Kamera Ostalgie

No 2-C Autographic JR I first started collecting vintage cameras in 1977 when I was 16, with my first weekly wage packet I bought a Box Brownie for £1.50 and a Blue Ensign Box for 50p. The most common cameras at local Antique Fairs were Box Brownies and Folding Kodaks like the one above, Box Cameras were usually £2 or below and Kodak folders were about £5, there were lots of both available, and to me at 16, I thought they were great! No 2-C Autographic JR To be fair, they were, and still are...

I don't really think of France as a camera producing country, I'm not sure why. Germany, yes, Great Britain, yes, but France ? Off the top of my head only the lovely range of Semflex TLRs come to mind. But France did, especially in the early days produce a lot of very nice cameras, however they did not seem to cross the channel in large numbers. Think about it, before the two world wars that idiot politicians inflicted on Europe, turning Germany from friend to enemy, which in effect caused...

Now I'm no expert on Kodaks Retina cameras, I own an odd one or two, I have used some very occasionally many years ago, but this one, which belonged to my Father, I have never used, which is a great pity. However, today I have been giving it a clean up, that rolled into taking a few quick pictures of it, which ended up in starting this post. The next logical step would be to put a film through it I suppose. Kodak produced lots of different Retinas, some collectors collect nothing else, there...