Introduction

The majority of Kodak’s Instamatic cameras were equipped with the facility for flash illumination to be used in low light level situations.
There were five main types used through the manufacturing history of the cameras. Only a handful of Instamatic camera models did not have the facility for flash photography.

FLASH BULB

Most early models of Instamatic cameras were fitted with either a two-pin ‘Kodak hotshoe’ (A design only used by Kodak) to allow the fitting of an ‘Instamatic Flasholder’ as with the model ‘50’ or a built-in flash holder as with the model ‘100’. Both of these types used a single-use bulb of type ‘AG1 (Peanut)’ which needed to be replaced after use and required a battery for them to function. AG1 bulbs were available in two types; AG1 (clear glass) and AG1B (Coated in blue plastic). The coating was to both give the flash a more ‘daylight’ colour and to prevent the glass shattering when discharged. Because the bulbs got very hot as they fired they had to be handled with great care when removing for replacement.

FLASHCUBE (Blue dot)

Since flashbulbs got very hot when discharged an easier to use system was introduced with the ‘104’, a camera fitted with a socket to accomodate a ‘Flashcube’. This was a cube shaped plastic cartridge pre-fitted with four AG1 flashbulbs that plugged into the flashcube socket. As each bulb was discharged a mechanism in the camera rotated the cube to present a new bulb ready for use as the film was wound on. After all four bulbs had been used the flashcube could be replaced with a new one. Because the bulbs were enclosed in a plastic casing they were less fiddly to install and safer to handle. For cameras with a Kodak hotshoe a ‘Flashcube Adapter’ was available but this needed to be manually rotated to the next bulb after each use. Again a battery was required to discharge the bulbs and these were fitted into either the adapter or camera as required.

MAGICUBE (Blue cross)

An improvment on the flashcube was made with the development of the ‘Magicube’. Similar in appearance to the flashcube, the Magicube didn‘t require a battery to enable it it fire. The socket on the camera is different from the flashcube socket and the two different types of cube are not interchangeable, in fact instruction manuals warn against damage from trying to fit the wrong type. Most of the cameras designed for the ‘Magicube’ had an ‘X’ as part of their model designation

FLIP FLASH

The ‘flip flash’ was first introduced in 1976 with the Kodak X-15F and X-35F cameras. This style of flash unit had either eight or ten bulbs per cartridge. They were dual ended meaning that when half of the bulbs had been discharged you could turn it up the other way to use the second half of the bulbs.

HOTSHOE

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