At a time when many cameras had only flipup viewfinders and exposure was judged from sliding scales that matched the photographers estimate of light source with film speed, the Super Kodak 620 was a marvel. Joseph Mihalyi and Walter Dorwin Teague designed the Super 620 to be the first camera to attempt automatic exposure control. Unlike the Ektra and Medalist, the Super 620 was not designed for the advanced amateur or professional, but for the occassional photographer who wanted to ultimate in automation.

The Super 620 produced eight 6x9 images on a roll of 620 film, the same film stock used for 120, but wound on spools with a smaller core and thinner flanges. Film was advanced by a crank. According to Brian Coe, 719 Super 620s were produced from 1938 to 1944. The Super 620 had a wide-based rangefinder that employed four prisms, five objectives and two mirrors to create a combined rangefinder/viewfinder. This complexity helps explain the high price and low reliability of this camera, which Kodak staff nicknamed 'The Boomerang' for the high incidence of returns to the Kodak factory for repair..

The lens for the Super 620 was not listed in the otherwise complete Kodak Reference Manual lens data sheets. Coe lists an f/3.5 Anastigmat Special in a Compur shutter, presumably about 100mm. Anastigmat Specials of this period were 4-element Tessar designs. The lens diaphram was coupled to a large selenium cell, just under the rangefinder/viewfinder windows. When the shutter release was pressed, the meter needle locked to the appropriate position; in turn, a spring-loaded sensor in the shutter 'read' the needle position and set the correct speed.

As the pictures show, the Super 620 was a folder, but unlike any other Kodak folder. Walter Dorwin Teague created a kind of Deco double clamshell design where, on closure, the top shell protected the lens and the larger bottom shell closed over that.

Apparently the Super 620s advanced features were not matched by manufacturing quality and, in use, it proved unreliable, in addition to being Kodak's second most expensive camera at $225. This would compare to a Kodak Monitor 620 with no rangefinder and a slightly slower version of the same lens that sold for $48.25. So few Super 620s were made that when they do come up for auction, they come very dear. I've seen only one offered in my fairly regular eBay searches in the past five years and the final bid was over $3300.