Depth of Focus

    Part 1: History      The name Kodak, while familiar to any photographer, is not one normally associated with high-end photographic instruments. Indeed, one of the philosophical principles first put forward by George Eastman is the vast distribution and use of inexpensive snapshot cameras, the use of which ensured the continued sale of Kodak film. This philosophy has been associated with the Brownie cameras and exacerbated by the Instamatic cameras of the 60s and 70s, perhaps unfairly branding Kodak with the reputation that they were only ever capable of building low quality cameras. However, if one is observant of history it will be apparent that there are several Kodak cameras which challenge this assertion. These examples originate from an era of approximately 1936 to 1956 in which American photographic manufacturing was given a brief opportunity to compete on the world stage against foreign competition. The looming and destructive war in Europe and Asia, gave American manufactur

In the late 1930s and 40s, there were numerous attempts by American manufacturers to produce a 35mm camera to compete with German imports the likes of Leica or Contax but at a much-reduced cost. The Argus C3 is perhaps the best well-known outgrowth of this trend, and the only model which was truly able to weather the post-war influx of cheaper imports. Other manufacturers whose were not able to sustain production in the post-war era either due to competition or poor management, included Clarus with their MS-35, Universal with their Mercury II and Perfex. Larger corporations like Kodak and Bell and Howell were able to survive, but their high-end American 35mm rangefinders (Ektra and Foton) were not sustainable in the post-war market.   During this short period immediately before and after the Second World War, American 35mm rangefinder production was at its most diverse. The Candid Camera Corporation based out of Chicago introduced their first 35mm rangefinder in 1938 in the form of the