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Probably one of Kodak’s most distinctive folding rollfilm cameras is the Regent, which was made in Stuttgart, Germany by Kodak AG. The body is nicely covered in fine quality grained morocco leather and the shape when closed has been described as streamlined. Using 620 rollfilm it’s a dual-format camera for either 6x9cm exposures or 4.5x6cm with an insert mask. The folding optical viewfinder has two slide-in masking pieces for the smaller format.
The coupled rangefinder is housed beside the folding finder; it shows a yellow window with a clear moving spot. To focus you pull out and rotate a small knob on the baseboard, then the front assembly moves forward on a rack. At the front a small pointer moves along a scale and shows the distance. The shutter has a release lever fitted beside the mount.
The 10.5cm lenses offered were Schneider Xenar f4.5, Xenar f3.8 and Zeiss Tessar f4.5, in Compur-S or Compur-Rapid shutter.
There is a definite solid and well-made feel to the camera. For example, in each film chamber there is a neat spring-loaded swivelling piece holding one end of the film spool to make film changing easier. The front is very rigid and you can see why when you look at how the folding struts have been designed.
There are two red windows on the back and the name is embossed in the leather.
Around 10,000 Regents were manufactured from 1935 to 1939. There was a Model II made in 1939, it had a more conventional squared shape with a chrome top plate and a Xenar f3.5 lens. We don’t see many Regents for sale and the Model II is a very scarce camera.
Text and photographs ©2014 Geoff Harrisson
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