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"The
Experts and the Eastman Kodak Ektra Camera"
How long must camera collectors
be burdened with the expertise
pronouncements that the Eastman
Kodak Ektra Camera was designed by imported left-handed German engineers.
As this writer has repeatedly stated, the designer of the Kodak Ektra was
a Hungarian, Joseph Mihalyi who emigrated to America in 1907 to join his
older brother in St. Louis. After extensive employment with several optical
instrument companies, he was hired by Eastman Kodak Company in 1923 as
an apparatus designer, retiring in 1954 as Superintendent of Special Development
Engineering.
During his tenure at Kodak
he designed and secured patents for
the unique Kodak Pocket Rangefinder
and the later Kodak Service Rangefinder, the Super Kodak Six-20, the Kodak
Ektra and Medalist cameras and the Kodak Bantam Special with industrial
designer Walter Teague. He also proposed the automatic single exposure
per film stop concept which was incorporated in the 828 Bantam roll film
configuration via spaced, single slots at the side of the film strip This
method reappeared in the Kodak Instamatic 126 and 110 film cartridges,
(also derived from his 1934 and 1944 patents for a film holding package
and camera) and is now universally employed in most single use camera film
transport systems. Among his more than 200 patents, Mihalyi considered
the Super Kodak Six-20 his most important design but he was very proud
of the M-10 Rangefinder he developed during WW II for use in antiaircraft
fire control systems and for which he was awarded a Presidential Citation
by President Truman.
Mihalyi was not left-handed!
He proposed that since one's right hand is stronger, it may be given the
primary task of holding the camera,
while through judicious design,
(we call it ergonomic now) most or all camera controls be assigned to the
left hand. What a masterful design the Kodak Ektra is! It served this writer
in excellent fashion as the "family camera" for several years until that
kindly old camera shop owner advised of its landmark status and it was
moved to a collector's cabinet.
It is suggested that those
experts have not lived with the Kodak Ektra and its functions thereby
presenting a dilettante's view of reality. Furthermore they have
not availed themselves of the Kodak literature associated with a
The World's Most Distinguished Camera as Kodak publicity saw fit
to proclaim.. Writers and researchers that eschew primary sources are
prone to mouthing misinformation and espousing urban legends.
From one of the several Kodak
Ektra announcements one may find
the following: "......A rhythmic
operating cycle for all major adjustments,
with controls at fingertips
of one hand and all operating scales and dials
visible from above and in
another brochure.
 Picture
taking with the Ektra follows a new, rhythmic operating cycle. The carefully
designed main operating controls are so grouped as to be at the finger
tips of one hand, the other hand being free for simply holding the camera
firmly. The operating hand quickly adjusts the lens aperture by means of
corrugated controls on the diaphragm sleeve. A turn of a prominently milled
ring gives approximate focus, and the thumb completes the operation by
activating the fine focusing knob. Instantaneous and retard shutter speed
dials are located side by side on the operating side of the camera. The
index finger fall naturally on the adjacent shutter release button. When
the user wishes to include himself in the picture, one thrust with the
thumb of the operating hand activates the delayed-action shutter mechanism.
Film advancing and shutter
winding are accomplished with similar
efficiency. Two thumb strokes
of the combination lever complete both
operations, and in a situation
demanding a quick series of exposures this action is simply alternated
with the tripping of the shutter, without moving the camera from the eye.
Besides optimum control of
operative actions, the Ektra provides
complete operative visibility
- the instant ability to verify performance of
operations and correctness
of camera settings. All operating scales, dials, special index marks,
and signals can be seen from above - those on the lenses as well as those
atop the camera - and visible at the same time are the film-movement indicator
and film type record on the camera back.
The significance of the concentration
of data can best be appreciated in connection with the operative
action. Adjustment, operation, checking - all can be accomplished without
changing one's grip on the camera,
and without turning or twisting
it at awkward angles. There is no lost motion - no lost time - no undue
diversion from the subject at hand."
A design by a left-handed German
engineer? Hardly!"
© 2000
- K. Kekatos
"Click
Here" for more information!
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