Kodak Tele-Ektra 300 (1980–1982)

The Kodak Tele-Ektra 300 is a compact pocket camera for 110 film. Kodak introduced it in 1980 and discontinued it in 1982. It was a modest snapshot camera, the kind Kodak was making by the millions at the tail end of the 110 format’s heyday. The original price was US$32.50.

The dual-lens design is what sets it apart. A switch on top moves between “normal” and “tele” lenses. In the tele position the same control doubles as a focus selector, cycling through a range of icons in the viewfinder from “head” to “mountains” while increasing the magnification of the brightline viewfinder. The camera came in black. At least one surviving example includes a strap and the original 1980 manual. One retailer describes the optics as “very basic,” and that fits a fixed-focus, point-and-shoot camera.

Surviving documentation is otherwise thin. No shutter speed range, aperture, battery type, or exact lens focal length is confirmed across sources; one listing says 28mm fixed focus (55mm full-frame equivalent) while another appears to contain a typo. A related but distinct model, the Kodak Tele-Ektra 1 (with a 22mm–44mm dual lens), should not be confused with this one. Current asking prices for the Tele-Ektra 300 range from about R250 in South Africa to $50 in the US, typically with the original case or box. It’s a likable little object — small, quirky, and a genuine piece of the 110 era — but the record on it is light.