Kodak 35 without Rangefinder
Kodak 35 with Rangefinder

The Kodak 35 was introduced in 1938, a rather late follow-on for the mid-level 35mm market after Kodak had established that there was a market with the introduction of the 1934 Retina. Argus had introduced the A and C3, bricklike cameras that had none of the style of the early Kodak Retinas, but were much cheaper and Kodak needed to compete in that market.

As unimpressive as the Kodak 35 may seem to modern eyes, it represented a significant design break from earlier Kodak models. This was the first Kodak to have a metal lens tube rather than folding bellows, but this was a simple stamped metal housing on which a conventional shutter with a lens was mounted. A flip-up viewfinder was borrowed from the design of the Kodak folders. Similarly, the design of the scale-focusing lenses were shorter versions of the kind of 3-f/5.6 and f/4.5 Anastigmat lenses found on the larger folders. The top-of-the-line non-rangefinder models had a 4-element Anastigmat Special f/3.5 lens that it shared with the best non-rangefinder Bantam.

The rangefinder model, introduced in 1940, had a rather Frankenstinian quality to its design with three finder windows and the housing for the RF/lens coupling. The lenses available on the rangefinder model were the same Anastigmat f/4.5 and Anastigmat Special f/3.5 lenses. Since focusing with the rangefinder model was at eye-level, Kodak designers added a knurled focusing wheel to rotate the front lens element. The quality and aesthetic distance between the Kodak 35 and the Kodak Ektra of 1941 was vast, but perhaps no greater than the distance between an Argus C3 and a Leica or Contax.