Kodak Retinette 1b

meddyliol

meddyliol

Suspended / Banned
Messages
74
Name
Brian
Edit My Images
No
You probably think I am stupid but I am in the process of buying a Kodak Retinette 1b. Why? because it was the first camera I owned, and it took brilliant photos. My question is, the manual states the films it uses and quotes ASA 10-32. I have no idea what modern film could be used. I have some Agfa Vista Plus 200 that I use with my Nikon F75. Could that be used and if so, what setting would I put the camera to? It's only a bit of nostalgia but I really liked mine when I had it in about 1961.

Brian
 
I occasionally use my late father's Retinette 1B and the ASA range runs from 10 to 800. It's a fairly academic question though, as the ASA setting governs the shutter speed/aperture combination suggested by the meter, which is probably way off now, as are most built in selenium meters of that age. So either use sunny 16 guess work, or a handheld meter.
 
Thanks for your answers. I didn't realise the ASA range goes from 10-800, there is no mention of that in the manual.
 
meddyliol said:
My question is, the manual states the films it uses and quotes ASA 10-32.
Click to expand...

Those seem very low ASA numbers, I'm wondering if they are actually DIN numbers? ISO 800 = DIN 30.. (but DIN 8 = ISO 12, quite low!)
 
ChrisR said:
Those seem very low ASA numbers, I'm wondering if they are actually DIN numbers? ISO 800 = DIN 30.. (but DIN 8 = ISO 12, quite low!)
Click to expand...

No, they are just some examples of typical ASA speed ratings of films in the 1960s. My manual shows some typical Kodak colour films including Kodachrome Daylight at 25ASA. There is an alternative scale shown in my manual as being in DIN but on the camera itself the scale is in BS, which was a popular standard in Britain in the 1960s
 
NickT said:
No, they are just some examples of typical ASA speed ratings of films in the 1960s. My manual shows some typical Kodak colour films including Kodachrome Daylight at 25ASA. There is an alternative scale shown in my manual as being in DIN but on the camera itself the scale is in BS, which was a popular standard in Britain in the 1960s
Click to expand...

Interesting. Wikipedia's film speed article says:

The film speed scale recommended by the British Standards Institution (BSI) was almost identical to the DIN system except that the BS number was 10 degrees greater than the DIN number.
Click to expand...
 
I have a catalogue for winter 1960/61 which lists films available and their speeds are only give in Scheiner and BS Log; the range in 35mm black and white ran from 23 BS (Adox KB14) to 44 (Agfa Isopan Record). Taking a film like FP3 Series 2 at 125 ASA (22 DIN) which is listed as 32 BS, that seems a reasonable conversion.

The catalogue also gives a film speed conversion table, to convert from Scheiner, ASA and BS arthimetic, BS log, DIN and Weston ratings. This presumably is intended to cover the speeds in "normal" use (at least by those who would need this table) and runs from ASA 6 to ASA 200. I'll admit that despite photographing at this period, I never used a film slower than 20 ASA.
 
meddyliol said:
You probably think I am stupid but I am in the process of buying a Kodak Retinette 1b. Why? because it was the first camera I owned, and it took brilliant photos. My question is, the manual states the films it uses and quotes ASA 10-32. I have no idea what modern film could be used. I have some Agfa Vista Plus 200 that I use with my Nikon F75. Could that be used and if so, what setting would I put the camera to? It's only a bit of nostalgia but I really liked mine when I had it in about 1961.

Brian
Click to expand...

Well you must be an old fart like me with the same name....I too bought mine new in about 1958...can't remember much about it and eventually it packed up so threw it away.
 
I didn't throw mine away, I was living in Wolverhampton at the time (up the Wolves), I was short of cash so my Auntie sold it for me.

Brian (the other one)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top