Instamatic

Instamatic 50 with auxiliary tele lens and finder

Instamatic was Kodak's trademark name for their easy-load 126 cartridge film cameras, launched in February 1963 with the Instamatic 50. Later, in 1972 Kodak used the name Pocket Instamatic for some of their 110 cartridge cameras; other 110 models were branded Ektra or Ektralite, and for Super8 8mm movie cameras.

Frequently "Instamatic" was used in error to refer to Kodak's instant cameras. Due to the strong association of Instamatic with 126 cameras, the name was not used for Instant cameras, which were instead branded Kodamatic, Colorburst or simply "Kodak Instant".

Manufacturing

Instamatic cameras were manufactured in various plants across the world, in particular by Kodak in the US, by Kodak AG in Germany, and by Kodak Ltd in the UK. Kodak 126 Instamatics were a great success and sold around 60 million by 1976 - thus "Instamatic" became a generic term for cartridge-loading - or any plain point-and-shoot - cameras. Instamatic models continued until c.1988.

Description

Whilst most Instamatics were simple "snapshot" cameras, made of plastic with no adjustments, the range extended through designs with metal chassis, light meters or automatic exposure, rangefinders and even the "Reflex" SLR, with interchangeable lenses. There were also add-ons such as teleconverter lenses, viewfinders etc.

Early Instamatics (e.g. Instamatic 50) had a special flash adaptor for either AG-1 bulbs or (later) Flashcubes; a few had a pop-up flash gun. Later models used Flashcubes or ("X" models) Magicubes without an adaptor. From 1976, 126 & 110 ('F') models were introduced to use the new Flipflash system.

Instamatic Models

126

Model numbers ending in 0 have pop-up flash gun; ending in 4 have Flashcube socket, ending in X have Magicube socket. Models ending in F have Flipflash

Name	Manufacture	Introduced	Withdrawn
Hawkeye Instamatic	US	1963	1967
Hawkeye Instamatic R4	US	1965	1971
Instamatic 11	Brazil?	1969
Instamatic 25	UK	Jan 1966	1971
Instamatic 26	UK	1968	1972
Instamatic 28	UK	Jan 1972	1974
Instamatic 32	UK	1972	1973
Instamatic 33	UK, Germany	Sep 1968	1973
Instamatic 36	UK	Jan 1973	1974
Instamatic 44	US	Jun 1969	Oct 1973
Instamatic 50	UK	Feb 1963	Jan 1966
Instamatic 55X	UK, Germany	Sep 1971	1972
Instamatic 56X	UK	Sep 1972	1977
Instamatic 66X	UK	Dec 1973	1977
Instamatic 76X	UK	1977
Instamatic 77X	UK, Germany	Jan 1977	1984
Instamatic 100	US, UK, Australia	Mar 1963	Jun 1966
Instamatic 104	US, UK, Australia	Jul 1965	Sep 1968
Instamatic 124	US	Jul 1968	Apr 1971
Instamatic 133	Germany, Spain, UK	Sep 1968	1970
Instamatic 133X	Germany, Spain, UK	Sep 1970	1971
Instamatic 134	US	Jul 1968	Jul 1971
Instamatic 150	US	Aug 1964	Jul 1966
Instamatic 154	US	Jul 1965	Jan 1969
Instamatic 155X	UK, Germany	Sep 1971	1977
Instamatic 174	US	Jul 1968	Apr 1971
Instamatic 177X	UK, Germany	Jan 1977	1984
Instamatic 200	UK	Jan 1965	1966
Instamatic 204	UK	Jan 1966	Nov 1968
Instamatic 220	Germany	1965	1966
Instamatic 224	Germany	1966	1968
Instamatic 233	UK, Germany	Sep 1968	1970
Instamatic 233X	UK, Germany	Sep 1970	1971
Instamatic 250	Germany	1964	1965/1967 US
Instamatic 255X	UK, Germany, Spain?	Sep 1971	1977
Instamatic 277X	UK, Germany	Jan 1977	1985
Instamatic 300	US	Mar 1963	Jun 1966
Instamatic 304	US,UK	Jul 1965	Apr 1969
Instamatic 314	US	Jul 1968	Apr 1971
Instamatic 324	Germany	1966	1967/1968 US
Instamatic 333	Germany	Sep 1968	1974
Instamatic 333X	Germany	Sep 1970	1971
Instamatic 355X	Germany	Sep 1971	1977
Instamatic 400	US, UK?	Mar 1963	Jun 1966
Instamatic 404	US	Jul 1965	Apr 1969
Instamatic 414	US	Jul 1968	Apr 1971
Instamatic 500	Germany	1963	1965/1966 US
Instamatic 700	US	Mar 1963	Jun 1966
Instamatic 704	US	Jul 1965	Apr 1969
Instamatic 714	US	Mar 1968	Sep 1970
Instamatic 800	US	Mar 1964	Jul 1966
Instamatic 804	US	Jul 1965	Mar 1970
Instamatic 814	US	Mar 1968	Aug 1970
Instamatic Reflex	Germany	1968	1970/1974 US&UK
Instamatic S-10	US	Mar 1967	Mar 1970
Instamatic S-20	US	Mar 1967
Instamatic X-15	US	Jul 1970
Instamatic X-15F	US	Mar 1976
Instamatic X-25	US	Jul 1970
Instamatic X-30	US	Aug 1971
Instamatic X-35	US	Jul 1970
Instamatic X-35F	US	Jul 1970
Instamatic X-45	US	Jul 1970
Instamatic X-90	US	Jul 1970

110

Name	Manufacture	Introduced	Withdrawn
Instamatic 91		Nov 1974	Jan 1976
Instamatic 92		Sep 1974	Jan 1976
Instamatic 125		Sep 1974	Jan 1978
Instamatic 130	UK, Germany	Jan 1976	1978
Instamatic 192	UK, Germany	Jan 1975	Jan 1976
Instamatic 230	UK, Germany	Jan 1976	1978
Mini Instamatic S30	Germany	Sep 1976	Jan 1978
Mini Instamatic S40	Germany	Sep 1976	Jan 1978
Pocket Instamatic 10	US	May 1973	Sep 1976
Pocket Instamatic 20	US
Pocket Instamatic 30	US
Pocket Instamatic 40	US
Pocket Instamatic 50	US
Pocket Instamatic 60	US
Pocket Instamatic 100	UK, Germany	Sep 1972	Dec 1974
Pocket Instamatic 300
Pocket Instamatic 400
Pocket Instamatic 500
Tele-Instamatic 330	US	Sep 1975	1978
Tele-Instamatic 430	Germany	Sep 1975	1978
Tele-Instamatic 608	US	Apr 1975	Jun 1979
Tele-Instamatic 708	US
Trimlite Instamatic 18	US	Apr 1975	Jun 1979
Trimlite Instamatic 28	US	Apr 1975	Jun 1979
Trimlite Instamatic 38	US	Apr 1975	Jun 1979
Trimlite Instamatic 48	US	Apr 1975	Jun 1979

Super 8 movie cameras

• Kodak Instamatic M4
• Kodak Instamatic M6 (US)
• Kodak Instamatic M16
• Kodak Instamatic M30

Books

• Coe, Brian, Kodak Cameras: The First Hundred Years, pp.223-260, Hove Foto Books, Hove, East Sussex, UK: 1988.
  

Source for some of the model names, and many of the dates.

Links

• Instamatic page on Mischa Koning's Kodak Classics
• many Instamatic models are on Sylvain Halgand's Collection d'Appareils site
• Pocket Instamatics on Pierre J's Apphotnum (English; also in French)
• Instamatics page on John Cooper's OzCamera