beautiful and terrifying indeed.

Hillary's camera is on display at the Otago Museum, in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Now I want one of those. It's a little like my Balda Jubilette (a better lens, but the same shutter, I think).

I guess if you were planning a comparable endeavour now, you could make a deal for a free camera, in return for getting it in front of the TV cameras.

I have a 148 if anyone is interested .... lovely little thing .... last 'prewar' model made.