Katoons
Camera Porn: Kodak Retina IIc
Source: www.dantestella.com/technical/retina.html
The Retina IIc can be best thought of as the forerunner to the famouns Retina IIIc - just without the meter and projected framelines. Although the viewfinder/rangefinder stayed the same as the IIa, a lot of other things changed:
Configuration: the biggest change with the IIc is that it went to a bottom-lever wind. This turns out to be a lot easier to use if you are left-eyed. It also allows for a much more reliable top-mounted frame counter and a less-fragile shutter-cocking mechanism. The rewind remained by knob. All camera surfaces are rounded ("streamlined,") and the front door is not latched on the bottom, but rather on the edge that opens. The top and bottom, as well as the sides, are rounded, leading to a more pleasing feel in the hand. One at least cosmetically significant difference is the use of an aluminum lens board that wraps back where you would have seen bellows on the IIa. This is largely superficial, since there are real bellows inside it.
Lens: Big change here. The IIc has a 50/2.8 Schneider Retina-Xenon or Rodenstock Heligon (which I believe to be the same as the 50/2.0 lenses, but with an aperture limiters in them). I have not observed the Schneider Xenon to be as sparkling as the 50/2.0, but this may be due to the interchangeability issue, which I believe adds new tolerances to the mix.
The front elements of these 50mm lenses are held into the shutter with a three-prong bayonet. When you bayonet out the front of the 50, you can interchange it with front parts for a 35/5.6 or an 80/4 (Scheider or Rodenstock, depending on what your camera originally came with). These lenses are huge, and none too easy to use. You focus with the rangefinder, and then you convert the distance. There is a squinty 35/80 Retina accessory finder to match. While these are of interest to collectors, they are hard to find in an un-separated state and not really worth the money or trouble for use (although they are neat).
The problem that interchangeability injects is that you may end up with a IIc (or IIIc for that matter) with the front of one 50mm lens and the rear of another. This is not a huge problem, but you will need to have the lens recollimated. The way you can check for danger is to match the lens serial number on the front lens element to the one on the shutter to the one on the back ring inside. Some people make it out to be the end of the world if all three don't match. It's not. Retina guru George Mrus (RIP) was very good at recollimating these lenses. I would recommend skipping a camera where these rings do not match, unless you can test it. Of course if the front and rear rings of the lens match each other, but not the shutter, it is really only a sign that the shutter was replaced at some point. A good repairman would have recollimated it.
Shutter assembly: The shutter is a Compur Synchro-MX #00 EVS, functionally identical to the one on the IIa, but with both settings visible on the top. One big difference is that it has the LVS system, which locks shutter and aperture together (both rings turn together). LVS is pretty useful for fill flash (see article) but is not that much fun for ambient light photos. The LVS disengages via a little lever on the bottom. Of all the Retina shutters, this seems to be the least problematic and the most jewel-like in its finish.
Accessories: The IIc and IIIc shared a neat line of accessories. The ne plus ultra was a brown bakelite box with 3 low-profile filters, the 50mm bayonet-on hood (rectangular) and the snap-on parts for 35 and 80mm hoods. The bayonet hoods are a boon, and a lot easier to deal with than the hard rubber screw-ins. Filter size remailed 30.5mm, so there is some backward and forward compatibility.
Camera Porn: Kodak Retina IIc
Source: www.dantestella.com/technical/retina.html
The Retina IIc can be best thought of as the forerunner to the famouns Retina IIIc - just without the meter and projected framelines. Although the viewfinder/rangefinder stayed the same as the IIa, a lot of other things changed:
Configuration: the biggest change with the IIc is that it went to a bottom-lever wind. This turns out to be a lot easier to use if you are left-eyed. It also allows for a much more reliable top-mounted frame counter and a less-fragile shutter-cocking mechanism. The rewind remained by knob. All camera surfaces are rounded ("streamlined,") and the front door is not latched on the bottom, but rather on the edge that opens. The top and bottom, as well as the sides, are rounded, leading to a more pleasing feel in the hand. One at least cosmetically significant difference is the use of an aluminum lens board that wraps back where you would have seen bellows on the IIa. This is largely superficial, since there are real bellows inside it.
Lens: Big change here. The IIc has a 50/2.8 Schneider Retina-Xenon or Rodenstock Heligon (which I believe to be the same as the 50/2.0 lenses, but with an aperture limiters in them). I have not observed the Schneider Xenon to be as sparkling as the 50/2.0, but this may be due to the interchangeability issue, which I believe adds new tolerances to the mix.
The front elements of these 50mm lenses are held into the shutter with a three-prong bayonet. When you bayonet out the front of the 50, you can interchange it with front parts for a 35/5.6 or an 80/4 (Scheider or Rodenstock, depending on what your camera originally came with). These lenses are huge, and none too easy to use. You focus with the rangefinder, and then you convert the distance. There is a squinty 35/80 Retina accessory finder to match. While these are of interest to collectors, they are hard to find in an un-separated state and not really worth the money or trouble for use (although they are neat).
The problem that interchangeability injects is that you may end up with a IIc (or IIIc for that matter) with the front of one 50mm lens and the rear of another. This is not a huge problem, but you will need to have the lens recollimated. The way you can check for danger is to match the lens serial number on the front lens element to the one on the shutter to the one on the back ring inside. Some people make it out to be the end of the world if all three don't match. It's not. Retina guru George Mrus (RIP) was very good at recollimating these lenses. I would recommend skipping a camera where these rings do not match, unless you can test it. Of course if the front and rear rings of the lens match each other, but not the shutter, it is really only a sign that the shutter was replaced at some point. A good repairman would have recollimated it.
Shutter assembly: The shutter is a Compur Synchro-MX #00 EVS, functionally identical to the one on the IIa, but with both settings visible on the top. One big difference is that it has the LVS system, which locks shutter and aperture together (both rings turn together). LVS is pretty useful for fill flash (see article) but is not that much fun for ambient light photos. The LVS disengages via a little lever on the bottom. Of all the Retina shutters, this seems to be the least problematic and the most jewel-like in its finish.
Accessories: The IIc and IIIc shared a neat line of accessories. The ne plus ultra was a brown bakelite box with 3 low-profile filters, the 50mm bayonet-on hood (rectangular) and the snap-on parts for 35 and 80mm hoods. The bayonet hoods are a boon, and a lot easier to deal with than the hard rubber screw-ins. Filter size remailed 30.5mm, so there is some backward and forward compatibility.