Kodak Retina 1a

Hi all, I recently bought a Retina 1a at a goodwill store, cool little camera, shutter is great at all speeds, decided to

take it down to the river and try it out, I didnt have any filters to fit it so i had to hold one in front of it, Here are a few

images.<div></div>

Here is another<div></div>

I first got it i took it home and it didnt take long to figure out.....THERE IS NO DAMN RANGEFINDER!...love it anyway : ))<div></div>

one more<div></div>

somewhat overexposed on one side, it wasnt a good time of day for picture taking, neat cameras with great lenses,

a little bit better one of the small cove<div></div>

something i noticed while using it today, i did use a shutter release and i noticed that as i pushed the release, the lens looked like it moved, i thought oh no they are going to be blurry, most of these shots were 1/8 sec and slower, but they turned out fine, anyone else that has one ever noticed this?

oh ya, one more : )

forgot the image<div></div>

I like the photos! I have a Retina with a Schneider-Krauznach lens.

thanks Jack, that is the same lens my retina has.

They're neat little cameras with excellent lenses as you have found out. Great pics! Looks like it would be a hard river

to cross.

The Occoee river was where the 1996 Olympic rafting event was held. Its approx 2 hours north of Atlanta where the summer Olympics were held that year. Thanks for the comment Craig, actually its alot harder than it looks here, the images i took was about an hour after they quit releasing the water from the dam so it started slowing down. Its really cool to watch the water all come down at once after they release it, on down the river approx 200 yards from where i was there is a ranger station and they sound a huge horn to let people know that huge amounts of water are about to flood the river, that way people can get off the rocks and head for the banks, once there were couple of guys that had been drinking and they heard the horn but wouldnt come off the rocks, they wanted to see if they could withstand the current, well needless to say, they found them about a mile downstream.<div></div>

John, I looked at your personal photo.net page. This is off topic, but, I noticed you have some of the cameras I do. The RB, 4x5 and 6x9 speed graphic. Mamiya TLR,and some Yashica TLR's.Also, my Pro-s doesn't have the prism finder yet. But, I need to get a flasholder like the one you have in your photo!

very nice!

 

I was out shooting kind of landscape stuff myself today... with my IIa

 

:)

Very nice results from that camera that is so often over-shadowed by the rf models.

Mine doesn't show any looseness when used with the cable release. Given the nice photos yours is making, I think I wouldn't worry about it much.

Great shots, John! If that's how your pictures look when you use a camera you're not familiar with, I'd love to see your serious work. Very nice job.

thanks for the nice comments. Jack that is the "camera flip" i think thats what its called, they have one for 35mm and medium format. i bought that one from freestyle a while back, it was like 75.00 usd i think. I really li ke it,, it makes hand holding much better plus i have a flash shoe for my rb which mine does not have one on the body.

Wonderful pictures John. I like these kind of photos a lot. The motion in the water, dark rocks and lots of vegetation. Well done.

 

My Retina II needs an overhaul. There's a flake of paint floating around between the lens elements and the shutter release is rather iffy, so I'm stuck using my Certo Super Dollina as an alternative at the moment.

Great work, these are fun little cameras and the xenar lenses always give great results.

 

Tony

If I open the back (and front) of my Retina IIa and look inside, I see 4 little screws, 2 near the top and 2 near the bottom. I assume they should be tight. Also go here http://rawhiti.tripod.com/ or the "cassic camera repair forum" for tips on maintaining the Retina.

John, looks as if you do not need a RF. I know how you feel though, when I bought a Fuji GSW 690, As I gave the

guy the money, I was asking what kind of batteries it took. He might have had a good laugh and sold me some ;-)

 

Great cameras though, I have several Retinas, I mean, when you find them as you did, how can you deny yourself a

camera that I would have died for when I was beginning to use "adjustable" cameras. OK, am lazy, but someone

must know the original prices, I am guessing they were not cheap, I think all cameras were pricy then.

 

The one I am closest to using is the Ia, just so small, compact, light, good glass, and almost all I have seen were

working. and come on, no one on this page could not figure out the basic usage. Less very well may be more.

 

You did a terrific job on those photos, just illustrates the guy behind the camera is a bit more important than the

camera. Good saturation and, well, just good craftmanship, subject choice and execution.

 

I guess I could have stopped at "good photos"

 

From the Retinas on my shelf, it seems they were evolving upward in size and complexity, perhaps you got the really

correct one. Even the IIa seems heavy when compared, and the IIIa, well, nice interchangable lenses, but the shutter

sticks and it is heavy.

 

When you do your stuff, the camera clearly does its stuff.

 

Closest "modern" cousin, IMO, the Fuji 645 folder?, though it may be approaching the age window for this forum.

 

Good show, thanks for sharing, I may put the Retina in my MG and head out.

 

You know you are getting a bit too close to it when you start ordering a red fishscale set of leather for it. ;-)

I bought a Retinette 1A (cheaper version with a Reomar triplet lens, no meter or rangefinder) unsold and "new" in 2003, from

a closing camera shop with the original 1963 price tag still on the box. It was $68.00. If the tenfold increase of other things

in my memory since then applies to this price that would have made it $680.00 in today's terms.

I have a folding Agfa Solinette, very similar. In the past few years I had an Ansco Regent (A rebadged Solinette) which took great pictures. I have yet to use the Solinette, but hopefully this summer, after I have tried out a few other recent EBay winnings.

can anyone give comment on the retina reflex III?, i found one with 3 lenses, the guy says its in excellent condition, thanks