Discontinued
Kfilm camera
Kodak Signet 80
Format
135, 24x36 mm
System
Kodak Signet
Is Film
Yes
Shutter
behind-the-lens leaf, 1/4 to 1/250 + B
Metering
uncoupled selenium, EV, ASA 10-1600
Research
Kodak AA-13 'History of KODAK Cameras' (market dates, prices); Kodak 1940 and 1941 product catalogues (PRC 00166, 00167); Kodak 35 sales brochure 7772 (PRC 00843); Kodak Signet 35/30/40/50 instruction books (PRC 03220, 02440, 02441, 02563); Kodak Lenses Shutters and Portra Lenses Data Book 1952 (PRC 03379).
Produced 1958–1962 · medium confidencehttps://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-signet-80 spec_notes for the sourcing and any conflict.
Category: Film Camera
Format
135, 24x36 mm
System
Kodak Signet
Shutter
behind-the-lens leaf, 1/4 to 1/250 + B
Metering
uncoupled selenium, EV, ASA 10-1600
Spec Notes
A DIFFERENT CLASS OF CAMERA from every other Signet: the lens comes off. Kodak sold a 35mm wide-angle and a 90mm telephoto alongside the 50mm normal, and no other Signet had interchangeable lenses - confirmed against the Kodak instruction books for the 35, 30, 40 and 50. The shutter sits behind the lens, which that arrangement forces. THE MOUNT HAS NO KODAK NAME. The 'scissors lock' term in circulation traces to one encyclopedia and its copyists; Pacific Rim's entire Kodak reference library contains no Signet 80 item of any kind, and the surviving instruction-book scan has no text layer. The slug kodak Signet 80 is named for the only camera that wears it. *** THE THREE ACCESSORY LENSES ARE DELIBERATELY NOT CATALOGUED YET ***: their apertures are now settled at 35mm f/3.5 and 90mm f/4 - the f/2.8 figures in circulation come from a single source that assigned the normal lens's aperture to all three - but NO source quotes the barrel engraving, and dealer listings read 'Kodak Signet Wide Angle' and 'Kodak Signet Telephoto' rather than Ektanar. A lens row IS its name. They wait for the instruction book, which Pacific Rim stocks on paper. This leaves the mount holding a body and no lenses - a gap, not a design fact. DATING: NONE. The CAMEROSITY lens prefix is attested only on Ektar, Anastigmat Special and Anastar lenses. No prefixed EKTANAR or ANASTON serial could be found in Kodak literature, museum records, dealer inventory or auction text, and no source states whether those tiers are inside or outside the scheme - so this camera is NOT datable from its lens. The four-letter body date code that cheap Kodaks carry is not sourced for this model either. 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 Ektanar 50mm f/2.8 (interchangeable)
Rangefinder
Yes
Alternate Names
—
Introduced
1958
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