Thursday, October 18, 2012

Legends: Kodak Bantam Special - the Art Deco camera

As we transition from analog to digital photography the name "Kodak" begins to fade into a nostalgic memory of photography's past.  From 1936-1948 they made a pocketable, high-end, clam-shell camera called, the Bantam Special.  It measured approximately 5" x 3" x 2" when closed.  The camera is an Art Deco masterpiece created for Kodak by industrial designer, Walter Dorwin Teague.

This was a very high end camera for its time. The lens was a fast f/2 45mm Ektar, focusing was by means of a split-image rangefinder.  It used 828 paper-backed film, with a frame size only slightly larger 35mm. This film, re-rolled with T-max 400, can still be ordered from B&H.

 





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