Instamatic
During its heyday, the range was so ubiquitous that the Instamatic name is still frequently used as a generic trademark to refer to any inexpensive point-and-shoot camera.
The first model released in the US was the basic Instamatic 100, approximately one month later, which included a built-in flashgun for single-use AG-1 "peanut" bulbs, a feature lacking in the 50.
The lineup was soon expanded to include a variety of models from the basic but popular 100/104 to the automatic exposure 800/804, which featured an aluminum chassis, rangefinder, selenium light meter, and clockwork spring wind.
[1] Kodak even gave away a considerable number in a joint promotion with Scott paper towels in the early 1970s to generate many new photographers and stimulate lasting demand for its film business.
Many other manufacturers attempted to capitalize on the popularity of the Instamatic with their own 126 cameras, including Canon, Olympus, Minolta, Ricoh, Zeiss Ikon, and even Rollei.
Some of these models were far more sophisticated and expensive than the majority of the Kodak cameras: the Rollei SL26, for instance, featured interchangeable lenses (28mm, 40mm, and 80mm), TTL metering, and a rangefinder, and retailed for $300.
The top-of-the-line model was the Pocket Instamatic 60, which featured a stainless steel body, rangefinder, and automatic exposure with a four-element 26 mm f/2.7–17 Ektar lens.
The 20 shared the same 25 mm f/9.5 fixed-focus lens as the 30 and offered a single shutter speed of 1⁄100 second, which automatically changed to 1⁄40 when a flashcube was inserted.
[11] In 1984, Photo Session, a group of four bronze statues created by J. Seward Johnson, Jr., was installed in Queen Elizabeth Park of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The statues depict three people posing in front of a mountainous backdrop, with a fourth photographing the group using an Instamatic X-35.
[26] Hipstamatic, an automated photograph post-processing application for mobile devices released in 2009, used an interface inspired by the Instamatic to produce similar toy camera-like images and was meant to evoke "a simpler-is-better past, an age where cheap, mass-produced plastic cameras were built to last".
[28] A few years later, the Instagram social media network included filters "designed to make digital photographs look like snapshots taken with the toy cameras of yesteryear: the Kodak Brownie, the Instamatic, the Polaroid".
[29] The simple, geometric physical Instamatic camera design and square image format captured on 126 film directly inspired the updated Instagram logo and aesthetic.
