Historical Context

Introduced in 1959, the Kodak Automatic 35 is a fantastic example of late-1950s American “space age” industrial design. Manufactured entirely in Rochester, New York, it was designed to make 35mm photography completely foolproof for the average consumer, replacing complex math with early automation.

The defining feature of this camera is its massive selenium cell light meter, which sits prominently on the front of the top plate behind a grid-like plastic window.

Unlike earlier cameras where a light meter simply gave you a reading that you had to manually transfer to the lens, the Kodak Automatic 35 was shutter-priority automatic. You selected your film speed (ASA 10 to 160) and your shutter speed (either 1/40th or 1/80th of a second). When you pressed the shutter release, the camera physically used the voltage generated by the selenium cell to automatically set the correct f-stop for the scene.