Agfa's millimetres!

[seany65]

Hello all.

Does anyone know if the size of millimetres has changed over the years or if Agfa weren't very good at measuring millimetres?

I recently bought an Agfa Super Solinette and the pdf manual (which I got from butkuss) says 'the diameter of the front lens mount is 30mm', so I bought a 30mm sky filter and 30mm lens hood and both are a little bit too big.

I tried a 28mm filter on the super solinette and it won't screw in. I think the thread pitch is too coarse, but I wouldn't know.

I've just bought an Agfa Ambi Silette and the manual says 'all lenses have the same 37mm outside diameter front cell'.

I tried a 37mm skylight filter and it's marginally too big.

And yet bothe Agfa UV filter and Agfa Yellow filter both have '37mm' on them. I should point out that the Yellow filter is a 'push-on' type.

Aarrgghh!:bang:

Does anyone know the actual thread sizes I should be looking at?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Scrambler]

Sorry I can't help but I can assure you it isn't Agfa. The Retina 32mm filters interchange with Retina 28.5 filters. It is inside and outside measurements. But they never tell you which they are using.

 

[seany65]

I see.

So someone has been messing about and changing the millimetres without telling anyone, eh?

The devious little gits.

On the other hand, it could just be that inflation is to blame...

 

[wes loder]

The slip-on 37mm hood hood I bought for my Tenax II fits perfectly on my Ambi Silette, as does the 37mm slip-on lens caps.

 

[Dwig]

...
I recently bought an Agfa Super Solinette and the pdf manual (which I got from butkuss) says 'the diameter of the front lens mount is 30mm', so I bought a 30mm sky filter and 30mm lens hood and both are a little bit too big. ...

The "30mm" is likely the outside diameter and the Agfa filters are likely slip-on.

I've just bought an Agfa Ambi Silette and the manual says 'all lenses have the same 37mm outside diameter front cell'.
...

This clearly indicate "outside diameter" so it is not a size for screw-in filters, but instead for slip-on filters.

The modern standardized screw-in filter sizes didn't become common until the early 1960s. Outside fitting slip-on filters were very common prior to that. There were many "non-standard" screw-in Series adapters marketed back then, and they were often marked for specific cameras as the thread diameter vs. thread pitch combinations were non-standard.

 

[wes loder]

35.5mm filters screw on perfectly on the Ambi Silette. The outside diameter is 37mm slip-on. Hope that helps. WES

 

[seany65]

@Dwig and Wes Loder: Thanks for the new replies and the info.

I think part of my problem was having different Agfa cameras to buy bits for and making my two braincells struggle a bit.😱

I'm keeping the Super Solinette and it's sorted for hoods and filters, but I didn't keep that Ambi-Silette as the shutter stopped working, and a replacement I got also had shutter trouble, and I've read too many ebay descriptions mentioning trouble with shutters, so I'm probably not going to bother with them any more, which is a shame.

 

[Robert Lai]

For those who are not familiar with the push on filters, there are little slits cut out around the circumference of the part of the filter that fits on the lens. This allows you to fine tune the fit to your lens. If you want the filter to hold tighter, then push the tabs inwards. I do this by rolling the filter mounting rim on a pad of paper, while applying pressure. If you overdo it, or want it looser, then use your finger to gently pull the tabs apart somewhat.

 

[johnf04]

@Dwig and Wes Loder: Thanks for the new replies and the info.

I think part of my problem was having different Agfa cameras to buy bits for and making my two braincells struggle a bit.😱

I'm keeping the Super Solinette and it's sorted for hoods and filters, but I didn't keep that Ambi-Silette as the shutter stopped working, and a replacement I got also had shutter trouble, and I've read too many ebay descriptions mentioning trouble with shutters, so I'm probably not going to bother with them any more, which is a shame.

Chris Sherlock overhauled the shutter on my Ambi Silette.

 

[seany65]

@Robert: I use two versions of a slightly more 'suicidal' method, lol.

1) I use the end edge of a metal ruler to push down on the short flanges that are at a right-angle to the glass. I do this as gently as I can on each flange in turn to slowly get the filter to fit

2) I use the flat of the metal ruler on the long pairs flanges that are parallel to the glass. With this method I press on each pair of flanges at once in turn to slowly get it to fit.

@john04: Thanks for the link. I think I remember seeing the link when I owned one of my Ambi's, but I decided not send it to Him as He's in NZ (I presume, as He wants payment in NZ dollars) and I can't be arsed sending an Ambi Silette from Britain to NZ and back. I think the postage would also be far too much to consider worth while.