Kodak Medalist II!!

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2022

Man these things are so cool I should have bought one a long time ago, now to find some 620 spools to spool some 120 film onto.

This one has definitely been serviced, there's grease and tool marks in all the appropriate places. All the shutter speeds are spot on. Damn GAS! Lol i'll have some stuff for sale soon have to compensate

campy51 · Aug 12, 2022

I trim down the 120 roll to fit and use the 620 as the take up. If you trim the outer ridge off with a nail clipper and then sand it smooth and also stand the 120 on it's ends and sand those down it works fine, just make sure you clean the dust off before putting in the camera. People will probably say that dust will get in but the way I look at if light can't get in, I don't think dust will.

albada · Aug 12, 2022

Congratulations! In public, that thing will probably attract even more attention than a TLR.
The "ER" on the lens indicates it was made in 1945.

Paul Howell · Aug 12, 2022

In high school I worked part time for a retired Navy Photo mate who had opened a studio and darkroom in my home town. He had 2 metalists that he used for weddings and other events. He made color and black and white 16X20 and 20X24 that were really sharp. He claimed that the Navy paid Kodak to develop the Metalist for shipboard use in WWII, continued until the 60s. It wasnt until the early 70s that he replaced one of his for a Mamiya Press with a wide angel lens.

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2022

albada said:
Congratulations! In public, that thing will probably attract even more attention than a TLR.
The "ER" on the lens indicates it was made in 1945.

I thought these were 1949 and up? This would be the second wartime camera I have owned if so, the other being a 1940 NKVD FED which would be prior to the American entry into the war.

Maris · Aug 12, 2022

I note that Shanghai GP3 black and white film is available fresh spooled in the 620 format. The 220 format version that I used recently came out fine with no faults.

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2022

j-dogg said:
I thought these were 1949 and up? This would be the second wartime camera I have owned if so, the other being a 1940 NKVD FED which would be prior to the American entry into the war.

Read up on them, it is a 45 model, so that's when the parts were made at the very least since they were made ahead of time during the war. It's definitely a post-war II which is interesting.

AZD · Aug 12, 2022

Nice! I think you’ll enjoy it. Re-rolling 120 onto 620 reels in a dark bag is easy. I’ve done it for an old box camera.

Last year in Alabama I found one of these for $200 with a bunch of accessories… and didn’t buy it. I was on the hunt for an M3 but still kinda regret not going for that deal.

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2022

AZD said:
Nice! I think you’ll enjoy it. Re-rolling 120 onto 620 reels in a dark bag is easy. I’ve done it for an old box camera.

Last year in Alabama I found one of these for $200 with a bunch of accessories… and didn’t buy it. I was on the hunt for an M3 but still kinda regret not going for that deal.

This one was orphaned in a camera shop in SLC for almost a whole year and they knew very little about it, I talked them down to 275 and it came with the original case.

AZD · Aug 12, 2022

Seriously? Ha, I’m in SLC. I bet I know which shop it was. On 9th?

Hunter_Compton · Aug 12, 2022

I love the Medalist, I have a Medalist I and it's a really nice camera too. People generally don't pay much attention in public to these, I suspect they look much like a DSLR to the uneducated.

For those interested, I've been doing a serial number survey and collecting Medalist serial numbers for the purposes of determining estimated production. If you want to view that information, you can find a link to a spreadsheet in my onedrive here: https://1drv.ms/x/s!Auyccz5bfV-XiCzr9HD_FXHA-f7V?e=eHVEdd

The OPs camera would be a later 1945 production camera.

I somewhat doubt that the Medalist was developed specifically for the U.S. Navy or by their request. They were used extensively by the Navy during the war, but I think this was more the convenience of purchasing an already developed product off the shelf. There are too many 1940 and 1941 production cameras and the Medalist was already being sold to the public as early as 1941, as seen from a excerpt of a 1941 Kodak trade catalog:

There's also an internal Kodak document entitled as Major Developments in New Apparatus, which show the pre-production prototype of the Medalist as (E-1108) Six-20 Kodak with Screw-Out Front which dates its development to at least during or prior to 1939.

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2022

AZD said:
Seriously? Ha, I’m in SLC. I bet I know which shop it was. On 9th?

Acme Camera, also picked up a Tokina Angenieux 28-70 f2.6-2.8 Nikon mount, Zorki-S and some film from them.

We were in town for Bonneville and it got rained out there's like 2 feet of water on the track

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2022

Hunter_Compton said:
I love the Medalist, I have a Medalist I and it's a really nice camera too. People generally don't pay much attention in public to these, I suspect they look much like a DSLR to the uneducated.

For those interested, I've been doing a serial number survey and collecting Medalist serial numbers for the purposes of determining estimated production. If you want to view that information, you can find a link to a spreadsheet in my onedrive here: https://1drv.ms/x/s!Auyccz5bfV-XiCzr9HD_FXHA-f7V?e=eHVEdd

The OPs camera would be a later 1945 production camera.

I somewhat doubt that the Medalist was developed specifically for the U.S. Navy or by their request. They were used extensively by the Navy during the war, but I think this was more the convenience of purchasing an already developed product off the shelf. There are too many 1940 and 1941 production cameras and the Medalist was already being sold to the public as early as 1941, as seen from a excerpt of a 1941 Kodak trade catalog:

View attachment 312835

There's also an internal Kodak document entitled as Major Developments in New Apparatus, which show the pre-production prototype of the Medalist as (E-1108) Six-20 Kodak with Screw-Out Front which dates its development to at least during or prior to 1939.

Ayyyyyy you added me to the database, where is the body serial number on these?

JPD · Aug 12, 2022

Very very nice, and the lens is a Heliar type. I looked at photos taken with this camera online a couple of years ago, and they do have that Heliar, almost 3D character, that is hard to describe.

MattKing · Aug 12, 2022

j-dogg said:
it came with the original case.

Excellent, as the camera's lack of strap lugs makes the case really useful.

ags2mikon · Aug 12, 2022

Once upon a time Kodak had every thing. Now you need a Kodak precision enlarger to print the negatives with.

Hunter_Compton · Aug 12, 2022

j-dogg said:
Ayyyyyy you added me to the database, where is the body serial number on these?

On the Medalist II the body serial is in the film track by the feed spool side, visible with the back cover open. On the Medalist I, the serial is harder to see as it is on the metal frame on the back of the focusing helical inside the body.

I don't have many body serials from the Medalists, but based on the ones I do have and other models observed, it appears Kodak would manufacture batches of lenses and then mate them to separate batches of bodies, and the two do not necessarily correlate for any period of manufacture. I still believe the date coded lens assemblies are the best way to date these cameras.

MattKing said:
Excellent, as the camera's lack of strap lugs makes the case really useful.

MattKing · Aug 12, 2022

Oops, you are absolutely right - both versions of the Medalist have strap lugs.
Now which camera was I thinking of ?????

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2022

Hunter_Compton said:
On the Medalist II the body serial is in the film track by the feed spool side, visible with the back cover open. On the Medalist I, the serial is harder to see as it is on the metal frame on the back of the focusing helical inside the body.

I don't have many body serials from the Medalists, but based on the ones I do have and other models observed, it appears Kodak would manufacture batches of lenses and then mate them to separate batches of bodies, and the two do not necessarily correlate for any period of manufacture. I still believe the date coded lens assemblies are the best way to date these cameras.

View attachment 312842

When I finish my roll of Verichrome Pan I'll get that body serial number for you

AZD · Aug 12, 2022

j-dogg said:
Acme Camera, also picked up a Tokina Angenieux 28-70 f2.6-2.8 Nikon mount, Zorki-S and some film from them.

We were in town for Bonneville and it got rained out there's like 2 feet of water on the track

So you’re the one who bought the Tokina! I was really on the fence about that one as a single vacation/travel lens instead of my 24/55/105 combo, but in the end it wasn’t for me. Nice piece of glass though.

Yeah, sorry about Bonneville… Normally it’s a million degrees and dry as a bone. On the up side, our forests aren’t a smoldering wasteland this year!

BTW, since you’re a photographer and speed demon (or affiliated), got a link to any past salt flats pictures?

Larryc001 · Aug 13, 2022

My dad brought home a Medalist in about 1948. He used it until he got a 35 mm in about 1957. Sadly I don’t have that camera. I do have these two, with all accessories. One is unmodified, the other has been converted to 120 film. I have put a lot of film through that one.

j-dogg · Aug 13, 2022

AZD said:
So you’re the one who bought the Tokina! I was really on the fence about that one as a single vacation/travel lens instead of my 24/55/105 combo, but in the end it wasn’t for me. Nice piece of glass though.

Yeah, sorry about Bonneville… Normally it’s a million degrees and dry as a bone. On the up side, our forests aren’t a smoldering wasteland this year!

BTW, since you’re a photographer and speed demon (or affiliated), got a link to any past salt flats pictures?

Lol you got me. I smoked my 28-105 Nikkor somehow, lost one of the contacts on the mount and said, screw it, been lusting after one of those Teauxkina lenses for a while and grabbed it. It needs a little lube in the focus mechanism but it's nice. Played well with my F100, F3 and Df. I originally was going to put that Canon 85 LTM they have in the one display on my Leningrad and it doesn't mount properly because the flange distances are the same but the rangefinder cam on the Canon is recessed and the Leningrad is almost on the mount so it doesn't register properly. I was about to walk out and I saw that 28-70 and immediately knew what it was and grabbed it without even asking how much it was lmao

The Medalist I saw and thought about it and was like, F it, if it's still there after Bonneville Swim Week I'll grab it, took it home today.

I've been doing Speedweek for 5 years I'm building a car for Blown Gas Coupe, here's one of mine from last year, Df/180 2.8ED

j-dogg · Aug 13, 2022

Here's one from 2019, ironically shot on an RB67 I purchased from Acme at their old location. I went in to buy a $10 shutter cord and walked out with $1500 Mamiya RB67 Pro-S, 2 lenses 2 backs, big ass metal carry case, bought all of their 120 they had on hand ALL OF IT cleaned them out lmao. Same thing with the Medalist today, walked in looking for a 72mm lens cap for 5 bucks for a cheap zoom lens I got also there last year lmao, walked out with a Teauxkina and a Medalist haha

This shot, one of the speed shops from SoCal brought a gas-powered margarita machine and I got absolutely blastificated on it so much I couldn't stand up for like 30 minutes. Before I passed out on the salt I set up my tripod and the RB with 50mm lens, opened the shutter and went to bed. 5 hours later I woke up, stumbled onto the salt, threw up lol, closed the shutter, advanced the film, drank some water and passed out again lmao. Man that year was nuts we partied hard.

j-dogg · Aug 13, 2022

Some more former greatness

j-dogg · Aug 13, 2022

Larryc001 said:
View attachment 312872
My dad brought home a Medalist in about 1948. He used it until he got a 35 mm in about 1957. Sadly I don’t have that camera. I do have these two, with all accessories. One is unmodified, the other has been converted to 120 film. I have put a lot of film through that one.

I've thought about the 120 conversion but for the cost of that I can spool a lot of 120 film onto 620 spools.

Kodak Medalist II!!

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