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 III (1953) is a spring-motor 35mm camera producing 24x24mm square frames, manufactured by Otto Berning & Co. in Dusseldorf, Germany. It succeeded the transitional Robot IIa and represented a more polished iteration of the core Robot spring-motor architecture that had been in continuous development since 1934. The Robot III was produced for approximately two years before being superseded by the Robot IIIa in 1955, which differed primarily in finder brightness.
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.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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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 1953 Robot III refined the postwar spring-motor 24x24mm line with improved ergonomics and an expanded Schneider lens offering including the Tele-Xenar.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm, 24x24mm square (~50 exp per 36-exp roll) |
| Mount | Robot bayonet |
| Years | 1953–1955 |
| Standard lens | Schneider Xenar 38mm f/2.8 |
| Fast lens | Schneider Xenon 38mm f/1.9 |
| Telephoto lens | Schneider Tele-Xenar 75mm f/3.8 |
| Shutter | Focal-plane: 1/25s – 1/500s + B |
| Film advance | Spring motor (approx. 8–10 frames per wind) |
| Meter | None |
| Viewfinder | Optical direct, no rangefinder |
| Battery | None |
Otto Berning introduced the Robot IIa in 1951 as a postwar refinement of the Robot II. The Robot III arrived in 1953, consolidating those refinements and signaling the brand's move toward a stable civilian product rather than a transitional wartime derivative. The body dimensions remained nearly identical to the IIa, but the III featured incremental improvements to the motor winding feel and the bayonet mechanism.
The Robot III was sold alongside the growing Robot Star and would itself be updated to the Robot IIIa (1955), which introduced a brighter viewfinder. The broader Robot line was evolving in parallel: the Robot Royal added a rangefinder and 24x36mm format capability in the mid-1950s, while the Robot III remained a dedicated 24x24mm spring-motor camera without rangefinder.
The Robot III also coincided with Schneider-Kreuznach expanding the lens lineup available for the Robot bayonet mount, making the Tele-Xenar 75mm f/3.8 a practical companion lens for users who needed occasional telephoto framing within the same compact body.
The Robot III represents the spring-motor Robot at a relatively mature point in its civilian evolution — more refined than the IIa, and essentially equivalent in optics to the IIIa that followed. For collectors, it marks the Robot line's normalization into a stable product after the disruptions of the war years. For users interested in spring-motor rapid-sequence photography, the III delivers the same functional appeal as the IIa and IIIa: near-silent, compact, and capable of sustained bursts without winding between frames.
The 24x24mm format gives the camera a contemporary relevance among photographers interested in square-format work on standard 35mm stock, and the Schneider Xenar and Xenon lenses produce sharp, contrasty results characteristic of high-quality 1950s German optical glass.
The Robot bayonet mount accepts the full range of Robot-compatible Schneider-Kreuznach lenses:
Robot proprietary cassettes or adapters may be required depending on film loading configuration.
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.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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