Tony Warren
Well-Known Member
I have been looking at the Kodak 35RF recently. Often referred to as an ugly duckling of a camera which is not the whole story, more the result of circumstances as deliberate design. There are some inspired aspects to it but in the main it is the victim of commercial pressures and world affairs. It came out in 1940 and was in response to the Argus C and other crf cameras appearing at the time in the US. What it should have been is a Retinette with coupled rangefinder but Europe was at war and the German arm of Kodak was presumably otherwise engaged. Instead it was developed alongside the Ektra, a very advanced camera, but based on the 1930s "35". This had a solid Bakelite body and manual focus with a frame finder. As a result the rangefinder linkages had to go on the outside. Everything else seemed to be rushed. The shutter release is very strange and hard to find. The pressure plate is mirror finish, polished metal so anti-halation layer film is essential. Even then there is some edge vignetting in some frames. But it produces some good results for all that and is good to use once you learn where everthing is and how to operate them.
