Kodak Disc 2000 (1982–84)

The Kodak Disc 2000 came out of Kodak's 1982 bet on disc-shaped film. The film sat in a rigid cartridge holding 15 frames of 8 × 10 mm, in a shell not unlike a floppy disk. The idea was to push the "simple snapshot" logic of the 110 and 126 formats as far as it would go. The cameras came out slim enough to fit in a shirt pocket. The Disc 2000 was the entry level of the launch lineup, with an original list price of $52.00.

The camera itself is simple. It has a 12.5 mm f/2.8 lens, a microprocessor-controlled electronic shutter, motorized film advance and a brightline viewfinder. Power came from a replaceable 9-volt PP3 battery. The Science Museum Group Collection describes the lens as an f/2.8 aspheric lens. The record disagrees on the flash. The Science Museum notes it turned on automatically in low light, while a Kodak enthusiast site says it was manually selected via a control under the lens. Since the sources conflict, the flash behavior is undocumented.

The format's limits showed up fast. As one period observer put it, "the quality… was not there." The 8 × 10 mm negative was too small for good enlargements, and by 1986 Kodak was winding down disc camera production. Used disc cameras are plentiful and inexpensive today.

Known specs: