KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Anyone have one of these? I came across one in my closet -- can't remember getting it, which is embarrassing. Seems like a nice little camera -- compact, classic late-50s Agfa body shape; coupled (!) selenium meter that seems pretty accurate; Prontor SLK shutter and Color-Solinar lens (Tessar design as I recall). Scale focusing (front cell). Smart sage green case, with one of those short pocketbook straps, which seem rather impractical. Speeds below 1/15th are slow or inoperative, as is the selftimer. No big loss.
Interested in others' impressions. Agfas never seem to be much in the conversation, but they're solid cameras. Kind of the German camera equivalent of Opel autos, for which I've always had a soft place in my heart.
Interested in others' impressions. Agfas never seem to be much in the conversation, but they're solid cameras. Kind of the German camera equivalent of Opel autos, for which I've always had a soft place in my heart.
markjwyatt
Well-known
I have an Agfa Super Silette L. It has the same lens, but a Synchro-Compur shutter. I have heard a lot of good things about Agfa rangefinders, so when I got the opportunity to buy this at a very reasonable price, I did. I have not tried it yet. Everything seems to work. Not sure how clean the lens is. I have also seen some evidence that these lenses have a radioactive element, but not sure.
That reminds me of the labeling on a car I saw years ago - It said it was a "Buick Opel by Isuzu". Hmmm
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Haha! I had totally forgotten about those! Yes, Opels were sold in the US at Buick dealers; GM owned Opel. At some point they stopped importing Opels to the US but kept the brand going here by passing off Isuzus, also owned by GM. as Opels. One might compare an Opel Isuzu to a Leica made by Minolta, but that does a disservice to Minolta I think. (And I doubt Leica fans think of an Opel when they compare their camera to a German automobile brand....)
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Update: Because I can't leave well enough alone, I tried carefully introducing lighter fluid into the shutter mechanism to see if that would free up the selftimer and/or slow speeds. After a while, it did -- yippee! But then (and you probably know what's coming) the lighter fluid propogated onto the shutter leaves, and the shutter started acting wonky and eventually froze up. The shutter leaves got stuck together, probably because of crud migrating from the shutter. So, dead camera.
After kicking myself a bit, I knew that I had to get at the shutter leaves to free them up. Step one, loosen the three tiny set screws holding the focus ring in place. Focus ring lifts off when they're sufficiently loosened (maybe 1 1/2 turns). Step two, remove the front element (unscrews; I made a note of the infinity position and how many turns it took to remove it). Step 3, remove lock ring holding the second element in place (pin spanner). The second element then comes right out; I had to be very careful to make sure I did not reverse the element. (Rear surface, facing the shutter, has a deeper curve (i.e. smaller radius); easy enough to tell them apart).
The shutter leaves needed to get "unstuck." What I have done in the past is insert thin pieces of paper under the shutter leaves to try and scrape off the debris keeping the shutter from working. I've found the shutter will trip all by itself when touched like this. So I did this for a bit, trying to get at every place where the leaves overlap, and used a cotton bud to clean up any residue from the leaves. Once this was done, the shutter and selftimer work -- all speeds accurate. (I realize the right way to do this is dismantle and clean the shutter, but that is beyond my capabilities. Experts reading this, please be kind. )
I reinstalled the second element (cleaned a spot of fungus off the back surface) and reinstalled the lockring. Reinstalled the front element, knowing full well that even though I tried to keep track of how many turns it took to reinstall it to its original position, I would likely need to adjust it. So it was -- removed the focus ring and using a groundglass (waist level Exakta finder) and cable release to keep the shutter open, determined that infinity was off. In my defense, I think it was off to begin with. Much squinting and trying slightly different positions of the front element. I think it's pretty good now, though the proof of the repairing will be in the viewing of the negatives. But I know what to do to fine tune it should it need it.
So at least the shutter is fully working, with the understanding that it may require further cleaning in the future. And hopefully the results will be sharp. I have some expired Walgreens (Fuji) 400 in it now and look forward to the results.
After kicking myself a bit, I knew that I had to get at the shutter leaves to free them up. Step one, loosen the three tiny set screws holding the focus ring in place. Focus ring lifts off when they're sufficiently loosened (maybe 1 1/2 turns). Step two, remove the front element (unscrews; I made a note of the infinity position and how many turns it took to remove it). Step 3, remove lock ring holding the second element in place (pin spanner). The second element then comes right out; I had to be very careful to make sure I did not reverse the element. (Rear surface, facing the shutter, has a deeper curve (i.e. smaller radius); easy enough to tell them apart).
The shutter leaves needed to get "unstuck." What I have done in the past is insert thin pieces of paper under the shutter leaves to try and scrape off the debris keeping the shutter from working. I've found the shutter will trip all by itself when touched like this. So I did this for a bit, trying to get at every place where the leaves overlap, and used a cotton bud to clean up any residue from the leaves. Once this was done, the shutter and selftimer work -- all speeds accurate. (I realize the right way to do this is dismantle and clean the shutter, but that is beyond my capabilities. Experts reading this, please be kind.
)I reinstalled the second element (cleaned a spot of fungus off the back surface) and reinstalled the lockring. Reinstalled the front element, knowing full well that even though I tried to keep track of how many turns it took to reinstall it to its original position, I would likely need to adjust it. So it was -- removed the focus ring and using a groundglass (waist level Exakta finder) and cable release to keep the shutter open, determined that infinity was off. In my defense, I think it was off to begin with. Much squinting and trying slightly different positions of the front element. I think it's pretty good now, though the proof of the repairing will be in the viewing of the negatives. But I know what to do to fine tune it should it need it.
So at least the shutter is fully working, with the understanding that it may require further cleaning in the future. And hopefully the results will be sharp. I have some expired Walgreens (Fuji) 400 in it now and look forward to the results.
JeffS7444
Well-known
That looks like a step above the automatic-only Agfa Optima 1 that I serviced awhile ago: As cameras go, it was a pretty simple job and camera looked to be a good quality moderately priced thing. 1950s German fixed-lens 35mm cameras of this sort haven't become trendy, so it's still possible to get a bargain. Watch for metal trim pieces (barely) held in place by brittle cement.