original Retina advert

[PeterW]

Hi,

Sorting through some old mags this afternoon and came across the original launch advert for the Retina on the back cover of the Kodak Magazine dated December 1934 but appearing in November.

It was also given a page of editorial inside, with typical 1930s layout.

Thought some of you might be interested.





I had to clean up the back cover quite a lot, and descreen all the photos, but they've turned out quite well I think.

PeterW

[mickeyobe]

This is the kind of ad I like.
It gives the facts, all the facts - no hyperbole.
The layout is clean, appealing and full of relevant information without appearing too cluttered.
Today's ad people could learn a thing or two.

My only disagreements are the incorrect use of "depth of focus" for "depth of field" and they lady does not know how to hold the camera.

Nevertheless, I am sold. I'll take one.

Mickey

[Rachel]

A good ten guineas worth. I'll have one too.

[Just Plain Curt]

Now that's a nice folder. Ads like these are always interesting. Please feel free to post a few more, I'd love to see them.

[Dave]

Thank you Peter. I have that Retina and a number of others. I've a few ads too, I think. I know I have never seen that one. I give a talk to the local service clubs (Rotary, etc.) from time to time about the history of 35mm film and use the Retina and Kodak's invention of the daylight cartridge in the talk. I will add these to my props.

Thanks again, Dave

[Randy]

I like this kind of thing also Peter. I'd like to see one for a Retina Reflex S.

[PeterW]

Hi Dave,

Thank you Peter. I have that Retina and a number of others. I've a few ads too, I think. I know I have never seen that one. I give a talk to the local service clubs (Rotary, etc.) from time to time about the history of 35mm film and use the Retina and Kodak's invention of the daylight cartridge in the talk. I will add these to my props.

Retinas are one of the models I collect, too. I haven't got one of the original 1934 Type 117 models, though I do have one of the next model, the Type 118. No idea why I've never come across a Type 117 at the right price. There were, after all, about 60,000 of them made in the first year of production. Maybe they're more sought after, and thus higher priced, because they were the first model. By comparison, the Type 118 I've got is quite rare, only 9,144 made in 1935 before it was superseded by the Type 119 of which more than 39,000 were made.

When you're giving one of your talks, don't forget to mention that the daylight loading 35mm cassette wasn't in fact invented by Kodak. Dr. August Nagel, whose factory Kodak bought to form part of Kodak AG in Germany, took out a patent in Germany for this cassette almost a year before Kodak bought his company. It was central to the design of the Retina which Nagel already had in sketch form (and possibly as a pototype) but it took nearly two years of factory expansion and new machinery to get it into quantity production before the launch.

Kodak gave the camera massive publicity, and wanted every one of its main European dealers to have the Retina, and plenty of cassettes of film, in stock on the launch date.

It's been said that Nagel used the Retina and this cassette patent as a strong bargaining point to get the terms he wanted for the takeover. He designed the cassette to drop perfectly into both the Leica and Contax which gave Kodak an almost marketing monopoly of Kodak film for 35mm until other film makers took out licenses to make the cassette.

One of the terms Nagel secured was that he was left in virtual charge of camera design as technical director. Another, not often used by camera magazines but which you still sometimes find in old references, was that his company, under the umbrella of Kodak AG, should be registered as Kodak, Dr. August Nagel Werk, Stuttgart. The other part of Kodak AG was Kodak's film making factory in Berlin.

When he was asked to produce a Brownie Box camera for the German market to compete with the Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor he agreed, and produced a well-made quite up-market box with a metal body (he wouldn't let wood and cardboard into the factory except as packing materials), and put a doublet lens in it instead of the more usual meniscus lens in the Brownie. He also produced it as the Brownie 620 Junior box camera with a meniscus lens. Both had the words 'Kodak Dr. August Nagel Werk Suttgart' in small letters under the lens.

These Nagel-made Brownie boxes are quite sought after, on a par with Beau Brownies, but you still occasionally see one come up where the owner doesn't realise the significance of what he's got, and it goes next door to nothing. The giveaway is the inscription under the lens.

I sometimes wonder if it would have been greater competition for the Tengor, and maybe become as well known, if it had been called the Kodak Nagel Box Camera instead of just another model of Box Brownie. Kodak's marketing was excellent, but not infallible. Maybe their thinking was too much in US terms for the company's European products.

Both models were later taken up and produced (without the 'Nagel' inscription) by Kodak UK in Harrow, in north-west London.

PeterW

[Dan Vincent]

Peter, thanks for posting those ads.

At one time I had a Retina but I don't know which model it was. Maybe I can find a picture of it as I did take some pictures of my cameras back then.

The first ad looks a lot like the one I had but I'm not sure.

Back in the '50's I thought people who owned Retinas were rich as we had those old Kodak folders and plastic things.

[PeterW]

Dan,

As you no longer have the Retina you won't be able to quote the serial number, which would identify the model positively. However, I may be able to identify it if you can find a picture of it that shows the top plate reasonably clearly.

PeterW