The Retina is another camera you get for the lens.  It is clumsy to use, hard to load, and difficult to focus and view:  all in all, a headache.  But the lens on it, a Schneider Xenon, is equal to any top-level glass of the same period.  And the shutter is mucho quiet:  you aren’t going to hear it from more than three feet away unless your hearing aid has a power amp. 

The IIc was made in the late 1950s.  Kodak stamped its name on it, but the manufacturer was Nagel.  It is compact in use, and folds into a convenient little package.  There’s no light meter, so you have to carry a separate one or learn how to estimate light.  And anyway, the meters on most of the metered Retinas have gone dead. 

I once had a IIIc and an 80mm accessory lens and finder; but during a cash shortage I sold the lot.  Later, I bought a IIc from a crook at a camera show.  When I picked up the camera from his sales table, I said, “Anything wrong with it?”  He smiled and said confidently, “Try it out.”  I clicked the shutter two or three times.  It sounded so snappy and looked so minty and the seller seemed like such a nice old man that I shelled out my fifty bucks and took the camera home.  Then I took it out shooting.  Every tenth or twelfth frame, the shutter would misfire:   uncock without opening.  You missed your shot and lost a frame.  The nice old man had worked the shutter until it misfired, then put the camera out on display.  He figured that a fool testing the camera would only shoot a few frames and therefore not get to a misfire.  I was the fool who came along.  I eventually sold this dog.  Yes, I advised the buyer about the problem, but he had serious Retina lust and couldn’t put the camera down.  He paid me with shaking hands and ran for the repair shop. 

I missed the IIc, and eventually found one that worked perfectly.  On my first shoot with it, I went to Central Park.  After a few warm-up exposures,  I spotted a well-constructed  young female person and started snapping.  This was lecherous, inartistic, and unworthy photography, the kind I like best.  Then I went on my way and shot respectably.  When I finished the roll, I sat down to rewind.  After no little cranking, I thought the film was all in the cartridge and I opened the camera.  Raw film stared at me.  I slammed the door and finished the rewinding and took the film to the lab.  Do I have to tell you what divine justice the contact sheet revealed?  Only the lecherous pictures had been obliterated!

Using this IIc will either improve my manual dexterity or drive me nuts.  Focusing is done with the left thumb reaching around front to nudge a rounded knob.  The shutter is released with the right forefinger.  Then the right thumb has to reach underneath to work the bottom-mounted film advance.  If you want to change your exposure setting, the right hand works the shutter-speed ring while the left forefinger goes down underneath to move the aperture ring.  But wait!  The aperture ring has one of those accursed exposure-value interlocks.  You have to clamp the speed ring with your right hand while the left fingers release the lock underneath so you can change the aperture without changing the shutter speed.  Get the idea?  Doing all of this quickly is beyond me:  it's like learning to play bagpipes. 

I don't want to totally disrespect my IIc's viewfinder.  In daylight, even overcast daylight, I can see well enough to frame my shot and get the rangefinder images coincident.  However, because the viewfinder gives me a much less than life-size image, I cannot see the little changes in facial expression that make or break people shots.     

If you are more of a camera fondler than a camera shooter, none of this will bother you, of course; and the Retina is fondle-friendly.  Its precision construction and elegant trim are a delight.  Even the inside of the camera is designed for beauty and durability, and the ERC for it is fine leather—chrome-trimmed!  The body is heavy cast aluminum, with chrome-plated brass for the top and bottom.  The lens fronts a bellows, but the bellows is protected by a moving steel sheath.  Left-eyed shooters will actually like the advance lever's position on the bottom plate.  No more right thumb gouging your right eye.

Some argue that the 2.0 Xenon on the Retina IIIc is better than the 2.8 on the IIc.  I can’t agree to that:  I once had a IIIc, and I don’t see any difference in the IIc’s performance on film.  Both the 2.8 and the 2.0 are superbly realized Planar formulas, so you can’t go wrong with either.

One final note.  The wide-angle and telephoto lenses for the Retinas are famously hard to use.  However, the 80mm telephoto for my IIIc was killer sharp.  If you have a IIIc or IIc, don’t rule out the extra lenses.  If you want to mount the 35mm lens on a Retina and go street-shooting, I would recommend zone-focusing and using an accessory viewfinder.  Kodak used to offer a metal sports finder for mounting in the Retina's accessory shoe.  If you can find one of those, you're in business.  (You can also use the 35mm end of the Voigtlander Prominent's Turnit finder; that gives you a big, bright view.)  Kodak also offered a small 35mm/80mm optical finder.  It is a beautifully made and handsome little thing that is mostly useless.  It doesn't come nearly close enough to a life-size view and is dark besides.  Fondle it at night, but don't take it out on a date. 

Click on these shots to get an idea of the resolution and sharpness of the Retina lenses.