A New Retina Ia and Vito II

[mrtoady]

I have a Retina I that I am restoring but received two very minty cameras today from an eBay buy: a Kodak Retina Ia and a Voigtlander Vito II. Both of these are very tiny and will make wonderful pocket stealth cameras. What is the function of the small button on top of the Retina Ia behind the shutter button? I also like the shutter cocking top-side lever advance on the Retina. These are very simple un-cluttered clean-lined cameras in my opinion. Beautiful.

(I haven't visited here for awhile and I can't remember how to insert an image. Is it with an htlm "img src" code or what?)

[David Silver]

Yes, the film advance locks when the counter goes back to "1". I'm afraid this is knowledge that unscrupulous collectors have used over the years to acquire "broken" Retinas from unsophisticated sellers. The sellers think the camera is broken because it will neither advance or shoot. The collector offers chump-change to take the "clunker" off their hands. As soon as the collector takes the camera away, he presses that little button on top, and thumbs the button on the back to reset the frame counter, and the camera comes back to life. Easiest "repair" in the world!

Enjoy the Retina Ia. I've used one in the past as a "glove compartment" camera, and it never failed me. Simplicity itself!