Name/Title
Camera, 35 mmEntry/Object ID
2014.036.0003Description
This is a Kodak Instamatic 804 camera. It uses 126mm film and has its box, a case and instructions. serial no 136023 / 184S893 in film area. The switch for opening the film loading area is broken.
Instamatic was Kodak's trademark name for their easy-load 126 cartridge film cameras, launched in February 1963 with the Instamatic 50. It was made from July, 1965 to March, 1970.
The Instamatic 804 is a far cry from that simple box, incorporating an honest-to-goodness rangefinder and a Tessar-type lens — a 38mm f/2.8 Kodak Ektanar. It even features a shutter speed dial with a Bulb option. Instead of a knob winder, though, it has a sort of ripcord attached to a plate that fits into bottom cover. Pulling the plastic cord out a couple times charges up the winder mechanism and frames advance automatically.
Introduced in 1965, the Instamatic 804 supported then-relatively-new flash cubes — It reportedly sold for about $125 in 1965 — the equivalent of over $900 in 2015! It’s incredibly heavy for its size so maybe Kodak was charging by the pound?Collection
Camera Collection
