Agfa Super Isolette $$$

[hilltime]

I have recently seen a number of Agfa Super Isolette's with the Solinar 75/3.5 lens going for some big bucks on Ebay. Am I missing the boat here about this
camera? Is it better or it's lens better than a Zeiss Super Ikonta IV or Voigtlander Perkeo with a Color Skopar? Not to mention the many Japanese rangefinders like Mamiyas with Olympus or Sekors, Konica Pearls with Hexars, or one of my favorites, Minesix Super 66 with an Asahi lens.
Has anyone ever compared lenses on these cameras as most are Tessar style
4 element 75/3.5 optics. Any favorites out there and is this Agfa seemingly worth twice what most of these others are or is this just a current anomaly?

Gary Hill

 

[charjohncarter]

The market place determines the price. I have 4 folders (6x6); one of them is dead. But I have had to pay either to have them repaired or bought one for the going price. If you want one for the self or to use it is the question. Personally, I'm not that hot on 35mm (vacations only) so I have my folders for everything else, and I could not be happier. They are portable, totally mechanical and the Agfas are all X synced. So buy it and don't think about the price. This is my granddaughter; taken with an Agfa Isolette II fitted with I think a Medis rangefinder, wide open:

 

[ZeissFan]

That's a "Skopar" -- not a "scopar."

I would never pay more than $150 for any Agfa folder. They're nice cameras but in no way are they worth $500.

 

[graywolf]

A Super Isosette is not a Isosette. The Isosette was one of the cheapest folders out there with a real shutter which is why there are so many around, they must have sold two of them for every other folder sold. On the other hand, the Super Isosette was a top of the line camera and there are only a few other folders in its class.

Also rarity affects the price of collectibles, almost any folder with a coupled RF, a complex shutter, and a top line lens is going to be rare because they were pretty expensive and only sold in limited numbers. Even a "mint" Iskra with everything working is likely to sell in the $400 range today, you would have to look long and hard to find one, and they tend to be the cheapest of the top of the line folding cameras.

Luckily for us users, the price goes down very quickly with less than pristine looking cameras. Which has always been strange in my view, because cosmetic restoration has always been way cheaper to do, than mechanical restoration.

 

[P C Headland]

My favourite, at least in terms of absolute build and lens quality, is the Certo Six with unit focused f2.8 80mm Tessar. Its lens is a little better than the Iskra I and II, as well as being a fraction faster. The Super Fujica-6 lens (unit focussed 75mm f3.5 Fujinar) is not too bad either.

My favourite to use remains the Iskra though, as I prefer its control layout and viewfinder over the Certo.

 

[jnoir]

Super Isolettes were made for just 3 or 4 years (compare that to the various models of Isolette made for 15 or 20 years, or with the Agfa 66 made for just about one year with about 5000 pieces).

i and most anyone else would pay $150 all day every day for an Agfa Super Isolette, apart from them being superior to the Super Ikonta we could turn around and sell them for $400, 5 minutes later

Exactly why I'm keeping four of them (not in 5 minutes but after a good CLA) and only have one Super Ikonta (well, two actually, one for 6x6 and another for 6x4.5) 😀 However, I like three-elements lenses best (except maybe my Bessa's Heliar which is gorgeous)