C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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compact-35mm
The Kodak Retina Ia (1951) is the postwar successor to the original Retina I, produced by Kodak AG in Stuttgart. It builds on the Retina I's established architecture — a compact folding 35mm camera with the Schneider Xenar 50/3.5 in a leaf shutter — while addressing the original's two most significant shortcomings: a small viewfinder and the absence of flash synchronisation.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The postwar refresh of the historic Retina I, the Retina Ia brought a larger, brighter viewfinder and M/X flash synchronisation to the original 135-format folding design — an ideal entry point for Retina collectors and the scale-focus 35mm experience.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm (24×36 mm) |
| Lens | Schneider Xenar 50/3.5 |
| Years | 1951–1954 |
| Shutter | Compur-Rapid or Pronto: 1s – 1/500s + B |
| Flash sync | X and M sync |
| Meter | None |
| Focus | Scale focus |
| Weight | ~360 g |
| Battery | None required |
The Retina series was resumed by Kodak AG in Stuttgart after World War II with updated variants of the prewar models. The Retina Ia (Type 015) appeared in 1951, representing the first significant redesign of the original Retina I since its 1934 introduction. The primary driver was market expectation: by 1951, West German competitors including Voigtländer and Zeiss Ikon were producing scale-focus and rangefinder cameras with larger viewfinders and synchronised shutters, and the aging Retina I finder was a competitive disadvantage.
The Retina Ia remained in production until 1954, when the rangefinder-equipped Retina II series (and eventually the Retina III with integrated meter) had established themselves as the preferred Retina products for more serious photographers. The Ia continued as the entry-level model in the lineup.
The postwar Retina series was enormously popular, particularly in Germany and North America, where Kodak's distribution and marketing power created a large installed base. The Retina Ia was a common camera in middle-class German families of the early 1950s.
The Retina Ia occupies an interesting position in the postwar compact camera landscape: it is the direct descendant of the camera that created the 135 format, updated for postwar realities, but still fundamentally a scale-focus camera in an era when rangefinder alternatives were readily available. It appeals to photographers who want the Retina optical quality and the Retina's historical connection without the additional cost and complexity of the rangefinder-equipped Retina II or III series.
For beginning film photographers, the Retina Ia with a fresh CLA and a clean Xenar is a genuinely capable camera. The Xenar 50/3.5 stopped down to f/8 is as sharp as almost anything made then or since in the 50mm focal length.
Fixed non-interchangeable lens. Standard: Schneider Xenar 50/3.5 in Compur-Rapid or Pronto shutter. Push-on or drop-in Series V filters; cable release socket; standard sync socket for flash units.
C41
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is an affordable, consumer-oriented daylight-balanced color negative film at ISO 200. Known for warm, slightly muted color rendition, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude, it is currently in production and widely available in Asia and select global markets.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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