Camera Talk

I have the Xenar and Curtagon lenses. The Xenon I have not found at reasonable prices, and telephoto lenses in RF cameras are not my idea of fun.

The frames in the viewfinder are difficult to see in my old example, an external viewfinder is needed. The Retina IIIS is heavy and has its quirks - you move a little wheel to select aperture for your set shutter speed; changing the speed adjusts aperture at the same time, to keep the EV. It counts frames down, and blocks after shooting the “1”. On the plus side, the RF is very easy to focus, the shutter is very quiet and the lenses are top notch.

Took the camera out for a FP4+ roll, after 7 years of rest in a box.

Beach access



Moro and Kevin I



Honey, I got something!



Under the hood



Stairs to the water



Moro and Kevin I, again. Right against the sun, no sun shade.



Thanks for looking!

Very nice set of images from the IIIs. I remember it fondly - it was my "issue" camera when I wore the Kodak hat.

Oh yes! These are nice shots. The Kodak Retinas were among the first cameras that I bought when I returned to photography. The Retina IIIS is the pinnacle of Kodak 35mm rangefinder photography. Some might say the Ektra, but I've never held one.

The f/1.9 Xenon is a terrific lens, if you can get a good one. As always, I like what you've done here.

Thanks Mike and Graham! It seems that there are a few 1.9 Xenons, also f/2, attached to for-parts Retina Reflex bodies, although probably without an RF cam. An idea for further analysis.

My father used a Retina Reflex S with a Xenon 1.9, I do remember that lens! With Panatomic X and care, results were fantastic.

The Retina Reflex, like the Zeiss Contarex, was stopped in it's tracks when Nikon introduced the Nikon F. Both used superb lenses, but were of a highly complex and costly to produce design.

Nice camera you have there, and great results too.
I have always been impressed with the build quality of the Kodak Retina series. The IIIS was my poor man's Leica for a while before the cord of the aperture wheel blocked and snapped, as I mentioned in an older thread here.
I had the Curtagon 35mm/f2.8 and the Tele-Xenar 85mm/f4 for it, together with the Xenar 50mm/f2.8 but I sold the whole lot after the cord issue.
Once I even owned a Retina Reflex S but sold that one too when I decided that I could not live with the de-silvering prism finder.
I still have a Retina IIc though, which I love.

That's a nice camera and beautiful photos.

Thanks Benny and Alex! I use this Retina sparingly because of fear of that cord issue. Indeed most of the Retina series are very well made cameras, if a bit quirky from a modern perspective.

Some might say that they are over-engineered, but they are marvels of technology. Fine mechanics, fine craftsmanship, well made and beautiful to look at and to use. Sometimes very complicated though, like the need to refer to the different scales around the lens when using the wide-angle or tele lenses on the folding Retinas.

Sometimes very complicated though, like the need to refer to the different scales around the lens when using the wide-angle or tele lenses on the folding Retinas.

You can say that again. I could never use productively the wide or tele of my Retina IIIc, which bothers me because the IIIc is a fine instrument, and the lenses should be more than decent.