Kodak Instamatic

The Instamatic is a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak beginning in 1963. The Instamatic was immensely successful, introducing a generation to low-cost photography and spawning numerous imitators.

During its heyday, the range was so ubiquitous that the Instamatic name is still frequently used (erroneously) to refer to any inexpensive point-and-shoot camera. (It is also frequently used incorrectly to describe Kodak's line of instant-picture cameras, the Kodamatic series.)

The Instamatic name was also used by Kodak on some Super 8-based home-cine cameras.

The first Instamatics went on sale for $16 in early 1963 and were soon followed by the 300(which had a light meter), the 400(which had a light meter and a spring driven film advance), and the 700(which had a light meter, focusing, and selectable shutter speeds.) They were the first cameras to use Kodak's new 126 format. The easy-load film cartridge made the cameras very inexpensive to produce, as it provided the film backing plate and exposure counter itself and thus saved considerable design complexity and manufacturing cost for the cameras. A wide variety of print and slide film was sold by Kodak in the 126 format.

The lead designer for the Instamatic program was Dean M. Peterson, also later known for most of the innovations in the point-and-shoot camera revolution of the 1980s. The first Instamatic to be released was the Instamatic 50, which appeared in the UK in February 1963, about a month before the 100. The first model released in the US was the basic Instamatic 100. With fixed shutter speed of 1/90th of a second, aperture and focus, it continued in the tradition of Kodak's earlier Brownie cameras, providing a simple snapshot camera anyone could use. It also featured a built-in flashgun for AG-1 "peanut" bulbs, a feature lacking in the 50.

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