Kodak Retinar 35/2.8 [V1]

Reviews

1. 

   16:9 – May 3, 2022

   The uncommon wide-angle 35mm Kodak Retinar avoids declaring its fixed aperture, but it proves to be identical to the other unmarked Retinars: f2.8. And like its stablemates its performance is similarly above average. However, it has two surprises in store: very fine near-field Zone 1 performance (offset by an unusually bad Zone 3 and not much better Zone 2), and an image circle that fully covers full frame.

   Adaptation will usually involve dremeling away the 8mm of plastic 52mm diameter barrel that protrudes beyond the rear element housing in order to obtain a flange-focal distance of around 25mm at infinity. The inner barrel seems locked into, or part of, the outer barrel. My clean sample seemed unusually reluctant to be dismantled, so it’s as well that gaps and seals on this lens are tight: a fungally-infected copy would be hard to repair. Ahead of the front element is a useful fixed 20mm ‘hood’.