Kodak Retina IIc – My Journey and Discovery

I recently started shooting film. I should say, I recently started shooting film again. Back in the 80s, I shot mostly slide film as I began to explore photography. I was very much a beginner and didn’t dedicate myself to the craft. I was in grad school and had many other interests. Photography soon sat on the sidelines.

Fast forward to the turn of the century and digital photography. Combined with my geekery with computers, and my now growing children embedded in the world of ice hockey, photography quickly went from family snaps to an obsession which, in 2024 is very much still the case although, with their hockey careers are long gone, my photography has evolved.

My photographic journey has taken me through a somewhat traditional discovery journey. Zooms, then primes, then adapted legacy and antique lenses on my Sony cameras. A little more than a year ago, I got my first Leica, the M11, a camera for a lifetime at least for me. The journey continued and I became fascinated with older legacy Leica cameras.

A few months ago, I purchased a mint Leica M4-P. This opened (or should I say, re-opened my eyes to film photography. I resurrected my Canon Canonet QL-17 III performing a seal replacement and my own newbie version of a CLA. I started shooting a Minolta Autocord. All of a sudden, I was hooked on film.

A month ago, I was in my local shop rummaging through the ‘special room’ where they keep higher end used gear where I always search for Leica M-mount gear. In a cabinet nearby, I saw these very cool looking cameras. They were Kodak Retinas. I had never heard of them before. There were three there, A Retina IIa, IIc and a III. I did some research and returned and purchased the Retina IIc as it appeared to be in the best condition. Focusing was a bit stiff but the lens, aperture blades and overall body were in great shape.

I loaded some film, shot both color and B&W, the latter of which I developed at home with my trusty LabBox. I decided to research getting the camera looked over and perform a CLA. Sure enough, Paul Barden in Oregon advertised being able to do exactly that. So, after some email back and forth, the Retina IIc was off to Paul. When the camera came back, it looked great. Focusing was no longer stiff and everything looked like new. I also discovered that a previous owner swapped out the original f/2.8 Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon lens for the f/2.0 version found on the Retina III series.

I love the looks of the Retina IIc and its solid build. Even the quirkiness of this camera I find attractive. The exposure count goes backward starting at 36 and manually rewind the film when the counter gets to zero. The film advance is on the bottom plate of the camera which, once I got used to, I also love. This camera can fit in your pocket! Set the focus to infinity and the lens module folds into the camera making it the size of a point and shoot.

The lens is outstanding and produces nice contrasty and sharp images even wide open at f/2. I’ve run Portra, Ektar and ProImage color film with wonderful results. Equally, Fuji Arcos II and Ilford HP4+ produce equally impressive black & white results.

My renewed film journey is still quite new. However, I have become a big fan of this camera and no matter the jouney, the Kodak Retina IIc will remain in my analog arsenal.

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