Kodak 35 Rangefinder

Format

135, 24x36 mm

System

Kodak 35

Shutter

Kodamatic, later Flash Kodamatic, T/B/1/10 to 1/200

Metering

none

Spec Notes

TWO hardware dimensions separate it from the Kodak 35 - a coupled rangefinder where the base camera had none, and a different body carrying it (Kodak's own published weights: 24 oz against 18 oz). Kodak's 1940 catalogue describes the coupling in plain words: 'You turn a handy wheel, bring the halves of the range-finder image into alignment'. AA-13 lists it as the only lens-qualified Kodak 35 entry: 'KODAK 35, f/3.5, with Rangefinder'. *** A LENS NAME DELIBERATELY NOT USED ***: one widely-read encyclopedia calls the later lens 'Kodak Anastar SPECIAL'. That string appears in no Kodak document and on no engraved example - it is an artefact of that article, and it is not recorded here. Focal length is given as 50mm in some sources and 51mm in others across the same rename; that is source inconsistency, not two designs, and no focal length is asserted. Kodak published the weight, 24 oz. DATING: the fitted lens carries Kodak's CAMEROSITY two-letter year prefix on its serial (C=1 A=2 M=3 E=4 R=5 O=6 S=7 I=8 T=9 Y=0), stamped on the ring securing the front group. This gives the LENS year, not the body's, and a swapped lens dates the wrong object - a documented hazard, one collector owning a Medalist I wearing a Medalist II lens. DATES ARE MARKET DATES, NOT PRODUCTION. Kodak's own AA-13 heads its columns 'ON THE MARKET FROM / TO', and no Kodak-published production date exists for any camera in this slice - every third-party 'production years' figure checked is a restatement of AA-13.

Fitted Lens

Kodak Anastigmat Special f/3.5, later Kodak Anastar f/3.5

Rangefinder

Yes

Alternate Names

—

Introduced

1940