this post was submitted on 14 May 2026
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Photography

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Hello everyone, I bought an old Kodak Retinette 1A in a fleamarket. It seems to be in working condition, although I'll only know for sure after I developed the first photos. I found a manual for a later version (or a different one, the manual is in English and the camera is from Germany) but the lense and the labeling on the lenses are very different from mine.

I was hoping maybe someone with more knowledge of photography could help me make an educated guess. I assume the part labelled with an "m" is distance in meter, but otherwise I have no clue.

Update: Unfortunately the developed Film came out empty, so either I made a terrible mistake or the camera is broken :(

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[โ€“] tmyakal@infosec.pub 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not familiar with this specific camera, so I'm just guessing, but it looks like there's three rings of control built into the lens. Outside ring is aperture, middle ring is shutter speed, and inner ring is focal distance. And, yes, I'd expect the "m" on the dial distance is for meter.

Does the eye piece have a built in light meter? I imagine this guy would be tricky to get good shots on without a light meter or a bonkers level of experience and confidence.

[โ€“] Waldelfe@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago

Thank you. I have zero experience and I'm going with bonkers level of completely unfounded confidence :D