Agfa Karat

[dominicLF]

Are all Agfa Karats 6x6?

I just acquired a beautiful Schneider "Karat-Xenar" 50/2.8 in an equally beautiful Compur shutter. It is such a nice looking lens that, I am very tempted to buy a camera to put it on but I have never seen a Karat and don't know much about them.

Does anyone have a Karat with a bad lens/shutter that they want to sell cheap?

What do you think? Is this lens as good as it looks?

 

[wlewisiii]

The Agfa Karats are 35mm cameras. The lenses are nice and it's a very sweet little camera but I really doubt that the lens could cover a 6x6 format. I can see, though, how you could think this was a MF/LF camera lens if it had been taken off of one.

Since it's a Compur shutter, IIUC, it's probably from a Karat 36 (1/500th) as the last model after it, the Karat IV, had a Prontor-SVS that tops out at 1/300th. If you really want to use this lens and shutter, I'd suggest haunting ebay for a Karat 36 with a bad lens or bad shutter.

The Karats are really nice little pocket cameras. I really love my Karat 36.

Resources:
http://www.cameraquest.com/agfakar4.htm
http://www.karat-kameras.de/ (great if you read German, bablefishes really quite well if you don't)

Hope this helps,

William

 

[dominicLF]

Thanks a lot, William! It all makes sense now. It seems a lot less interesting as a 35mm lens. C'est la vie. Maybe if I find a cheap one, I'll give it a try.

Thanks again, William. This list is so great.

 

[wlewisiii]

If you decide you don't want it, let me know. I'd be interested in having it as spare parts for my Karat 36 (Solinar 50/2.8).

William