At a time of quarantine and panic buying, this vintage ad will surely make film photographers wish they were stocking up on this Kodak stuff instead.
With much of the world on panic buying mode due to lockdowns and quarantine, we’re sure there are now photography projects documenting grocery scenes at the time of COVID-19. A vintage ad we found, however, makes us both nostalgic about the time when Kodak reigned supreme and wishful that we were stocking up on their cool stuff instead. If you’re a film photographer, this will especially hit you harder!
The 1970s Kmart ad above, shared on Reddit r/vintageads reads, “Focus in on Kmart’s Camera Department for KODAK cameras and film.” Indeed, we can‘t help but have eyes on all the goodies up for grabs at discounted prices! Apart from Kodak Instamatic cameras, there’s also a wide selection of Kodak films for “any popular-size camera” and a “Film and Photo Finishing Department.” For many film photographers today, it would be a dream to take a stroll along a one-stop shop such as this. Given the crazy times today, we’re sure many would rather be replenishing their film stocks and/or picking up one or two of these Instamatic cameras than deal with panic buying due to the global COVID-19 lockdown.
Still, we see no reason why vintage camera collectors and curious film photographers can’t pick up any of the Instamatic cameras mentioned. There’s still a lot of them going for cheap on eBay, and we found some for you in case you’re interested: Kodak Tele-Instamatic 608, Kodak Trimlite Instamatic 18, and Kodak Insmatic X 15. According to camera-wiki.org, the Instamatic Series was Kodak’s line of easy-load 126 cartridge film cameras introduced in 1963. Later, the series included 110 pocket cassette film and Super 8 movie cassette film.
Looking for more vintage Kodak ads? We have quite a number of them for you to check out, among the most noteworthy being the Kodak Motormatic 35, the Kodak Handle, and the Kodak Disc Camera.