Bantam punches above its weight

I rolled up a strip of 35mm color film in some trimmed 120 backing paper and shot it in my Kodak Bantam RF.  This is only the second roll I have put through the little 828 rangefinder.  I continue to be impressed by the quality the Ektanon lens is able to deliver.
    The Bantam RF, produced between 1953 and 1957, was second only to the Bantam Special in features and design.  Some simpler 828 models stayed in production in the UK until 1963.  Kodak, however, continued to market 828 film for two more decades.  That is a level of customer support and continuity which we are not likely to see again.

Negotiating Central Ave., Albuquerque's main East-West corridor, has become quite a challenge due to solid walls of traffic barriers required by the construction of a new rapid transit system.  The year-long project was initiated by Mayor Berry without consulting the electorate.  It could turn out to be a good thing for the city in the long run, of course, but appreciation of the Mayor's legacy may be delegated to some future generation.  Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce has being doing what it can to be supportive, presenting the Mayor recently with a Public Safety award -- this in a City with soaring rate of drug addiction and crime, and the Number One rating in the country for auto theft.  The citizens are only mildly amused.

Kodak Bantam RF

I recently acquired a Kodak Bantam for a ridiculously low price on ebay.

Mine looks pretty much like new, and everything works more or less as it should.  Aside from the Bantam name and the 828 film format the RF model had almost nothing in common with the  Bantam strut folders which first appeared in the mid-1930s.  Kodak continued producing the 828 folders for a few years after WWII; the name was then passed on to a new line of fixed lens, bakelite-bodied cameras designed by Arthur H. Crapsey.

The Bantam RF design and the supporting Kodak publicity reflected and helped define the '50s aesthetic.

As I had done with my Flash Bantam, I covered the ruby window on the back of the camera and taped a 24-exposure strip of 35mm film onto the 828 reels.  One nice innovation in the RF model is a roller-based frame spacing mechanism which eliminates the guess-work in advancing the film by counting turns.  The removable back presented a bit of a challenge in the process of film loading inside a dark bag, but I think it will be less of a problem with subsequent rolls.  I exposed the first roll of film through the camera at one of my regular test sites, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.

F-16 - new paint job and accessories

USS James K. Polk Submarine Sail - surfaced

B-52B Stratofortress