Kodak Retina IIa

1939 Type 150 Retina IIa image by Laszlo Gerencser (Image rights)

The Kodak Retina IIa was a rangefinder-focusing, folding 35mm camera made by Kodak AG, the German subsidiary of Kodak.

Production History

The designation Retina IIa can refer to two different camera production runs, separated by a gap of 10 years. For clarity, Retina collectors and historians refer to Retina models by a factory Type number given before the camera name.

Pre-WWII model

The pre-WWII Type 150 Retina IIa was a redesign of the preceding Type 142 Retina II. This reshaped the top plate, combined the rangefinder and viewfinder into one eyepiece, and moved the frame counter next to the wind knob. There was a depth-of-field scale wheel on the camera's bottom.

The Type 150 Retina IIa was manufactured from 1939 to 1941. There were three aperture grades of lens offered, ranging from an f/3.5 Ektar to a f/2.0 Retina-Xenon; all were in Compur Rapid shutters.

The war-time German government ordered a stop to all camera production at Kodak A.G. in the summer of 1941.

Post-WWII models

When production resumed in 1949, the new Type 011 was not much changed from the prewar model. The top plate was slightly lower, and strap lugs were dropped from the body. Ektar, Rodenstock Heligon, or Retina-Xenon lenses were offered—all f/2.0—in Compur-Rapid shutters.

Late production Type 016 Retina IIa Picture by Alf Sigaro (Image rights)

Serial numbers prefixed with EK indicate cameras exported for sale in the US.

Rapid-wind models

The Type 016 Retina IIa was manufactured from January 1951 to April 1954. This version of the IIa broke with all prior Retina II versions, in adding a rapid-wind lever.

This was coupled to also cock the shutter, whether the camera front was open or closed. Fitting this feature into the already-established folding body style required a complex linkage, whose gearing could be vulnerable to rough handling (although later folding Retinas were even worse).

From January to March 1951, the Type 016 Retina IIa used Compur-Rapid shutters; then switched to Synchro-Compur through the end of production in April 1954. 50mm f/2.0 Retina-Heligon and Retina-Xenon lenses were offered.

Serial numbers prefixed with EK indicate cameras exported for sale in the US.

The Retina IIa as a 'User'

Classic-camera aficionados such as Stephen Gandy have suggested that the IIa may represent the "sweet spot" of the entire Retina series: The IIa had been modernized to include rangefinder focus, excellent-quality f/2.0 lenses from Schneider and Rodenstock, and rapid advance, in a compact package scarcely larger than the original 1934 Retina.

However the IIa had not yet succumbed to the feature creep of built-in metering and interchangeable front lens elements, which necessitated the larger, plumper body style of the post-1954 Retina models.

On the negative side, the viewfinder of the IIa is not especially large or bright; and the shutter speed sequence was not yet the standard geometric series adopted by camera makers in the late 1950s. However the coated 50mm f/2.0 Retina-Xenon lens remains a credible performer even by modern standards.

Links

In English:

• Kodak Retina IIa at Cameraquest.com
• Kodak Retina Series at Karen Nakamura's Photoethnography.com
• Kodak Retina and Retinette model list by Clayton Rye
• Kodak Retina II/IIa/IIc compared by Dante Stella
• Manual available on the Favorite Classics section of .kyphoto.com
• Retina IIa Type 150

In French:

• Retina IIa on www.collection-appareils.fr by Sylvain Halgand
• Retina IIa Type 016 by luis triguez