1941 Kodak Ektra 35mm camera

I’m a rabid collector but the Ektra was never on my radar. Besides being “left handed” the overall design is too busy and complicated. The unreliability is one coffin nail, the complete lack of spare parts another, the absence of techs willing to even look at it another..... IF you are a shelf collector, maybe....but if you seriously want a Fantastic shooter that is rare, valuable and Will Work, your best to set your sights on a Bell and Howell Foton. Mike Eckman reviewed mine, and said it was the best camera he has used.
 
xayraa33 said:
A bizarre machine yet so neat and fully featured.. but an expensive flop of a 35mm RF camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOzEBDId1GQ
Click to expand...

An all-American classic. The worse part of the design was the shutter that was hard to manufacture & unreliable because it had to be overcomplicated to get around Leitz's & Zeiss Ikon's patents. And it's amazing that Kodak let the Joseph Mihalyi, the designer, convince them that a left-handed camera was the way of the future (he had more hits than duds, though). That said, if you can find 1 with a working shutter, they're actually reliable & amazing cameras, worth owning & using as an alternative to the same boring Leicas, Contaxes, Nikons, etc.

I have 2 working bodies & all the lenses except the elusive 153mm. 1 body just came back from repairs by Hayata Camera in Tokyo, the same shop that fixed Howard Baker's Ektras when he was Ambassador to Japan; the shutter finally broke down after its last servicing . . . by Kodak in 1962. Ken Ruth of Photography on Bald Mountain also serviced Ektras before he retired.

Here are my uploaded shots taken w/my Ektras & of my Ektras: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/eastmankodakektrac194041

If you want to learn more about the Ektra, Brian Wallen has a great page on his Kodak site: http://www.bnphoto.org/bnphoto/KodakEktraIndex.htm

The Bell & Howell Foton mentioned by Ambro51 is also a good camera system (I have a couple of those, too), w/a much better & reliable shutter & a fun motor drive, but it didn't have the range of lenses or interchangeable backs that the Ektra had. Kodak added a motor drive back for the Ektra II, but they made only a few Ektra IIs (4-6 I think), before closing the line. Howard Baker had 1 of them, R.I.P.
 
seany65 said:
I don't get the shiny film pressure plate?
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Other than looking cool, it was probably intended to show how smooth the plate was to reduce friction & scratches (it's easier to spot a piece of dirt or grit that could scratch the film than on a typical black pressure plate). In my experience, the shininess doesn't affect exposure of the film.
 
furcafe said:
An all-American classic. The worse part of the design was the shutter that was hard to manufacture & unreliable because it had to be overcomplicated to get around Leitz's & Zeiss Ikon's patents. And it's amazing that Kodak let the Joseph Mihalyi, the designer, convince them that a left-handed camera was the way of the future (he had more hits than duds, though). That said, if you can find 1 with a working shutter, they're actually reliable & amazing cameras, worth owning & using as an alternative to the same boring Leicas, Contaxes, Nikons, etc.

I have 2 working bodies & all the lenses except the elusive 153mm. 1 body just came back from repairs by Hayata Camera in Tokyo, the same shop that fixed Howard Baker's Ektras when he was Ambassador to Japan; the shutter finally broke down after its last servicing . . . by Kodak in 1962. Ken Ruth of Photography on Bald Mountain also serviced Ektras before he retired.

Here are my uploaded shots taken w/my Ektras & of my Ektras: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/eastmankodakektrac194041

If you want to learn more about the Ektra, Brian Wallen has a great page on his Kodak site: http://www.bnphoto.org/bnphoto/KodakEktraIndex.htm

The Bell & Howell Foton mentioned by Ambro51 is also a good camera system (I have a couple of those, too), w/a much better & reliable shutter & a fun motor drive, but it didn't have the range of lenses or interchangeable backs that the Ektra had. Kodak added a motor drive back for the Ektra II, but they made only a few Ektra IIs (4-6 I think), before closing the line. Howard Baker had 1 of them, R.I.P.
Click to expand...

Thank you for filling in more details on that interesting Kodak camera, furcafe..it is more fantastic that I even imagined and made in the 1940s ...and not even the Japanese camera makers of mid 1950s had anything so cool and complex although the Nikon SP of 1957 came a bit close.

From your Flickr samples that Ektar 50mm f1.9 lens produces some very nice 3D effect and a bokeh that is very unique that is not duplicated by any other vintage lens...I liked the photo product of that lens very much.
 
xayraa33 said:
A bizarre machine yet so neat and fully featured.. but an expensive flop of a 35mm RF camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOzEBDId1GQ
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing my video!

I had the shutter working reliably at one point, and then the next morning a completely new problem arose (mechanism doesn't want to 'lock' at peak shutter spring tension). Sometimes it will when winding slowly, so there is a part that catches that needs lubrication, I just can't seem to find it.

Perhaps someone here knows as to what is keeping the shutter from staying cocked? Also if anyone has detailed photos of an Ektra with the cover removed, that would be helpful. I'm wondering if the lever that engages the shutter mechanism on mine is slightly damaged.

Thanks!
 
xayraa33 said:
Thank you for filling in more details on that interesting Kodak camera, furcafe..it is more fantastic that I even imagined and made in the 1940s ...and not even the Japanese camera makers of mid 1950s had anything so cool and complex although the Nikon SP of 1957 came a bit close.

From your Flickr samples that Ektar 50mm f1.9 lens produces some very nice 3D effect and a bokeh that is very unique that is not duplicated by any other vintage lens...I liked the photo product of that lens very much.
Click to expand...

Thanks, while I certainly wouldn't recommend an Ektra as someone's 1st manual film camera, the glass is some of the best from the 1940s & all it takes is some practice (after reading the manual) to deliver the goods. I think the fact that it works so differently from my other cameras, even other vintage RFs, forces me to shoot more mindfully. The Zeiss Ikon Contarex plays a similar role in my SLRs. I actually find Kodak's implementation of interchangeable backs on the Ektra to be easier to use than Zeiss Ikon's system for the Contarex & Contaflex.

From an ergonomic perspective, the Ektra's left-handedness is a nice change from the overwhelming right-handedness of modern autofocus cameras from Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc. I'm extremely right-handed, but 1 of my pet peeves is that modern camera designs leave the left hand w/nothing to do but hold the lens (or work the zoom, but I don't use zooms) & inflict mild carpal tunnel on my right hand after extended use. It's getting hard to even get an aperture ring on modern lenses!
 
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