Retina IIIc (Type 021)

Format

135

Shutter

Synchro-Compur

Metering

uncoupled two-range selenium

Spec Notes

Lower-case c. Three sources agree on 1954-1957 for Ausfuehrung I; a distinct Ausfuehrung II ran 1957-1960 and is folded here as a generation. Standard lens: Schneider Retina-Xenon C 50mm f/2 OR Rodenstock Retina-Heligon C 50mm f/2 - the Kodak Museum specimen carries Xenon C serial 4371360, which dates on Schneider's own published bands. Uncoupled two-range selenium meter reading out in exposure values. Accessory finders are needed for the 35mm and 80mm components. Early bodies have TEN-blade diaphragms, later ones five. Dimensions 88 x 128 x 94 mm deployed from the museum record; weight NOT SOURCED (one blog gives 680 g, another gives 640 g for the IIIC, and they conflict). Trim and film-release-guard changes inside this Type are production changes, not variants - the specialist source maintains a dedicated page for them. MOUNT, and this is the subtlest modelling call in the slice: the Schneider/Rodenstock keying is a property of the INDIVIDUAL CAMERA, not of the Type. The rear lens group and the keyed outer bayonet ring live in the camera's shutter assembly, the shutter's lens tube diameter itself differs between the two makers, and the rangefinder-coupling ring is shimmed per camera at assembly - so a Schneider-fitted body cannot take Rodenstock front components without a bench rebuild, and no repairer, dealer or parts list describes such a conversion ever being done. This Type was nonetheless sold BOTH ways. The row therefore carries BOTH mount slugs in mounts[], and the scalar mount is left null: a single value would be false for roughly half the surviving cameras. Read the engraving on the front of the camera to know which one you have. US-MARKET CAVEAT: Eastman Kodak apparently imported only Schneider-equipped cameras, so Rodenstock examples are scarce in North America and a US listings sample will look single-maker. That is distribution, not production. DATING: Kodak AG published no serial-to-year table, and the collector lists that exist map serial to MODEL with OVERLAPPING ranges - Retina Ia (015) and IIa (016) share two bands character-for-character, as do Retina I (013) and II (014), and a 50001-ish low block recurs across Types 018, 019/2, 028 and 029. A serial-only lookup is not merely imprecise, it is actively wrong. Where the fitted lens is Schneider-built, the LENS is datable from Schneider's own 63 published serial bands, already loaded; Rodenstock publishes none.

Rangefinder

Yes

Alternate Names

—

Introduced

1954