Got my ANSCO Back!

[wlewisiii]

A present in the mail today - my Ansco Speedex Special "R" back from getting a CLA and a new bellows from Jurgen Kreckel (http://www.certo6.com). Excellent job, reasonable price, and now I have a working MF RF, if uncoupled, that will fit in the backpocket of my blue jeans. No excuse not to have a camer anywhere at anytime for me anymore.

It's a bit of a slow lens at f4.5, but 85mm of Apotar triplet (b, 1 - 1/300th on the Prontor-SV shutter) against a 6x6cm negative should still be a whole lotta fun. Time to see if I can get the little guy to not notice me in the background for awhile... 🙂

William

 

[Rob]

Hope you can post some shots with it. I just finished restoring
2 Agfa Isolette II models with Apotar lenses. I took a model III
and used the parts (bellows, shutter, lens, film rails) to make
one of them. I have not shot with them yet, so will be interesting
to see your shots!
Rob

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Congrats, William. I'd love to see the camera and some shots from it. I want to send my Super Ikonta to Jurgen -- just have a hard time parting with it! Good to read that you're pleased with his work.

D2

 

[wlewisiii]

Well, I can vouch for his work. It's smooth as new and the bellows looks beautiful. Well worth every penny. His work makes buying a near dead ebay camera worth it.

I'll try to get something scanned as soon as I can. I think I pretty well blew this roll though - that uncoupled rangefinder takes some getting used to! 🙂

William

 

[Doug]

William, sounds like you'll be having a lot of fun with that... looking foreward to seeing some pics! certo6 is to me an attractive seller primarily because of the refurbishing.

 

[Solinar]

Congrats on getting the Speedex Special "R" back in working order. Tri-X and Microdol X are a match made in heaven for this gem.

If you are searching for filters or a lens hood check with an a ebuy seller named mvloon from time to time. His name is Martin. I just bought an Agfa Isoly III from him for 99 cents plus 9 bucks for shipping.

The Isoly III is a Holga predecessor with a 3 element Apotar lens mounted within a four speed Pronto shutter. I call it a Holga predecessor as it has a plastic body and produces 4x4 exposures on 120 film.

My friends with Nikon D70's are going to razz me to no end, but what the heck, I'm having fun.

 

[wblanchard]

What a great camera. I'm still looking for the B2 (Black) one from the 40's.

 

[jdos2]

Caution about Jergen. Not everyone has a good experience with him. Glad you did have a good one!

 

[Solinar]

J.D.

The sole example of Jurgen Kreckel's work that I have seen was reasonably competent. This was on an Agfa Isolette III that he CLA'd two years previous to my inspection. Except for a slightly out of adjustment RF dial, the camera was still good to go.

Could you be more specific with a specific complaint?

The "hearsay" that I got is that he doesn't alway divulge details such as cleaning marks on lens coatings.

Also, I've noticed that more than a few of his offerings contain swapped parts, such as a Compur Rapid shutter and older version of a Solinar from a Billy Record II that was fitted to an Agfa Record III. I always feel it is best to divulge this type of info in the ad, but this doesn't seem to happen very often on that large auction site.

In his defence, he has probably been on the whole a great asset it bringing back to life more cameras than I personally would like to deal with and probably made a lot more people happy than not.

Also, the case can be made that one may need to take two flawed cameras to make one that is a decent shooter. My own Agfa Record III is one such camera. It has the bellows and Synchro-Compur shutter from a Franka Rolfix II, both of which were toast on the camera when I received it.

 

[Rob]

Also, the case can be made that one may need to take two flawed cameras to make one that is a decent shooter.

I had to do that to one of my Isolettes a couple weeks ago.
The camera I got was missing too many parts to make work
so I put those Isolette III parts on a Jsolette..
Jurgen has sure brought a lot of these cameras back to life
and will also sell you seperate shutters, lenses and bellows
if you want to fix your own. I am glad he is there if I need him.

 

[FallisPhoto]

I just made one good camera out of two also.

I bought an Ansco Speedex Special R on the big auction site a few weeks ago and, of course, found that the bellows needed replacing. I bought a low end Nettar (Novar lens, Vario shutter, but good bellows) for $15. It was sheer hell getting the bellows out intact, but I found that the bellows from a 6x6 Nettar WILL fit into an Ansco Speedex Special R. Has anyone tried this with an Agfa Isolette III?