KODAK INSTAMATIC 404

The Instamatic 404, manufactured from 1965 to 1969 and originally sold for $55.50, was very similar to the earlier Instamatic 400, produced from 1963 to 1966. It had the same body, f/8 41mm three-element Kodar lens, two-speed shutter (1/40 and 1/60 sec), and selenium-cell “electric eye” automatic exposure system, along with a spring-motor mechanism to advance the film and drop-in 126 film cartridges. The main difference was the flash system: the 400 had a built-in pop-up holder for AG-1 flashbulbs, while the 404 substituted a socket for Kodak's Flashcube, the rotating four-shot flashbulb unit that Kodak and Sylvania introduced in 1965, the same year as the 404's launch. Kodak also applied this base-model-plus-Flashcube approach elsewhere in its mid-1960s Instamatic line, such as the 300 (AG-1 flashbulbs) and the 304 (Flashcube). Among the various Instamatic models available at the time, the 400/404 series occupied the mainstream consumer level, below the more premium German-made Instamatics such as the 500, which used Schneider-Kreuznach or Rodenstock lenses. Like most Instamatics made in the mid-1960s, which were produced and sold in very large numbers, the 404 is frequently encountered in today's used camera and collector markets and is generally seen as a common and inexpensive entry-level camera rather than something rare.