In 1963, when these cameras were introduced, my sister and my mother got new Instamatics for Christmas. My sister got a 100 and my mother a 300. At that point, my mother became the family photographer-historian. I had a Kodak Duaflex IV already, and I could confidently load it myself, so I felt no need for an Instamatic.😎
Later, at the university, I wanted a handier camera for taking snapshots of friends and activities in the dorm, and I asked for one for Christmas (1971). I looked at an Instamatic that sold for $40.00, and I thought it would be fine. It had a plastic lens and the only focusing it offered was a slider beneath the lens for "close-up." For about the same price, my parents got me a Minolta Autopak 600 (bless them!), a truly amazing 126 camera. It had an all-glass, coated Tessar-type lens, 4-zone focusing, and excellent auto-exposure system, and it took flash cubes. I discovered right away that it took a wide variety of slide films, which rekindled my old interest in photography. That spring, I bought my first SLR, a demo-model Yashica TL Super, and I was off!
In the meantime, my mother had gotten a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex 126 with a 45mm Color Pantar lens (I know, nothing special, but more than adequate for the snapshots she loaded into family albums), which she loved, and she wouldn't let any of us touch it! I still have that camera (with ER case and original manual), though the shutter failed long ago and batteries are no longer available for it. I'm not sure what to do with it now, as I certainly can't use it, but I can't bring myself to throw it away, either.
Great times!
- Murray
