Chris's camera pages
Kodak Retina IIIS (type 027) for sale
The Retina IIIS was manufactured from 1958 to 1961 and it was the first, and arguably the best, rigid-front Retina model Kodak ever produced. The IIIS is built on the same basic body casting as the Reflex S, and so it is slightly longer than the folding Retina IIIC cameras providing more area for the fingers of your right hand to grip the body.The IIIS used the same 'S' series interchangeable lenses as the Retina Reflex S, III, or IV cameras. The shutter is a Synchro-Compur with speeds from 1 second to 1/500th second, is synchronised for bulb or electronic flash, and it has a built-in self-timer.
The Retina IIIS is a nice rangefinder to use, the camera handles well, and the viewfinder is bright and clear, with automatically-selected framelines for the 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm lenses. The lenses are fairly easy to find, and are generally reasonably priced, although they were certainly much cheaper before people started using them on their DSLRs!
This example is fitted with the Schneider Retina-Xenar 50mm f/2.8 lens. As you might know, the Retina IIIS can also to be found with the 50mm f/1.9 Xenon lens, but the larger lens makes the camera slightly cumbersome to use, and the extra stop isn't anywhere near as useful on a rangefinder camera as it would be with an SLR.
This is a nice example. The camera and lens have been serviced by me as part of my YouTube Retina IIIS servicing video series, and as a result, everything is working as it should be.You can find the playlist here.An early Kodak Retina IIIS film camera with problems
An early production camera, with the aperture scale stopping at f/2.8. (This does not preclude using a 50mm f/1.9 lens on the camera, the f/1.9 postion on the aperture scale is simply unmarked.)For sale at NZ$350. Tracked airmail shipping to the US or Europe will add NZ$65.Please check my swap page for other Kodak retina cameras, lenses and accessories.