Instamatic 110 & 126 Film - who still sells it or develops it?

[Timmyjoe]

I started playing with a consumer 110 camera and some 16mm film I had, but the image quality was awful. I then tried the Minolta 16 II camera and found the image quality not much better. Then I tried a Minolta 16QT and the images are somewhat better (better lens and focusing), but still not what I had hoped. Here's a sample with Plus-X and Double-X.

Maybe I'll go back to 110 and try that Pentax.

 

[Spavinaw]

I really liked 126 slides. Seemed to me that a square projection screen full of image was more impressive than one with empty space left over because the image was rectangular. I got the collector bug for 126 SLR's back in the day. I still have Rollei, Contaflex, Keystone, and Ricoh 126 SLR's. I never got a Kodak or the Sears version of I think it was the Ricoh. I got all the lenses for the Contaflex except the widest one. Seems it was 28mm or close. They were like hen's teeth. I don't think I ever saw one for sale.
For a single lens 126 the Kodak 500 was at the top of my list. Compact with collapsible lens and German quality. I have two.
I'm glad 110 slide film is back but with no way to mount it, as far as I know, I'll never buy any until there is. Hope there is some day. I have a Kodak 110 projector just waiting.

 

[jsrockit]

Timmyjoe, I wouldn't bother with the Pentax 110 if you are looking for image quality. 110 is just tiny.

 

[Dralowid]

I really liked 126 slides. Seemed to me that a square projection screen full of image was more impressive than one with empty space left over because the image was rectangular. I got the collector bug for 126 SLR's back in the day. I still have Rollei, Contaflex, Keystone, and Ricoh 126 SLR's. I never got a Kodak or the Sears version of I think it was the Ricoh. I got all the lenses for the Contaflex except the widest one. Seems it was 28mm or close. They were like hen's teeth. I don't think I ever saw one for sale.
For a single lens 126 the Kodak 500 was at the top of my list. Compact with collapsible lens and German quality. I have two.
I'm glad 110 slide film is back but with no way to mount it, as far as I know, I'll never buy any until there is. Hope there is some day. I have a Kodak 110 projector just waiting.

This makes me think about starting a thread about collecting dead formats etc, ie collecting inexpensive but sometimes innovative gear. So...who has one of those Minolta disc cameras with a mirror on the front and selfie stick that was well ahead of its time?

 

[Mackinaw]

Timmyjoe, I wouldn't bother with the Pentax 110 if you are looking for image quality. 110 is just tiny.

Many years back, my sister gave me her Canon 110 ED. I remember that Modern Photography raved about the f2.0 lens on the camera, saying that it out resolved any film you could buy for it. I recently found a box of 110 Kodachrome 64 slides I had shot with the camera back in 1978. The pics were sharp and contrast, but the grain! As fine grained as Kodachrome was, that tiny 110 format made the grain look like a color version of Tri-X developed in Rodinal.

Jim B.

 

[unixrevolution]

The Pentax Auto 110 SLR with about 4 or 5 different lenses and a ton of accessories. I had a couple of them. Incredible little shooter, but not for the Ham Fisted among us. Delicate little thing.

Some people think the lenses were good enough to adapt to mirrorless. True, but no aperture blades in the lenses. Still worked well, however. Great tiny glass.

Minolta also made a successful, pancake type zoom body. Also good quality images.

I have a bright yellow underwater Minolta model w/flash... all watersealed in it's entirety. 25 listed on eBay at the moment.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Minolta-Wea...691205?hash=item41af3a0c05:g:rlQAAOSwARZXiUDL

As the resident Pentax Auto 110 fanatic in the room I might as well pipe up 🙂

I have two Auto 110 bodies, unfortunately neither is the sought after Super, or the Safari, or similar. They are simply the standard bodies. Tiny, and completely adorable.

The Auto 110 is the only 110 system ever developed. Utilizing full auto-exposure, they also have flash-gun hookups, and the system boasts a winder as well. The camera gets hilariously large with all the accessories.

Untitled by Erik, on Flickr

There are six lenses in the Auto 110 system. Three are common, three are rare.

The common ones are the 25mm f/2.8 standard lens, 18mm f/2.8 wide angle, and 50mm f/2.8 Tele. They are crowded around the Auto 110 on the right.

The uncommon ones are the 20-40mm f/2.8 zoom, mounted on the one on the left, the 70mm f/2.8, center, and the 18mm f/2.8 Pan Focus, under the camera on the left. The Pan Focus was supposed to be set to the hyperfocal distance if the camera is shot in enough light.

The camera on the left is mounting the bigger flash and the motor drive, as well as the "Chain Strap" accessory. The one on the right is wearing the smaller flash. Between them is the belt clip accessory, which I really like. In front of the 50mm lens is a 110 SLR pentaprism from a dead Auto 110.

The auto 110 lenses are reasonably sharp and have the standard Pentax multicoating. The cameras can detect film speed based on the "notch" fast cartridges are supposed to have, and feature double-stroke advance.

 

[unixrevolution]

In Addition, there was another 110 Film SLR made by Minolta, with a fixed zoom, and at least 3 rangefinders:

The Kodak Pocket Instamatic 60
The Canon 110ED
The Trimlite Instamatic 48.

I have the 60, but have never shot it, because of odd battery requirements.

I also know that a particular Yankee developing tank takes 110 with no issues, and I have one. But be prepared, it kinda sucks.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=895914&gclid=CjwKEAjwxeq9BRDDh4_MheOnvAESJABZ4VTqIUTghvETpAB3WpAPSxGu5fBC9R4NmmjNvWiB2xAA8RoCKMPw_wcB&is=REG&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876%2C92051677562%2C&Q=&A=details

 

[Timmyjoe]

That's interesting. Didn't know those existed. Seems like it might be a battery issue with the Kodak Pocket Instamatic 60 and Trimlite Instamatic 48. Any source for those strange batteries?

 

[unixrevolution]

When you say rangefinders, do you mean the operate like a Leica rangefinder camera, where you look through the viewfinder and focus the lens, or do you just mean they allow you to set the distance scale for the lens?

When I say "Rangefinder", I don't mean "Scale Focus". I know the difference, and the above listed cameras are real, true Rangefinder cameras, like a Leica M. I can't remember if they have parallax corrected bright-lines, but they do focus with a real rangefinder mechanism.

 

[unixrevolution]

That's interesting. Didn't know those existed. Seems like it might be a battery issue with the Kodak Pocket Instamatic 60 and Trimlite Instamatic 48. Any source for those strange batteries?

I seem to remember trying to cobble something together, but I don't know, at this point. It's worth revisiting now that 110 is in production again.

 

[Timmyjoe]

When I say "Rangefinder", I don't mean "Scale Focus". I know the difference, and the above listed cameras are real, true Rangefinder cameras, like a Leica M. I can't remember if they have parallax corrected bright-lines, but they do focus with a real rangefinder mechanism.

Never heard of such a thing in a 110 camera. That is really cool.

 

[unixrevolution]

Never heard of such a thing in a 110 camera. That is really cool.

They only ever made 3, and they were fairly rare. But they do exist and they are really flippin' cool. 🙂

I found information in the form of photos on Flickr regarding the Instamatic 60 battery:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcdurl/6859934243/in/photostream/

 

[Mackinaw]

I just found my old Canon 110 ED. It does have a rangefinder.

Jim B.

 

[Spavinaw]

Erik--I was into 110 big time, too. I have everything in your system picture except the filters and the loose prism. I also have an Auto 110 Super body and a Soligor 1.7X Teleconverter. Also two more regular bodies (some were offers I couldn't refuse).
Concerning the Canon 110's, I have one 110ED 20, one 110ED, and two 110E's. The 110E's have no rangefinder. They all take a standard PX28 battery.
Concerning Kodak 110's, I have four variations of the Kodak 60. The one I am proudest of is the chrome black one. Kodak was second after Leica to have a black chrome camera. I also have a Kodak 48 that takes the 400 speed film, but the shutter speed does not go below 1/30, as I recall, so what's the point (Kodak said it was to prevent so many complaints about blurry pictures from amateurs that ignored the FLASH OR TIME warning that was displayed when appropriate at the bottom of the viewfinder)?
One more thing, I have the cutest little Hanimex VXL 110 camera. It looks like a small 35mm camera (think Canonet) with a potato masher flash. Regretfully it uses the discontinued Kodak type K battery. It has an f1.9 lens. Does anyone know a 110 camera with a faster lens?

 

[Faintandfuzzy]

Still my favorite little 110 camera...the Diana 110 Mini. Not as good as my Pentaxes, but easy to use with the 2 lenses it comes with

 

[YouAreHere]

What was the highest quality 110 camera (as far as lens is concerned) that was ever made? Because you can still get Kodak Double X 16mm single perf motion picture camera film to reload those 110 cartridges with.

For that I suggest the Leica 110 prototype with 26mm Summicron f2. Have lots of cash in hand!

 

[unixrevolution]

Erik--I was into 110 big time, too. I have everything in your system picture except the filters and the loose prism. I also have an Auto 110 Super body and a Soligor 1.7X Teleconverter. Also two more regular bodies (some were offers I couldn't refuse).
Concerning the Canon 110's, I have one 110ED 20, one 110ED, and two 110E's. The 110E's have no rangefinder. They all take a standard PX28 battery.
Concerning Kodak 110's, I have four variations of the Kodak 60. The one I am proudest of is the chrome black one. Kodak was second after Leica to have a black chrome camera. I also have a Kodak 48 that takes the 400 speed film, but the shutter speed does not go below 1/30, as I recall, so what's the point (Kodak said it was to prevent so many complaints about blurry pictures from amateurs that ignored the FLASH OR TIME warning that was displayed when appropriate at the bottom of the viewfinder)?
One more thing, I have the cutest little Hanimex VXL 110 camera. It looks like a small 35mm camera (think Canonet) with a potato masher flash. Regretfully it uses the discontinued Kodak type K battery. It has an f1.9 lens. Does anyone know a 110 camera with a faster lens?

Sounds like an awesome setup, and I only have the loose prism case one of my Auto 110s disintegrated. If you ever want to unload the TC or the 110 Super body, please let me know. It also sounds like we should all go to eBay and snatch up some Canon 110EDs, because they take a more common battery than the Kodaks. Thanks for the info on those. I agree the minimum 1/30 is stupid.

I would love to see the little Hanimex. The fastest 110 film lens I've seen would be that one. The Canon's was F/2 and all the Pentax stuff was 2.8.

Still my favorite little 110 camera...the Diana 110 Mini. Not as good as my Pentaxes, but easy to use with the 2 lenses it comes with

That is bloody adorable.

For that I suggest the Leica 110 prototype with 26mm Summicron f2. Have lots of cash in hand!

Looked them up. They look amazing.

gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-fascinating-world-of-prototype.html

 

[Spavinaw]

Erik--Just google Hanimex VXL. There are several pictures of the camera and flash.

 

[farlymac]

As the resident Pentax Auto 110 fanatic in the room I might as well pipe up 🙂

I have two Auto 110 bodies, unfortunately neither is the sought after Super, or the Safari, or similar. They are simply the standard bodies. Tiny, and completely adorable.

The Auto 110 is the only 110 system ever developed. Utilizing full auto-exposure, they also have flash-gun hookups, and the system boasts a winder as well. The camera gets hilariously large with all the accessories.

Adorable, yes. But not the only 110 system camera ever made.

I used to own a Sedic XF-22 with the P-22 flash unit, motor drive, Wide-angle attachment 0.7x, Tele attachment 1.5x, Close-up lens, and Close-up/Copy attachment. It didn't come close to the sophistication of the Pentax 110, but looked cool to whomever I showed it to. Took lousy images as I recall.

My other high-end 110's were the Kodak 60 rangefinder, and the Minolta Zoom II. I sold the 60 to a shipmate, and quit shooting the Minolta because I got fed up with the image quality. Just too darn grainy for my likes.

PF

 

[Doug]

In the 1980's I took a lot of art classes at the local college, and used my Pentax Auto 110 cameras for some of the photo assignments. I didn't say anything about what camera gear I was using, and nobody commented on the technical merits of the submissions. I also used a Minolta CLE and Pentax 6x7 for those classes... there was nothing about the 110 photos that raised quality questions.

These were 8x10 enlargements from Verichrome Pan developed in Ilford Perceptol in a regular 1-reel Kindermann tank holding two 16mm stainless reels. Enlarged on a Beseler 23C with Minolta 2.8/30mm lens. Very carefully throughout and of course with careful spotting. The 8x10's looked pretty good! Since the 110 image area is about 1/4 the area of a 35mm frame, these 8x10's are technically equivalent (in grain and sharpness etc) to 16x20 from 35mm.

I think I have one remaining cartridge of 110 Verichrome in the fridge... 🙂