pher.co.ukIsubscribe 03303331113

F I L M S TA RS

ALL PICTURES © JOHN WADE

Testbench P O I N T- A N D - S H O O T

T

imewaswhenassistantsin photographic
shopsoftenfoundthemselvesfacedwith
customersrequestingthemto ‘Pleaseunload
mycameraandreloadit witha newfilm.’For
a greatmanysnapshotphotographers,asopposedto
seriousamateurs,thecomplicationsof filmloadingand
unloadingwerea majorstumblingblock.
In 1963,Kodaksolvedthatproblemwiththe
introductionof Instamaticcameras,whichhousedthe
fi lmin plasticKodapakcartridges.Thefilmwas35mm
wide,woundwithbackingpapercontainingframe
numbers,withoneperforationperframetoproducea
28x28mmimage.Thephotographerhadonlytodrop
thecartridgeintoanInstamaticcamera,snaptheback
shutandstartshooting.
Thecartridgewasmadesothatit wasimpossibleto
insertit in anywayotherthanthecorrectone.Thesize
wasknownas 126 andit wasa greatsuccess,thanks

partlytothewayKodakallowedothermanufacturersto

maketheirowncamerastotakeKodapakcartridges–

hencemorefilmsalesforKodak,eventhoughother

manufacturerswerealsoallowedtomaketheirown

cartridgefilms.Officially,however,theword‘Instamatic’

couldonlyapplytoKodakproducts.Anyonein those

dayswhoreferredin printtoanAgfaInstamaticwas

liabletogeta verysnottyletterfromKodak(I speak

fromexperience!).

Overtheyears, 126 sizecartridgefilmbecame

synonymouswithsimplepoint-and-shootsnapshot

camerasforpeoplewhoknewlittleaboutthe

technicalitiesof photography.Whatis sometimes

forgottenis thattherewerefivesinglelensreflexes

(SLRs)plusmanyqualitynon-reflexcamerasalso

madefor 126 film.Andtheyarestillveryusable.

Overthenextthreepageshere’sa shortround-up

of whattolookfor.

Nowisthetimetotakesnapshotcamerasseriously–

theyarestilleminentlyusable,explainsJohnWade

Snap happy

SINGLE LENS REF

The American Keystone

company was the fi rst to

launch an SLR for the

format. Despite looking

like a hi-tech piece of

equipment, its

operation is more like

that of a snapshot

camera. It has a fi xed

shutter speed of around

1/80sec and the

1966 Keystone

‘Over the years

126 size fi lm

became

synonymous

with snapshot

cameras’

How the Kodapak

cartridge fits into

the camera

The Keystone

K1020 was the

first 126 SLR

Kodak Instamatic 50 and

100, two of the earliest

126 cartridge cameras