# Pony = Rides



## smithdan (Aug 11, 2014)

Another rescue.

This one had a sticky shutter and lots of dirt.  Luckily the light seal around the shutter linkage still works.

First attempt gave a hopelessly OOF half roll that hit the garbage wet.

Some fiddly lens adjustments later and what better way to test a mid 50's camera than on 50's cars 

altogether not a bad little camera.

My little pony


 


and the Rides  (note to self - viewfinder wider than film frame)


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## Derrel (Aug 11, 2014)

A Kodak Pony 135-B was my VERY FIRST adjustable camera!!! I bought it in 1974 or 1975, for $16.95, from a drugstore in my small hometown...they sold used cameras in a case by the front door! A full pharmacy...but with a two-shelf glass counter and case with a good selection of cameras. Consider that at this time, gas was about 59 cents a gallon, after the terrible oil embargo of 1973 sent it "soaring", up from 35 cents a gallon. I take it you do know that the lens collapses with a twist and a push inward. Your example looks to be in very nice condition! I will always have a soft sport in my heart for this camera moel. The odd thing is that after I bought mine, about three years later my grandfather dug his old camera out of his closet and began using it after about a decade layoff. His camera? ALSO a Pony 135-B!!!


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## smithdan (Aug 11, 2014)

Thanks Derrel,  this must have been the go to rig for anyone wanting a more serious camera and willing to part with the extra $$.  Kodak sold a ....load of these and the 828 rollfilm model - have one with box and original price tag - $34.50 possibly late 50's early 60's.  Quite a pocketful considering a starflash sold less than $15 complete with roll of VP and batteries.

How does it do with colour.  Lens coating looked absent.

Lens collapses but lives happily in the closed case extended and ready - nice.


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## limr (Aug 11, 2014)

Nice!! Great little camera and really impressive results.


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## timor (Aug 11, 2014)

What's the difference between Pony 135 and 135 B ? As I don't have a chance to get any of this:

I can settle for Pony. I know one for sale.


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## smithdan (Aug 11, 2014)

Very slight modifications between the models over the production run. Mischa Konig site Kodak Classics very informative

kodak classics - mischa koning


now - that's  ^  different!


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## timor (Aug 11, 2014)

Thanks.


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## compur (Aug 11, 2014)

There was a Pony model with an Angenieux lens that is quite collectible.


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## timor (Aug 11, 2014)

smithdan said:


> now - that's  ^  different!


 Maybe 100 000 made between 1963 - 68. Very expensive nowadays.


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## timor (Aug 11, 2014)

compur said:


> There was a Pony model with an Angenieux lens that is quite collectible.


Looks like one model was made in France.


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## Derrel (Aug 12, 2014)

My older sister Susan's fourth birthday party, during the Eisnenhower era, 1955. Shot with a Kodak Pony 135-B and a flash. A pretty badly underexposed Kodachrome slide that I scanned last year. My dad, who died in 2001, was about 25 years old when this was taken, my Mom 24 years old.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




[    Susan's Fourth Birtday_sm.jpg photo - Derrel photos at pbase.com    ]


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## timor (Aug 12, 2014)

Derrel said:


> My older sister Susan's fourth birthday party, during the Eisnenhower era, 1955. Shot with a Kodak Pony 135-B and a flash. A pretty badly underexposed Kodachrome slide that I scanned last year. My dad, who died in 2001, was about 25 years old when this was taken, my Mom 24 years old.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is, what photography is for. I am not sure though, if my hard drives gonna last that long.


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## smithdan (Aug 12, 2014)

Yes timor.  Snapshots,  mileposts of our lives.


The other Pony,  needs a bath.  Probably won't shoot it any time soon, any film surgery goes to my 127 guys first and need to scrounge or make another spool



same same as 135 except for film fit and transport.   Great for folks that forget to rewind.


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## timor (Aug 12, 2014)

smithdan said:


> The other Pony,  needs a bath.  Probably won't shoot it any time soon, any film surgery goes to my 127 guys first and need to scrounge or make another spool
> 
> View attachment 81914
> 
> same same as 135 except for film fit and transport.   Great for folks that forget to rewind.


Nice.


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## Derrel (Aug 12, 2014)

More Pony 135-B birthday shots from 1955. The camera was pretty new then. I believe the B in 135 film size was made from 1950 to 1953.




and the opening of the gifts begins! So...this is my answer too how the lens did with color film--not too badly. Mine and my grandfather's Pony models both had coated lenses.

Here is a slide that says Sept 1960 on the slide mount, of my sister Theda, who was born in 1953, so she is just a few days shy of her 7th birthday. This is at the municipal swimming pool facility and is the "kiddie pool".


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## smithdan (Aug 12, 2014)

thanks for these Darrel.  I'm sure that these ones as well as all Kodak's 35's and some 127's were ready for colour as Kodachrome was all theirs due to the unique processing.


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## Derrel (Aug 12, 2014)

Yeah, I happened to have the scans on this computer, and I figured what better place than in a thread about the Kodak Pony 135-B to show some actual, Pony-era, Pony-shot, vintage color original shots. In my experience, the biggest issue with the Pony 135-B is two-fold. First is the way the shutter must be manually tensioned for each shot, and film winding and shutter tensioning are 100% the responsibility of the user; meaning, multiple exposures were fairly common. As were wasted frames. "Did I cock the shutter and then advance the film? Did I already shoot frame 15? AM I making a second exposure?" and so on. The second issue was the fact that this camera type is what is called a"viewfinder camera", meaning it has no rangefinder, and with the 51mm lens length, one needed to manually turn the focusing ring to the proper distance in order to get the sharpest image. And third, the camera has no light meter, and bulb flash has no electronic power variation or metering, so basically, the onus is entirely on the photographer to get everything set juuust right, with no assistance from the camera itself! I started my journey with the Pony and Plus-X Pan ASA 125 film; before long, I bought a GE light meter, then a Weston Master II meter.


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## smithdan (Aug 12, 2014)

Luckily bypassed all that.  First cameras were fixed focus, Target 620 box, then a Starflash.  First serious camera (and still have it) was the first generation Spotmatic purchased new in '66.

all that manual stuff makes one think.


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## timor (Aug 12, 2014)

My first camera was, taken away from my father Kodak (also Kodak) Retina, most likely type 126, I only remember it had an Ektar lens and the shutter release plunger was missing. Well, I destroyed it. The pain of that loss thought me a lot about my resposibilities as a photographer.  (1 year ban from touching any family own photo stuff.) Then I took over my fathers Praktica LLC. At the moment it was the best comunism ever produced in small format cameras. Zeiss glass, metal shutter, open aperture mettering (elctric lenses). I shot thru it a thousend rolls, no failure.


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