Gben
Established
A very early Kodak 35 Rangefinder from 1940, lens number 391 along with some accessories it came with. It's manual is dated 6-40. I have a Facebook page for these cameras you could probably find with a little searching.
Early Kodak 35 Rangefinder
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Dwig
Well-known
A rather decent camera in its day. It has a true split-image RF as opposed to the more common superimposed image type that is sometime misnamed as "split-image".
One of these was the second camera that I disassembled and repaired back when I was in the 6-7th grade. The sample I repaired had been smoke damaged as the result of a house fire. The transport worked but not the shutter and all of the glass surfaces, lens VF and RF, were virtually opaque with soot. After hearing my dad brag about my fixing the shutter on a Kodak Vigalant 620 (same Kodamatic) one of his co-workers gave him the 35RF for me to explore. He was quite surprised when Dad returned it a few weeks later in nearly pristine condition, though still with a very faint scent of smoke.
One of these was the second camera that I disassembled and repaired back when I was in the 6-7th grade. The sample I repaired had been smoke damaged as the result of a house fire. The transport worked but not the shutter and all of the glass surfaces, lens VF and RF, were virtually opaque with soot. After hearing my dad brag about my fixing the shutter on a Kodak Vigalant 620 (same Kodamatic) one of his co-workers gave him the 35RF for me to explore. He was quite surprised when Dad returned it a few weeks later in nearly pristine condition, though still with a very faint scent of smoke.
Gben
Established
The lens on the f3.5 models was a Tessar copy. They were a bit crippled though because they focused by moving the front element instead of the entire lens.
Not as good a camera as the Argus and it cost more, which is why Argus beat them in sales and Kodak dropped them very early in the 1950s. Like the Argus they are easy to collect because they are just about worthless and that means like the Argus you can carry them around and use them without worrying about them so much. There are lots of details about these that are not known though in comparison to the Argus, so it gives me something interesting to do researching them..........
Not as good a camera as the Argus and it cost more, which is why Argus beat them in sales and Kodak dropped them very early in the 1950s. Like the Argus they are easy to collect because they are just about worthless and that means like the Argus you can carry them around and use them without worrying about them so much. There are lots of details about these that are not known though in comparison to the Argus, so it gives me something interesting to do researching them..........
Mr_Flibble
In Tabulas Argenteas Refero
With the Kodamatic shutter they were a little more user-friendly than the Argus in operation. But after sitting for 70 years it also causes the camera to eat film for breakfast, lunch and dinner these days if not serviced properly
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