Agfa Paramat, comparable to Pen EE?

[berci]

Is the Agfa Paramat comparable to any of the Pen cameras?
Is it worth buying?

I don't have a half frame yet but have fallen in love with the idea of the format.

Hard to decide, it could be one Paramat AND an EE3 or an F.

Is the F big comparing to the other two?

Decisions decisions...

 

[delible]

<<original post deleted because I confused the Paramat with the Optima Parat. Sorry.>>

 

[Crazy Fedya]

I think Agfa Paramat has only 1 shutter speed: 1/125. Agfa Parat has more. Please look here:

http://www.subclub.org/shop/agfa.htm

 

[Greyscale]

The Optima-Parat is the top of the Agfa half-frame line, and is a pretty little thing. I think that the other Parats all have the Apotar lens rather than the Solinar.

http://flic.kr/p/ki8gHi

 

[Red Robin]

Pen EE s and Minolta Repo (reporter)

Pen EE s and Minolta Repo (reporter)

I use and enjoy both of these little 1/2 frame gems . As small as an XA without the A-11. A roll of 36 exposure film lasts a long time. There are others, but these two are the ones I use.

 

[02Pilot]

I just got my father's old Paramat (discovered in a cabinet). I used to have a PEN EES-2, so I can offer a few points of comparison. The PEN is a heavier metal-bodied camera, while the Paramat is plastic; still solid, but a very different feeling in use. The shutter release on the PEN is much nicer; the Agfa's front-mounted button is heavy and not smooth. The PEN has a four-element lens, while the Paramat's is a triplet; the coatings on the Paramat appear more modern.

Comparing photos from the two, I find I prefer the look of the Paramat. Colors are a bit more saturated, but it's a marginal difference. The PEN produces a little more edge-to-edge sharpness, but again it's not a big gap between them.

Overall both are quite capable of producing nice photos, as long as the selenium cell that powers the meter still works. If it doesn't, the camera is pretty much non-functional, so check it before buying.

 

[OlympusRF]

If you can, go to the PEN F, it's a much better camera, but bigger. But I do love the PEN EE, I have almost all the Olympus half-frame cameras. The photo below shows the PEN W on top (almost the same size as the PEN EE3, just the lens is smaller) and the PEN FT on bottom for you to compare.

Olympus Pen black half-frame cameras - PEN FT & EF & W -6346 by THE OLYMPUS CAMERAS COLLECTOR, on Flickr

Olympus Pen black half-frame cameras - PEN FT & EF & W -6322 by THE OLYMPUS CAMERAS COLLECTOR, on Flickr