(This gallery is still under construction.)

I've recently acquired two old Kodak Retina Reflex 35mm SLR camera bodies - the S and IV models - along with a Kodak Retina IIIS 35mm rangefinder body which uses the same S series lenses. I have a sentimental attraction to the Retina Reflex, as it was the first high-quality camera I ever used, back in my early college days when a friend who owned a photo shop loaned me his camera to shoot photos at my sister's Senior Prom. My previous photography was done with my brother's old Meteor 6, a very primitive scale-focusing 620 film viewfinder camera with an extinction light meter - something that we'd consider a real POS today. I couldn't afford to buy a Retina Reflex in those days, as it was considered a high-end model and sold for more than two hundred dollars. I eventually ended up with a Pentax SLR, and I've stayed with the Pentax system for over 50 years, but I still remember wanting that Retina Reflex - and now I have two of them!

These cameras differ from most later SLR models in that they have a leaf shutter rather than a focal-plane shutter curtain. The advantage of this design is that flash synch is possible at all speeds. The disadvantage is the mechanical complexity of the design and a top shutter speed limit of 1/500 sec. They also do not have an instant-return mirror, so the viewfinder stays blacked-out after each shot until the shutter and mirror are re-cocked. These are classic heavy all-metal cameras, beautifully built by Kodak's German subsidiary Nagel-Werke in Stuttgart.

Both of these bodies have been sent out for service, as they have sticky shutter problems (not surprising after 50 years of use!). Retina Reflex cameras are relatively cheap today but usually require service. Because of their mechanical complexity, service is expensive and it is usually not worth doing major repairs.

I'm also acquiring the matching Schneider-Kreuznach Deckel-mount S series lenses and will post photos and test shots as I find the time. So far I have the:

- Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Curtar 28mm f4
- Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Curtar 35mm f2.8
- Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenon 50mm f1.9
- Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenar 50mm f2.8
- Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Tele-Arton 85mm f4
- Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Tele-Xenar 135mm f4
- Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Xenar 135mm f4 (late version)
- Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Tele-Xenar 200mm f4.8

As with many lenses from those days, the tele lenses all have very long minimum focusing distances. The 135mm, for example, focuses only to 14 feet, and the 200mm, to 28 feet! I was able to find a lens adapter on eBay which converts the Deckel-mount bayonet to fit the M42 screw mount, so by using an M42-to-K-bayonet converter I'm able to mount these lenses on my Pentax DSLRs. The lenses operate only in stop-down aperture mode, but with Pentax TTL metering this is not a problem, and the Pentax AF indicator works as well.

In my limited testing to date I've found several of these old lenses to be surprisingly good. Others are a little weak wide open (notably the 35mm) but sharpen up acceptably when stopped down. I've posted some test images, all taken with the lenses wide open, in this gallery.