Kodak Trimlite 48
It’s a
bit odd how some things work out: a year before Kodak discontinued it’s
venerable Model 60 Pocket Instamatic (in 1976, at a price of almost $130), they
introduced the Trimlite 48 (1975- 79) at a price of almost $150…I’ve been told
this camera was the “successor” to the Model 60, and while the timing would
tend to support this (as well as the pricing), the word “successor” implies
something as good as, and 
usually
improved or better. While the Trimlite 48 is unquestionably as solid, capable,
stylish and high quality as the Model 60 it sprang from (more literally than
you might imagine), in one very significant area, Kodak took a step backwards
and downgraded the camera. I suspect that at the time, Kodak was hoping to
introduce a camera that could be made less expensively, sold at higher cost,
and generate a far greater profit margin in the process. If the Trimlite 48 was
truly intended to be the successor to the Model 60, then closely comparing the
two will be illuminating.
The outer body molding is identical in almost every respect with that of the Model 60, right down to the placement of the (now useless) tripod socket and the fasteners on the bottom deck plate. The wrist strap mounting, rangefinder slider bar and shutter release button are also positioned identically. The battery check button and check light have moved from the bottom deck to the top, and gone is the Magi-cube 4 shot flashcube socket, replaced instead with the (then) new Flipflash bar socket. While the viewfinder is identical, the two exposure warning LED’s are gone, replaced instead by a single tiny red bubble LED light in the bottom of the viewfinder frame (not in the viewfinder itself). Suspiciously missing are the cable release socket and the shutter release button lock.
A major change in styling was effected by replacing the brushed aluminum top and bottom deck plates that the original Model 60 had with a stylish, muted and very low key dark brown leatherette like surface, pebbled in texture to presumably give a better gripping surface. Lets take a look at the basic feature set…
The lens remains the same 26mm Ektar F/2.7 all glass lens famous for the sharp photographs it produced. The lens is protected by a plate of optical quality glass, as it was on the Model 60, however, this plate of glass is angled inward as it goes down from the top, at about 30 degrees. I’m not being overly obsessive here, the new angle of the protective glass makes a significant difference to the user: while the Model 60 had at least two different brands of screw in auxiliary lens sets made for it by aftermarket companies (Brooks and Kalimar, see the article in this section on the Model 60), neither one of them will fit on the Trimlite 48 because of the angle of the protective glass, even though the mounting brackets from both kits fit the camera body perfectly. A small point, but worth noting is that while the lens is recessed well into the camera body, providing a built in lens shade, the lens mount is not beveled to reduce glare as it was on the earlier Model 60. Was Kodak economizing in manufacture here? It may be that Kodak felt that the angled protective glass would in some way reduce glare or flare…
The film door release latch
remains the same, being located in the middle of the top edge of the film
chamber door; focusing also remains the same, using the identical smooth slider
bar on the top deck, with a distance display in feet on the left side of the
bar, and a metres display on the right. Even better, of course, was the small,
circular, but still very easy to see and useable yellow double image
rangefinder patch in the centre of the viewfinder. The familiar bright frame
line marking in the viewfinder clearly delineated the lens viewing area, while
two vertical lines stacked one atop the other in the far right inner edge of
the frame indicated the adjusted framing are for close distance shots from 3 –
6 feet – a simplified form of parallax correction. The traditional thumb slider
film advance winder on the underside of the camera almost seems like an old
friend by now…
The fast, accurate and sensitive CdS exposure meter was still fully coupled to both the shutter speed and the apertures, providing fully automatic exposure control. However, and the is the major downgrading that I referred to earlier, the entire lower end of the shutter speed range has been lopped off in the new Trimilite 48: the shutter speeds begin at a high of 1/250th of a second on down to a hand holdable 1/30th of a second…and stops. Other than the fact that this new model 48 now has the ability to recognize and key its exposure meter for the (then) new ISO 400 film cartridges, there is no low light capability built in. Handhold down to 1/30th of a second, when the red warning light comes on in the viewfinder indicating low light, pop on a Flipflash bar, or that’s it. This sounds dire, and it might be for an advanced photographer who would recognize the limits this might impose, but for the average shooter, this actually works out quite well: the ISO 400 films when shot at F/2.7 and 1/30th of a second still allowed quite a bit of indoor shooting, if indoors was well lit. This now explains why there is no threaded cable release socket: not being able to shoot at shutter speeds lower than 1/30th of a second, there would be no need to use one; that also explains my earlier comment about the “now useless tripod socket” – there’s no point to having it anymore, and I suspect it’s inclusion was not a deliberate act, but simply the result of reusing the same moldings as the original Model 60 had when manufactured. More economy in the manufacturing process?
Some other small changes: there
is no shutter button release lock as there was on the Model 60. When reviewing
the Model 60 earlier I had commented that I never used them, and couldn’t
really see a legitimate need for them, and apparently others must have agreed:
either Kodak listened to a lot of comments from the field, or they omitted it
as another cost saving measure. However, in the process of omitting the shutter
button lock, they redesigned the shutter release button itself: still a little
stiff in comparison to other cameras (but not objectionably so), it is now a
large polished silver coloured square button that sits slightly recessed in a
square plastic ridge: easy to find and press, but not as easy to inadvertently
trip by accident, or when pushed against something else in your pocket or
travel bag. The battery check button is a very small green, circular push
button recessed in a ridged border in a manner similar to the shutter release
button. Located on the top deck, just to the left of the Flipflash socket, a
small circular red LED will light up if the battery is good when the button is
pressed. The battery, of course, is the venerable and now virtually extinct K
battery that Kodak made famous with the Pocket Instamatic line of cameras: an
article entitled “The K Factour” elsewhere
in this section of the website details how to easily and inexpensively rebuild
these batteries for a lifetime of use in this camera.
The absence of the Magi-cube 4 shot flashcube socket is obvious, but so is its replacement, the socket for the Flipflash bar. These innovative devices were a simple flat rectangular plastic bar containing 8 AG-1 style flash bulbs in a vertical arrangement (one above the other in the GE brand product, slightly staggered and above each other in the Sylvannia brand product – and in a sneaky, inspired little bit of marketing, the Sylvannia brand products actually offered 10 bulbs per bar, instead of the standard 8 of the GE product), in two clusters of four. These were electrically fired by the K battery in the camera, thus, there is a small flat plastic ridge on each end of the Flipflash, containing a small electrical contact. In use, you would insert a Flipflash firmly into the socket on the camera until it clicks into place, placing the camera in flash sync mode (shutter sets automatically to 1/30th of a second). As you fire each of the first four flash shots, a green paper dot on the back of the GE product blackens, while on the Sylvannia product a silver metal strip burns through, each visually indicating a used bulb. When the first cluster of four bulbs has been used, you simply pull up on the Flipflash bar, turn it over 180 degrees, and snap it back in, positioning the second cluster of four fresh bulbs for use.
The Flipflash bars appear to be
significantly larger than the older Magi-cubes, but in looking at them more
closely, their advantage seems obvious: being much flatter, albeit longer, the
one slender unit provides 8 flashes, exactly the equivalent of two flash cubes
rattling loose in your pockets. In addition, the vertical arrangement of the
bars elevated the bulbs above the lens axis, automatically helping to reduce
the dreaded “red eye” effect of having the flash to close to the lens.
The flash range was an awesome 3 – 30 feet with ISO 100 films; curiously, the flash range seems to be the same even when using ISO 400 films, due to the circular blue filter that swings into place in front of the lens automatically when an ISO 400 film cartridge is loaded and a Flipflash bar is inserted. The filter retracts automatically when the Flipflash is removed; I suspect the purpose of this is to cut down on the light from the flash to levels that would give the same subject distances as ISO 100 film would, simplifying things for the casual shooter who might not remember two different flash distance ranges. Kodak also marketed a compact electronic flash unit with integral mounting bracket that secured to the tripod socket (all right then, perhaps the tripod socket isn’t totally useless, if you’re going to buy the electronic flash…) called the Ektron Flash Unit, Model B, utilizing two AA batteries, and with a special contact that plugs directly into the Flipflash socket on the camera.
Among other accessories made for the Trimlite 48 were a lovely leather like zipper case with a furry felt type lining and an inside pocket for stashing a Flipflash along with the camera, and including a nice sturdy belt clip; a Flipflash extender was also available, although you can imagine from the photo of the camera with just the Flipflash itself mounted what that must have looked like…no doubt it was effective at reducing red eye.
What
are my impressions? The camera is a class act in terms of fit, finish, style
and feel when holding it: it’s light yet sturdy and hardly intrudes at all on
your pocket or purse space. Every operation is quick and easy, as it was on the
Model 60, not surprising as you realize how closely related the two cameras
are. Quality of photographs are indistinguishable between the two cameras, which
is as it should be.
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Fuji Superia 200,
February 2003 |
Fuji Superia 200, February 2003 |
For the casual shooter, this is a wonderful, and wonderfully inexpensive camera to acquire and use (normally running at $8 - $12 on ebay, with one showing up approximately ever 3rd or 4th week or so…by comparison, Model 60s show up almost every week, at prices ranging from $1 - $10 for the camera alone, in excellent condition) – it would be a perfect backpacker’s camera for a day’s outing.
For the professional level or serious amateur photographer, this camera may be perceived as being a bit limiting in comparison to the Model 60 – I tend to consider it more as a “daytime” camera, even though I have a plentiful stock of the Flipflash bars. The lack of the lower end shutter speeds stands out to me, and if Flipflash bars aren’t available and I choose to not use the ISO 400 film to keep the grain down, well, you see the situation…but as a daytime camera, I couldn’t be more impressed: it was a fast handling, fun and super little performer – a very worthy addition to a useable 110 camera collection. The ability to take the ISO 400 film cartridges is a compensating factour not to be overlooked, should the modest grain in the resulting photographs not be as big a concern to you.
A “successor” to the Model 60?
No…it was a “replacement” for it.
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Kodak Pocket Instamatic 20, 30 & 40 |
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Minolta Autopak 470 |
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Rollei A110 & E110 |
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© 7 February, 2003 by D. Scott Young