Kodak 35 RF (1940–1951)

The Kodak 35 RF is a 35mm rangefinder camera built by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York, during the 1940s. It's the rangefinder version of the Kodak 35, which was introduced in 1938 as the company's first 35mm still camera. Production dates are a little fuzzy. Most sources place it somewhere between 1940 and the late 1940s, with individual examples dated from 1946 to 1950 via serial numbers and lens codes.

The camera carries a fixed Kodak Anastar 50mm f/3.5 lens (some examples are marked Anastigmat Special) and a Flash Kodamatic shutter with speeds from B, T, and 5 to 200. It's fully mechanical - one owner notes it "needs no batteries whatsoever." The lens/shutter unit was inherited from earlier Kodak folding cameras, so the camera looks a bit old-fashioned. One Flickr user called it "the steampunk camera from Rochester." It has a coupled rangefinder, and it typically came with its original russet leather strap.

Owners who've shot with it tend to like the lens. One Flickr photographer reports that "despite its quirkiness, the images are always high quality," and an ipernity user says theirs "works excellently." The same ipernity owner notes their original copy eventually stopped working, and a Graflex.org user ran into trouble rewinding film after a roll. The mechanics are simple but not indestructible. There's no battery to fail, at least.

Original price was about $48 in 1940. Current asking prices vary wildly — one Etsy listing asked $28 for an untested, as-is example, while a blog post mentioned a seller asking MYR 650 (roughly $150 USD). The record is thin on formal reviews or detailed specs, but the Kodak 35 RF is a genuine, usable piece of mid-century American camera history.