Kodak Super Six-20
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| Kodak Super Six-20 |
The Kodak Super Six-20 is accepted as being the first camera with automatic exposure, introduced by Kodak in 1938.
Description
Exposure was controlled by a mechanical linkage from a selenium light meter to the aperture control. Pressing the shutter release first locked the meter needle, and moved a lever controlling the aperture up to the needle, before firing the shutter. Adjusting the speed control moved a cover over more or less of the photocell[1].
The folding clam-shell design was by Joseph Mihalyi and styled by Walter Dorwin Teague. This incorporated crank winding and a coupled rangefinder[2].
The Super Six-20 was not a great success due to its high price - $225 USD[3] (app. $3,200 USD in 2007), much more than a contemporary Leica - and a reputation for unreliability. Kodak employees had nicknamed it "the boomerang" for its regular returns for service[2].
It was withdrawn in 1944; production estimates vary between 714 and 725 being made; 719 is the most common guess.
Specification
- Manufacturer: Kodak
- Country of Origin: USA
- Introduced: August 1938[2]
- Withdrawn: August 1944
- Lens: Kodak Anastigmat Special 100mm f/3.5, focus 4ft-infinity
- Shutter: Compur, 8 speeds up to 1/200; shutter priority auto from 1/25-1/200, slower speeds available manually
- Film: 620, frame size 2¼ x 3¼ inches, 6x9cm
Sources
Links
- Super Six-20 on George Eastman House site
- Super Six-20 at the National Media Museum, Bradford, UK
- Bill Kantymir's Super Six-20 story
Postscript
A auto-exposure patent pre-dates the release of this camera; US Patent 2,058,562 was granted in 1935 to Gustav Bucky and Albert Einstein! This covers a different, possibly impractical system using neutral-density filters to control light.
In spite of the commercial failure of the Super Six-20, the "trap-needle" (Electric-Eye, "EE") system of auto-exposure eventually became popular from the late 1950s, until it was replaced by electronic systems in the 1970s.
