KODAK INSTAMATIC X-45 Camera

The X-45 model of the Kodak Instamatic, which was manufactured between 1970 and 1974 and first sold for $58, was part of the X-series — a later group of Instamatic cameras that had moved away from Kodak's original numbered-body design and instead adopted more automated and motorised cameras. In this range, the X-45 occupied the middle position: it combined the CdS-metered automatic exposure system found on the X-35 with a spring-wound clockwork film advance (the same kind of winders used on the more basic X-25), so that it was placed above the manually wound X-15 and X-35 models but below the X-90, the top model which featured a faster Ektar lens and rangefinder focusing. It was fitted with a 41mm f/8 Kodar lens having two focus zones and a two-speed shutter (1/45 in flash and 1/90 in daylight); unlike conventional cameras, its exposure meter operated by moving a series of graduated apertures past a CdS sensor window rather than by adjusting an ordinary iris. Together with the other cameras in the series, it used drop-in 126 cartridge film and single-use magicubes (which fired mechanically, without batteries) for extra lighting. On the present-day vintage camera market the X-45 is frequently available and is sold at a low price rather than fetching collector's prices, and, as is the case with so many CdS-metered cameras from this period, surviving units can have exposure meters that no longer read accurately after many decades of battery and circuit deterioration.