Kodak Vollenda 48 (1929–1937)

The Kodak Vollenda 48 is a tiny half-frame folding camera. It makes 16 exposures of 3×4 cm on a roll of 127 film. Nagel Kamera-Werke built it, and after 1931 Kodak AG in Stuttgart, Germany did, the same branch that would later produce the famous Retina line. At $33.50 in the US, it was a genuine bargain next to the Leica and Zeiss cameras of the era, which ran into the hundreds of dollars.

The example documented by Frogmouth Cottage Photography carries a Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar 50mm f/3.5 lens and a Compur shutter with speeds from 1 second to 1/300th, plus T and B. Focus runs from 3.5 feet to infinity. The whole camera measures just 4-1/2" × 3-1/8" × 1-1/4", small enough to fit into a purse. It was also available with a variety of other lenses, including Schneider, Carl Zeiss Jena, and Leitz optics per Russian Wikipedia. The owner's assessment is that it is "very well made, solid, and the controls work smoothly and with precision."

The example documented needed some restoration. It had a broken lens board latch, the bright work was cleaned with alcohol, and the leather covering got a fresh coat of black shoe dye. The worn paint on the metal trim was left as found. The camera also showed up as a prop in the first season of the 2020 Perry Mason reboot.

Known specs, as documented on the example above:

- Film: 127 roll film, 16 half-frame exposures (3×4 cm)

- Lens: Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar 50mm f/3.5 (this example)

- Shutter: Compur, 1s - 1/300s plus T and B (this example)

- Focus: 3.5 ft to infinity

- Dimensions: 4-1/2" × 3-1/8" × 1-1/4"

- US price: $33.50