C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Robot Electronic (1972) is an electrically motor-driven 35mm camera producing 24x24mm square frames, manufactured by Otto Berning & Co. in Dusseldorf, Germany. It was the last Robot camera designed for civilian photographic use and represented a fundamental departure from the spring-motor architecture that had defined every previous Robot since 1934. The spring-wound clockwork motor was replaced by an electric motor powered by AA batteries, and the selenium photocell of the Vollautomat gave way to a CdS (cadmium sulfide) cell requiring battery power for metering.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →C41
Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The 1972 Robot Electronic replaced the spring-motor with an electric motor drive and CdS metering, closing the classic Robot rangefinder era and marking the brand's shift toward specialized industrial and surveillance cameras.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm, 24x24mm square (~50 exp per 36-exp roll) |
| Mount | Robot bayonet |
| Year introduced | 1972 |
| Standard lens | Schneider Xenar 38mm f/2.8 |
| Shutter | Leaf: 1/30s – 1/500s + B |
| Flash sync | 1/30s |
| Film advance | Electric motor drive (battery-powered) |
| Meter | CdS photocell |
| Exposure | Auto-coupled; manual override |
| Viewfinder | Optical direct, no rangefinder |
| Battery | AA cells (required for motor and meter) |
| Mechanical fallback | None — dead battery = inoperable |
The Robot spring-motor tradition began in 1934 with the original Robot I, designed by Heinz Kilfitt and manufactured by Otto Berning. Every camera in the Robot civilian line through the 1960s — the Robot II, IIa, III, IIIa, Star, Royal, Vollautomat — relied on the same fundamental clockwork advance mechanism. The spring motor was Robot's identity.
By the late 1960s, electric motor drives were becoming commercially viable for compact cameras, and the spring motor — which required periodic rewind and stored only 8-10 frames per charge — was an operational constraint compared to an electric motor running from a battery pack. The Robot Electronic resolved this constraint directly: the electric motor would advance as long as the battery held charge, offering indefinitely sustained rapid-sequence shooting.
The Robot Electronic arrived in 1972, the same year that 35mm SLRs with motor drive options were becoming standard professional tools. Within a few years of the Electronic's introduction, the Robot brand had largely exited the general-use photographic market and concentrated on Robot Recorder cameras for document copying, traffic enforcement, industrial monitoring, and surveillance — markets where the Robot's compact form and rapid-sequence advance found application outside mainstream photography.
The Robot Electronic thus marks the end of the Robot rangefinder-era civilian line that ran from 1934 to 1972.
The Robot Electronic is the terminus of one of the most distinctive camera lineages in 35mm photography. From the original 1934 Robot I through to the Electronic, Otto Berning sustained a single coherent design philosophy — compact, spring- or motor-driven, square-format, rapid-sequence — for nearly four decades. No other camera manufacturer maintained a single-body concept for as long.
For collectors, the Robot Electronic represents the end of an era: the last Robot designed for a photographer to carry into the street, a press assignment, or a scientific expedition in the civilian sense. Subsequent Robot cameras were purpose-built for industrial and institutional clients rather than individual photographers.
The transition also illustrates a broader 1970s shift in German precision camera manufacturing: spring-motor and clockwork mechanisms, which had given German cameras their distinctive operational character, were being retired in favor of electronics — a change from which several German manufacturers did not emerge.
The Robot bayonet mount on the Electronic accepts the established Robot-compatible lens lineup:
C41
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is an affordable, consumer-oriented daylight-balanced color negative film at ISO 200. Known for warm, slightly muted color rendition, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude, it is currently in production and widely available in Asia and select global markets.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →Robot Electronic
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