Repairing these projectors doesn’t take rocket science, but it does take a good mechanical aptitude. The parts that commonly fail are still available through www.Micro-Tools.com/kodak. Figure that parts will cost you around $25 where a repair by a professional will cost around $125 plus shipping. Micro-Tools even offers the repair guide for the 1964-1981 series of projectors as a free download. They also have many of Kodak’s factory service manuals free to download.
Our first choice would be either the 750H, 760H, 850H or 860H (not the “Custom” models). These projectors will hold up longer, as their housing/case is metal. These also use the ELH lamp that is readily available and not too expensive. Please note that the model number MUST have an “H” in it. This series of projectors use the 300-watt ELH lamp instead of the predecessor (Non “H”) using the 500-watt DEK lamp. The 500-watt lamp took a lot more air to cool it, so the fan had to run faster, therefore “H” stands for “hush” as these projectors with the 300-watt lamps are quieter due to less fan noise.
Our second choice would be one of the 4400, 4600, 5200, 5400 or 5600. Yes, these are newer than our first choice, but their main cases/housing are made of plastic. This makes them not as robust as the “H” series of projectors. If you get one of the earliest versions of these, they had a lamp module that was a safety/burn hazard. If the door for the lamp module stays attached to the projector when the module is removed, the lamp module needs to be replaced with the newer series of module. People were burning themselves when removing the module. The Medalist AF model is essentially the same as the 4600, The Medalist I model is essentially the same as the 5200 and the Medalist II is essentially the same as the 5600.
Here is a chart of the projectors we recommend and their features.
Model |
Remote |
Auto |
Timer |
Built In Screen |
Years |
750H* |
• |
|
|
|
1972-1981 |
760H* |
|
• |
|
|
1972-1981 |
850H |
• |
• |
• |
|
1972-1981 |
860H |
• |
• |
• |
|
1972-1981 |
4400 |
• |
|
|
|
1981-2004 |
4600/ |
|
• |
|
|
1981-2004 |
5200/ |
|
• |
|
• |
1981-2004 |
5400 |
|
• |
• |
• |
1981-2004 |
5600*/ |
• |
• |
• |
• |
1981-2004 |
* Our Favorites
Some thoughts to help you in your search:
Each model of projector went through many changes over its production life. Unlike cars, there isn’t necessarily a desired model year for each model of projector. Some examples of the changes; the “H” series of projectors started out with metal main housings and at the end of their production life, were plastic. The early “H” series had a removable/losable power cord, where the later models had an attached power cord. The 4XXX and 5XXX series started out with a lamp module door that was attached to the projector and soon after, changed to a door that was attached to the lamp module. The 4XXX and 5XXX series went through changes to the panel where the controls are located, and colors of the plastic used for the main housing.
If you would like to know how to tell when a projector was made, you need to know it’s CAMEROSITY code.
The CAMEROSITY code is a letter system for identifying the manufacture date of Kodak products, including slide projectors. Knowing the manufacture date helps to identify what modifications a projector might have and can help in repairing it.
Older projectors from the 1960’s and 1970’s had 6-letter codes, while later projectors use a 4-letter code.
The CAMEROSITY code can be located in one of three places: 1) on a silver label inside the cord storage compartment door on older products, 2) on a silver label on the lamp compartment door, or 3) pressed into the plastic of the cord wrap located on the bottom of the projector on later models. The letters are small so you may have to look closely to see it.
The most important letters are the last two, which designate the year the projector was manufactured. The first two letters indicate the month. For a while, Kodak operated on a schedule with 13 periods in a year instead of 12 months in a year. In that case, the first two letters indicate the period, so don’t be surprised if you see a 13 for the month. If there are six letters, the middle two indicate the day as in mm/dd/yy.
Use this table to decode the letters: |
||||
C A M E R O S I T Y |
||||
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 |
||||
Examples: |
||||
CAMEROSITY |
= |
mm/dd/yy |
= |
TRANSLATION |
YMARSA |
= |
032576 |
= |
25-Mar-72 |
CAMEROSITY |
= |
mm/yy |
= |
TRANSLATION |
CMIT |
= |
1389 |
= |
Period 13, 1989 |
YATM |
= |
0293 |
= |
February, 1993 |
YMYY |
= |
0300 |
= |
March, 2000 |
CCYE |
= |
1104 |
= |
November, 2004 |