p.1 #1 · Images taken 30 years ago with a Kodak Retina 1a from 1938
These photos where taken 30 years ago on colour negative film. The camera was a Kodak Retina 1a, a foldable 35mm camera, one of the first 35mm cameras ever. The lens was at this time already in less than perfect condition, probably soft glass and no coating of cause. I digitize with a Sony A7R II and develop with Silkypix developer 12 which has a negative conversion tool included. The images from this camera where especailly flat and I had to adjust the differently from my Praktica SLR images.
The sharpness astonished me as it is a tiny and very old camera.
What I always find difficult is to come to a satifying and consistent white balance. The colours will be faded a bit and this doesn't help.
p.1 #2 · Images taken 30 years ago with a Kodak Retina 1a from 1938
The sharp lens is no surprise. Retinas always used either Schneider or Rodenstock lenses. It was only if they developed haze that would cause any degradation. Thanks for posting!
p.1 #4 · Images taken 30 years ago with a Kodak Retina 1a from 1938
Desmolicious wrote:
Love it! Many people are unaware as to how good gear was from decades ago having grown up in the digital era.
After it was properly serviced by someone who knew what they were doing, my Retina IIa works perfectly. It easily fits in a jacket pocket and if I'm careful when loading it, I'll get forty or more frames on a 36 exposure roll. It has a leaver film advance that also cocks the shutter. That's it for automation. Exposure needs to be read with a separate meter and those readings need to be set on the camera.
The new Lomo is loaded with features. It has a program mode so you don't have to worry about about exposure. It has adjustable EV, autofocus and a fairly fast lens. Most reports are the camera is well made and has some heft. Once Lomo addresses the early production problems, they will probably sell a lot of them.
Two camera separated by seventy four years but with the same purpose, a high quality pocketable camera.
p.1 #5 · Images taken 30 years ago with a Kodak Retina 1a from 1938
This post makes me laugh. It’s strange to me how people quite often think some things made 30 or more years ago are strangley very good. If you look at photographs made 100 years agp you will find very fine images. Look at sports photos taken in the 1960-80’s before motodrives and autofocus were available.
People need to remember that people make photographs not cameras. And experienced photographers know how their cameras work, and don’t work, and use them to get good images.
p.1 #6 · Images taken 30 years ago with a Kodak Retina 1a from 1938
This is the actual camera. The rough lens surface is visible. It is a Kodak-Anastigmat Ektar 1:3,5 5cm lens, probbaly 4 elements, uncoated. The camera is a family heirloom and has a nice place in my collection cabinet.
In Germany it was uncomon before the end of the 50s to make enlargements of ordinary household photos. They were taken on film of glass in the size that was wanted as the final print. So a 35mm camera had a lot of impact on the necessary infrastructure and equipment on the print making stage.
p.1 #7 · Images taken 30 years ago with a Kodak Retina 1a from 1938
madNbad wrote:
Retina IIa
That was a lovely camera. Much more refined than the Retina 1a, more than the progress in the naming would suggest. Only a little bigger but lever wind (and what a beautiful lever, probably forged aluminium) a f/2.0 lens and a range finder. 25 years ago I serviced one of these for an older lady, bad health and not well of, she loved this camera and used it as laong as she was able to. When she stopped using it she gave it to me.
I once was shown the private camera collection of an old camera shop owner and collector in northern England. The Retina IIa and the Rolleiflex E or F model were the two cameras, that impressed me most. I was more of a classic camera user than collector then, and these cameras were the most attractive combination of clever design, beautiful craftsmanship and mid-1990s usability.
p.1 #8 · Images taken 30 years ago with a Kodak Retina 1a from 1938
Norm Shapiro wrote:
If you look at photographs made 100 years agp you will find very fine images.
These photos were made on (sometimes overly) big film or glass negatives, that gave them an advantage. The contact prints were impressively sharp and little enlargement would have been necessary. I can remember that my grandmother, born in 1907, was astonished that an enlarger cold be needed for printig. She had used a box with a bulb, light switch and ground glass!
This is a scanned contact print on baryt paper of a ca. 4x6cm negative, photo taken by my grand uncle in WW II.
Even the contact print has enogh resolution to create a perfect postcard sized print. But this is more or less the only photo with no grave, no dead horse, no signs of intense fighting, so not an amusing collection.
