Kodak S100 EF
When my father passed I inherited a few cameras from him. A Roleiflex TLR, a Pentax Spotmatic, a couple of Polaroids, some shelf decoration classics, and this Kodak point-and-shoot. When I got it I thought it looked familiar, as in it looked like a camera I might have had when I was much younger. If not this model I feel pretty sure that I had one similar. There were a few point-and-shoots in the Kodak “S Series,” some were pretty basic (like this one) and others were a little more advanced.
The S100 and S100 EF (the EF stands for Electronic Flash) were manufactured between 1988 and 1993, they were completely plastic with a 35mm f/4.5 fixed-focus lens (probably also plastic) and sold for 60 bucks which, adjusted for inflation, would be around $162 in today’s dollars. Mine is the S100 EF, but I might as well call it the S100 because the E.F. is B.R.O.K.E. 162 bucks for this camera seems a little pricey, considering it is only slightly more advanced than your basic disposable camera. Was it built in Kodak’s Rochester, NY facility? Nope, it was made in Taiwan. A Pentax K1000 body in 1988 would have cost $200, which adjusts to $540 in today’s money… and I know this because in 1988 I wanted a new K1000, but my after-school job only netted me maybe $50 or $60, so it would have taken me a month of saving every penny to get the camera body, then maybe another two weeks of spending nothing to get a lens for it. Six weeks of working and spending nothing? Not a single candy bar, T-shirt or punk rock record? Preposterous! One week can get me this Kodak S100 EF, I could handle one week.
The camera is light and feels pretty flimsy, but somehow it feels NOT flimsy. If you’re used to using quality cameras of the era, say that Pentax K1000, with its metal body and more robust lenses that I couldn’t afford when I was 16, this plastic pocket camera feels too light and plasticky to be more than a toy. However, the lens cover snaps into place just as it should with a smooth motion, the movement on the advance wheel and the shutter button is smooth, and I don’t worry that the film door might pop open by accident in my pocket. So while it’s considered a lower-end camera of the era, it’s not as low-quality as many of the very cheap plastic cameras of the 80’s, or a modern Holga for that matter.
We took a warm sunny afternoon trip to shoot some photos in Colonial Williamsburg, in Williamsburg, Virginia. I had some Portra film loaded into my Minolta A7 (I’ve really grown to love that camera), but I also wanted a second camera loaded with B&W Ilford Delta film. I hadn’t used this Kodak camera yet, and it fit the bill of being a compact back-up camera that I could fit into my pants pocket. I honestly have no idea if it even works, but when I looked it over I had no reason to believe it wouldn’t. The shutter fired, the apertures (all three of them) worked, film advance worked, and as far as I could tell all the light seals seemed in order. Let’s give it a whirl!
The settings are simple. You have your choice between loading 100/200 ISO film or 400 ISO, and activating a corresponding switch, this sets the aperture to (presumably) f16, f8 or f4.5. Shutter speed is 1/100. Point the camera at the photo you want, and trust that the viewfinder will be at least a little bit accurate (though you should probably expect to lose some of the image in the edges of what you see), push the button on top (subtle quiet “click”) and wind the film with a thumbwheel. After the roll is empty, push the release button on the bottom, wind the film back into the spool with the windy wheel thinger on top, and presto! There might be a couple good photos on that roll!
By “good” I mean interesting. I didn’t expect high quality, I expect similar results that one would get with a Lomography camera… soft focus, low resolution, vignetted edges. Fun! Know what else is fun? The pics were actually pretty good! Not Earth-shattering, but they do look like a good step above a Lomography type setup. No vignetting, focus is better than expected, detail and texture is as good as something I might shoot with some of my more serious cameras with a cheaper lens. Holy crap, I think this is going to be a really decent back-up camera! Not the mention, the sentimental value. It’s my dad’s camera, and while I would have been fine with using it as a shelf decoration it’s that much more meaningful that we’re both sharing this camera to take snapshots with. I might even be able to pass this down to my OWN kid, it may even still be working by then. If not, I’m pretty sure the Rollei will be. For now, however, I’m just going to have fun with this camera and keep it tucked into a pocket of my bag.
