WHAT CONDITION THE CONDITION IS IN: AS IS. Not film tested. Overall not great shape for the body. Some corrosion on the battery terminals and debris in the edges. Lens appears clear. Scroll down to learn why this camera thinks it’s remarkable. Spoiler: it has a point.
Every once in a while, an object shows up with something to prove, and isn't that always the most interesting kind?
In 1978, Kodak, a company perfectly content to sell the world cheerful, forgettable snapshots, decided to make a camera with opinions: the Ektramax, a 110-format pocket camera that looked at the Canon 110ED and the Pentax Auto 110 and said, hold my beer.
It packed a 25mm f/1.9 Ektar lens, one of the first mass-produced aspheric lenses ever handed to an amateur, into a body still small enough to call itself a "pocket camera," though that's a bit like calling a Great Dane a lapdog.
This copy, serial 637816, dates to somewhere around late 1979 or 1980, though Kodak, in its infinite wisdom, kept no registry of individual units, so we're left doing archaeology with a camera that still takes better pictures than most of us deserve. Feed it something like Lomography Tiger 200 today and the thing still performs a small miracle: shallow depth of field from a film format designed for grandmothers photographing casseroles, indoor shots with a clarity that shouldn't be possible from a negative smaller than a postage stamp.
It has its indignities, of course: a battery door latch with the structural integrity of a stale cracker, a flash capacitor that fails with the theatrical timing of a diva, a girth that makes "pocket" feel like false advertising, but that's the price of ambition, isn't it?
The Ektramax never got the empire it was promised, but it left behind a small, stubborn proof that even the humblest format can be made to sing, if only someone's brave enough to ask it to.
Technical Specifications
Lens: 25mm Kodak Ektar
Maximum Aperture: f/1.9 (the fastest lens ever put on a mass-market Kodak 110 camera, designed for low-light shooting)
Focusing System: Manual zone focusing scale
Focus Range: 4 feet (1.2 meters) to infinity
Viewfinder: Optical viewfinder displaying frame lines alongside mirrored focusing symbols matching the top scale.
Shutter Type: Mechanical, leaf shutter
Shutter Speeds: Features 5 fixed, selectable speeds ranging from 1/30 to 1/350 second (automatically restricted or shifted depending on the film cartridge's speed tab and selected exposure mode)
Film Speed Compatibility: Automatically detects ISO 100 (slow) and ISO 400 (fast) 110 film cartridges using the cartridge's end-rib notches
Exposure Control: Manual slider interface with weather symbols ("Sun", "EX") paired with an exposure guide printed on the base of the camera
Built-in Flash: Electronic flash integrated directly into the body
Flash Battery Requirement: Powered by 2 AAA batteries (strictly used for the flash circuitry; the camera's shutter is completely mechanical)
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Kodak Ektramax 110 Camera
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