Kodak Pony II - help with Exposure Values scale needed

[daniel_iggers]

I just acquired a Kodak Pony II 35mm viewfinder camera. It is from

the late 1950s (say 1958), and has an f/3.9 44 mm Anastar lens (a

good quality 4 element lens, I've been told) and a single speed

(1/125) shutter. The apertures - from wide open at 3.9 to f/16 or

f/22 - are indicated only by an Exposure Value scale that runs from

9.5 (wide open) to 15 (f/22?).

 

There is an exposure guide on a small rectangular card that slides

into a holder on the back of the camera. With Kodacolor Film, with

Bright sun, sand and snow = exposure value of 14; bright sun = 13;

hazy sun = 12; cloudy bright = 11; open shade = 10.

 

What was the asa rating of Kodacolor in 1958? I'm guessing 100, as

the little chart than makes sense - for example, a combination of

the 1/125 shutter and f/16 for "bright sun, sand, snow" equals EV14.

(Or does EV14 = f/22 and EV15 = f/32?? Seems unlikely.)

 

Here is my guess as to the apertures that correspond to the exposure

values:

 

EV 15 = f/22

EV 14 = f/16

EV 13 = f/11

EV 12 = f/8

EV 11 = f/5.6

EV 10 = f/4

 

Does anyone out there have a manual, experience with the Pony II or

a better guess?

[Rob_the_waste]

Hi Daniel.

 

I don't have any documentation, but I think you may have come close to answering your own question adequately. I'm using the exposure guide on the back of my Signet 35 (1950). For Plus X (ASA 100), with bright sun, bright subject, the 1/100 shutter speed corresponds with f/11. I'd guess the film speed of the day was either ASA 25 or 50.

[victorm.]

According to The Leica Manual, 1965, Kodacolor has an Exposure Index of Daylight 32. The Daylight Exposure Table shows "Bright Sun Strong Shadows" needs f/11 at 1/50 sec. "Bright Sun on Light Sand or Snow" needs f/16 at 1/50 sec. Plugging these numbers into an old Sekonic meter gives EV12 for the first situation and EV13 for the second. Using 1/125 as the shutter speed gives EV14 at f/11 and EV15 at f/16.

[victorm.]

Here's some Pony manuals: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/kodak_pony/kodak_pony.htm

[kelly_flanigan1]

In 1961 Kodacolor was asa 32 in daylight, 20 with Photoflood/3400K with 82A filter, asa 16 with 3200K pro lights and a 82C filter on the camera lens. This is from the Kodak publication E-77; Kodak Color films 4th edition; with a 4-61 data code on the Kodacolor data sheet. the data sheet has an "exposure value" of 13 for bright sun, ie F11 at 1/50 or 1/60 second. <BR><BR>Kodacolor came out in 1942; it had an asa of 25 in 1946, 20 weston, 32 with GE meters.<br><BR>Kodak super panchro-press sports type sheet film was an asa of 250 in 1946; tri-x in sheet an asa of 200. Note that in that era B&W was 10 to 8 times faster than Kodacolor, giving one 3 fstops performance.

[david_m]

Its easy to figure out, fully open is F4 (EV 9.5), it proceeds from there in half stops to F22-32 (EV 15). The exposure for hazy sun at 1/125 is always the square root of the film speed. E.g. with 100 asa film, its 8-11 (EV 12). This camera has a fixed 1/60 sec shutter speed so you need one stop smaller aperture (EV 13). This camera was designed when common film speeds were 25-80 asa.

[larrydressler]

David that is the way I would have offered it except for 1 thing. the film was rated slower in those days even at the same speed. I would pull it 1/4 a stop for slides.

 

Larry<div></div>

[kelly_flanigan1]

Around 1960 ish the asa spec for B&W films was changed. There was abit of a 2x to 1.5x safety factor built in for most faster films. With panatomic X it went from 32 to 25 then to 40 then back to 32 over this weird era. With tri-x it went from 200 to about 400. Alot of folks didnt have electric exposure meters, their exposure meter was the film box or meter computer on the camera.

[daniel_iggers]

Here are the results from the roll that I shot with the Pony II and 400asa Kodak C-41 B&W this weekend:

 

[profhlynnjones]

Hi Daniel,

 

While I'm not certain, I think the Anastar was a 3 element (but very good) while the Anaston was a 4 element tessar type.

 

Lynn