No. 3A Autographic Kodak Special (rangefinder)

Format

122, 3-1/4 x 5-1/2 in postcard

System

Kodak Autographic Special

Shutter

Optimo, later Kodamatic or Ilex Acme

Metering

none

Spec Notes

The longest-lived Autographic of all, eighteen years. Kodak's 1917 catalogue states the rangefinder's arrival plainly: 'To the use of anastigmat lenses, as fitted to No. 3A and No. 1A Autographic Kodaks, Special ... the Kodak Range Finder.' A museum example measures 2 x 4-3/4 x 9-1/2 in closed; that is a third-party measurement, not a Kodak spec. Body serials observed at 15128, 22355 and 44320 - observed, not a dating input. LENS AND SHUTTER ARE AN OPTION LADDER, NOT SEPARATE MODELS. Kodak's own catalogues print one heading and one description per camera with a price table of lens-and-shutter combinations underneath, and AA-13 carries one row per camera rather than one per grade. Same call as the Kodak 35 in slice 6. Where Kodak promoted a grade into the NAME - Special, Junior, Series II, Series III, Model B - it becomes its own row. DATING: NONE EXISTS. No Kodak serial-to-year table was ever published for any pre-1940 body, and the CAMEROSITY lens code runs only from about 1940 and appears on lenses, not bodies. Bodies of this era DO often carry a serial - museum records show 116880 on a 2C Autographic Junior and 15128 on a 3A Autographic Special, and AA-13 itself notes the highest known serial on the 1888 Kodak as 5192 - so the common claim that only the Medalist and Ektra were serialled is wrong. But an observed serial is not a dating input here. Date these by Kodak's own model letters and hardware notes instead: 'collapsing front', 'wood lens mount' against 'metal lens mount', '1917 Model', 'Model B'. NO PRICE IS RECORDED ON THIS ROW, and that is a finding rather than a gap: AA-13's 'ORIGINAL LIST PRICE' column is a TOP-OF-LADDER figure, not a list price. Verified against Kodak's own catalogues on five Autographic Special rows where AA-13 lands exactly on the dearest rung - and for the Folding Pocket rows it matches NO rung in any of eight catalogue years. The column cannot be ingested as a price field. DATES ARE MARKET DATES, NOT PRODUCTION. Kodak's AA-13 heads its columns 'ON THE MARKET FROM / TO'. No Kodak-published production date exists for any camera in this slice.

Fitted Lens

B&L Kodak Anastigmat f/6.3, later Kodak Anastigmat f/6.3 and B&L Tessar

Rangefinder

Yes

Alternate Names

—

Introduced

1916