Kodak Retina II
Kodak Retina II type 011 produced from 1946 to 1949. Featuring a German made folding body and a USA made Ektar 47mm f2 lens.
The Kodak Retina II was a series of 35mm cameras made in Germany during two time periods. The first models in 1936 to 1939 (pre-war) were the Type 122 and the type 142. The post-war type 011 and type 014 were made from 1946 to 1950. This one is a post-war type 011 with the USA made Extar 47mm f2.0 lens. It uses a Compur-Rapid shutter with a 1 to 1/500 of a sec. range. With a B for bulb mode.
Operations are all manual and take some learning if this is you first time. Just to open the body and expose the lens, you need to find the secret button on the base. Then use the front cover to pull the lens out. It will lock in to place. Focus is a knob on the lower left of the lens. Focus range of 3.5 feet to infinity. Aperture is set with a slider on the bottom of the lens bezel. Sutter speed is set by turning the lens bezel. both aperture and shutter speed must be read from the front of the camera.
Loading film is not too complicated once you realize that the door release on the left side pops out, rather than slides to unlock the back. Film loading is like most 35mm cameras. The film counter does not reset automaticly so ther is a wheel on the back to set it. Film advance is the wheel on the top right. And the shutter is the tall post by the advance wheel. But wait the shutter will not fire. That is because the film advance does not reset the shutter. The shutter is cocked by an arm on the top left of the lens. (facing the lens is will be on the right at about 1:00 when un-cocked and about 3:00 when cocked)
At the end of your roll, there is a slider on the back top left with and RA. Move the slider to the R position then use the knob on the top left to rewind you film.
We are not done yet. To close the camera you need to have the focus at infinity (or the lens protrudes too much) and release the lens by pushing a tab on the top and bottom of the lens assembly to unlock the slide. Got all that?
My take:
The Retina II took a bit to work to figure out and was not a fast camera. It was a nice lesson in photography past. The lens is gives that nice vinatage rendering that for some shots is fun. Do I recomend this as a first camera, no. But if you have never shot an old folding camera, you should. Slow down, learn the controls and step back in time. Enjoy.
Lens: Ektar 47mm f2
Film: Ilford Delta 100