Discontinued
Kfilm camera
Kodak Chevron
Format
620, 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 in
System
Kodak Chevron
Is Film
Yes
Shutter
Kodak Synchro-Rapid 800, ten speeds 1 to 1/800 + B
Metering
none
Research
Kodak AA-13; Kodak Medalist sales brochures 7791 7-41 and 7782 12-44 (PRC 03089, 03107); Medalist II brochure 7791 2-47 (PRC 00830); Medalist/II parts list 2370A and service manual 1-2370 (PRC 02183, 02184); Kodak Reflex brochure A3-8 4-48 (PRC 01606); Reflex II brochure A3-8 4-49 (PRC 01997) and instruction book 2-52 (PRC 02564); Chevron brochure A3-645 10-53 (PRC 02000), instruction book 9-53 (PRC 01313) and service manual 5510-A (PRC 02155); Kodak Stereo instruction book (cameramanuals.org) and parts list 5512 (PRC 02201).
Produced 1953–1956https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/01541/01541.pdfMARKET DATES from Kodak Customer Service Pamphlet AA-13, whose columns are headed 'ON THE MARKET FROM / TO' - NOT production dates, and no Kodak-published production date exists for this camera. See gear_items.kodak-chevron spec_notes for the sourcing and any conflict.
Category: Film Camera
Format
620, 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 in
System
Kodak Chevron
Shutter
Kodak Synchro-Rapid 800, ten speeds 1 to 1/800 + B
Metering
none
Spec Notes
WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS: Kodak's top medium-format camera after the Medalist, not a dressed-up Tourist - the 'premium Tourist' framing in circulation is NOT SOURCED. It drops the Medalist's 6x9 to 6x6 and its five-element Ektar to four. Two Kodak documents give the lens identically, which settles a field my source list had left as 'verify fixed lens'. The SYNCHRO-RAPID 800 is Kodak's finest between-the-lens shutter - 'gear-train retard, presetting', continuous MFX sync - and it was fitted ONLY to the Chevron and the top Kodak Tourist models, never to any Kodak 35 or any Signet, and NOT to the Medalist II, which used the Flash Supermatic. Its reputation for unreliability is reviewer-tier only and is not recorded as fact. Coupled split-field rangefinder with an eight-inch cam held to half a thousandth of an inch; automatic parallax correction. Bantam Adapter takes 828 film at 28x40 mm. BODY SERIAL: present - Kodak's service manual refers to 'cameras above Serial No. 3400' - though the location given in general sources could not be confirmed in any Kodak document. No serial-to-year table. *** A MERGE HAZARD ***: a national museum holds a 'Kodak Chevron 8, Model 1'. That is an 8mm CINE camera and a different product entirely. Weight NOT SOURCED - the figure in circulation is a reviewer's. 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 Ektar 78mm f/3.5, Lumenized, four elements, unit focusing
Rangefinder
Yes
Alternate Names
—
Introduced
1953
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