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[1] 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".
Contents
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.
- ↑ Dates from Kodak's web site
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
110
- Pocket Instamatic 10
- Pocket Instamatic 20 (US)
- Pocket Instamatic 30 (US)
- Pocket Instamatic 40
- Pocket Instamatic 50
- Pocket Instamatic 60
- Pocket Instamatic 100
- Pocket Instamatic 300
- Pocket Instamatic 400
- Pocket Instamatic 500
- Tele-Instamatic 330 (UK)
- Tele-Instamatic 430 (Germany)
- Tele-Instamatic 608 (US)
- Tele-Instamatic 708 (US)
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.223-261, Hove Foto Books, Hove, East Sussex, UK: 1988.
Source for some of the model names, and many of the dates.
Links
- many Instamatic models are on Sylvain Halgand's Collection d'Appareils site
- Pocket Instamatics on Pierre J's Apphotnum (English; also in French)
