literiter
Well-known
I've had nothing but various Super Ikontas and a Certo 6 for medium format folding cameras. There are certainly other cameras that could do better, (perhaps the alleged Fuji folder camera) but I don't own any.
A Super Ikonta B (the later with the coated Opton lens) or Super Ikonta III or IV would be a good choice, in my experience, provided they have all the bugs taken out prior to any adventures. A good lens hood is imperative.
The lenses may be a little soft wide open, there is no parallax compensation, things like lens hoods and filters are tricky, focus is not really easy and they aren't great for snapshots.
A Super Ikonta B (the later with the coated Opton lens) or Super Ikonta III or IV would be a good choice, in my experience, provided they have all the bugs taken out prior to any adventures. A good lens hood is imperative.
The lenses may be a little soft wide open, there is no parallax compensation, things like lens hoods and filters are tricky, focus is not really easy and they aren't great for snapshots.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
Want to sell it?
chippy
foo was here
gdi
Veteran
Chippy, I would like to try a Solinar lens instead of the Apotar sometime. I still haven't printed any Isolette shots, but I think they will do fine - if the subject is kept within the limits as you suggest.
Here is an shot I took today in the bright sun - good because I can stop it down a lot!
vdonovan
Vince Donovan
Now that I've done all the work on it?
No way!
oftheherd
Veteran
Wouldn't buy another folder or wouldn't buy another Ansco Speedex Special?
So far I have been pretty lucky getting what I expected out of folders from the 'bay. Of course, maybe that is it, lucky.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
hehe ..i was waiting for that
Well, the stuff he seems to be complaining about is pretty much par for the course with Agfas. I know how to unstick the focus and the rangefinder, I can tighten up the struts and I have a set of 6x6 bellows waiting for something to be installed in, so if he doesn't like his Speedex Special R, and if he'll make me a deal that reflects that, I'd be perfectly willing to take it off his hands.
vdonovan
Vince Donovan
No, I LOVE the Speedie. My only gripe is that the folks who sold it listed it as "mint". It did indeed look almost new (the case really does look new) but it was unusable due to the stuck focus ring and bellows pinholes. Buyer beware, of course, but I find it hard to judge what I'm bidding on when the seller probably doesn't know much about the camera and what might be wrong with it. I'd rather buy from a seller who understands these cameras and can give a more accurate description of condition.
chippy
foo was here
so did you fix it yourself Vince or did you send it out to be restored/serviced?
yeah well.. me and Fallis were talking about this ourselves just recently...that we fully expect (as many others do of course) these problems with the agfa/ansco's and Fallis as he mentions has no problem with fixing them, but I agree it is annoying that sellers neglect to mention things like this and thus misrepresenting the condition. For someone without the experiance with buying those cameras they just aren't aware and think they are getting something usable straight away so i can imagine the disappointment...other people may be somewhat aware of potential problems but take the seller at their word.....adds like that tend to push the price up too, which is a pain.
so depending on what you paid for it, whether you repair it yourself or send it out, can contribute to whether it was a bargin or expensive. I think the renovated CLA isolettes that sell on the bay through people you mention are going on for the $300 mark often...hopefully you get a good one! pretty hard for these guys to stuff an Isolette up, though it happens! i can vouch for it! if it is good and someone doesn't mind paying the price for someone elses time involved alls good eh.
forums such as this are good sources to gain some insight prior to purching a camera model, although if it happens to at auction at the same time as asking about it you run the risk of letting a whole bunch of other people know whats available at auction LOL
yeah well.. me and Fallis were talking about this ourselves just recently...that we fully expect (as many others do of course) these problems with the agfa/ansco's and Fallis as he mentions has no problem with fixing them, but I agree it is annoying that sellers neglect to mention things like this and thus misrepresenting the condition. For someone without the experiance with buying those cameras they just aren't aware and think they are getting something usable straight away so i can imagine the disappointment...other people may be somewhat aware of potential problems but take the seller at their word.....adds like that tend to push the price up too, which is a pain.
so depending on what you paid for it, whether you repair it yourself or send it out, can contribute to whether it was a bargin or expensive. I think the renovated CLA isolettes that sell on the bay through people you mention are going on for the $300 mark often...hopefully you get a good one! pretty hard for these guys to stuff an Isolette up, though it happens! i can vouch for it! if it is good and someone doesn't mind paying the price for someone elses time involved alls good eh.
forums such as this are good sources to gain some insight prior to purching a camera model, although if it happens to at auction at the same time as asking about it you run the risk of letting a whole bunch of other people know whats available at auction LOL
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FallisPhoto
Veteran
On ebay, "mint" usually just means it looks good. It doesn't mean it functions -- at all. "Excellent condition" usually means there isn't too much rust, and all of the leatherette will have to be replaced. "Operating condition" usually means the shutter speeds are no more than four stops off but as for appearance, well, someone has apparently given it to their pet bulldog as a chew toy. "Good condition" usually means only a few parts are missing (one will be the rear lens element) and it needs a new shutter. "Good condition for it's age" means the shutter is rusted out, the front lens element is missing along eith the rear lens element, the middle element is opaque with fungus, the bellows are like lace, and pretty much the only part of the camera that is usable, once you have patched it with Bondo, is the body. Any item description that contains the phrase "I don't know anything about cameras, but..." means it was run over by a truck, or maybe used for batting practice, at some point.
It is important to know what the most common problems are with any type of camera you are going to buy on ebay and to ask if it has them. If you don't ask, you can pretty much safely assume it has all of them. For example, ANY agfa you get on ebay is likely to have certain specific problems. Agfa used a type of grease that reacts with the brass threads, forms polymerase chains and hardens like plastic (just like plastic) over the years. They also used vinyl to cover their bellows. Well, vinyl will become brittle and start cracking after about 5 or 10 years, and these things are 50 years old. This means that you can pretty much count on the focus and rangefinder being frozen and it is almost a certainty that the bellows will need to be replaced.
It is just a fact of life that if you get an Agfa, then you are going to have to heat up the front and middle lens elements to soften the crud cementing them together, unscrew them from one another, pick all the crud out with a pin, scrub what's left out with a toothbrush, lube it and put it back together. Then you are going to have to recollimate the lens. Only then will you be able to focus the camera. You will have to do the same with the rangefinder, if it has one, because they used the same kind of grease there. Then you are going to have to replace the bellows (fortunately, Agfa made this part easy, at least on Isolettes/Speedexes and on some of the better Records; the unfortunate part is that 6x6 replacement bellows are getting very hard to find and you will probably have to have a set custom-made).
Like Andrew says, the renovated Isolettes selling on ebay usually go for around $300 (I'm not going to call them restored, because Isolettes never came with brown leather and blue bellows). However, if you do it yourself, and can find a set of new old stock bellows (or a Kodak 66 with bellows in good shape), you can fix it up like new for about $30 to $50.
This is a Speedex Special R with Kodak 66 bellows: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=72713
This is a plain old Isolette with generic "new old stock" 6x6 Kodak bellows: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=80533
Both solutions work fine, look good, and are a lot less expensive than having a bellows custom-made.
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FallisPhoto
Veteran
Maybe I'm more cynical than you are Andrew, but I always assume that an Agfa will have a frozen focus and need new bellows, unless specifically told otherwise. You see, as used on ebay, "mint" nearly always just means it looks good. That's why you sometimes get item descriptions like "Mint condition. Shutter nonfunctional. For display only." Now if the guy had told me it was "CLAd," or "serviced," and that it had new bellows and I got it like that, then I'd be pretty angry.
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Solinar
Analog Preferred
And a frozen RF dial if it is an Iso III or Record III. Agfa was a second tier manufacturer before the Second World War, that came on strong after the war. By the late 1950's they had pushed into a lot of niches, usually under pricing the more established competition. Corners were definitely cut with the bellows and hydro-chrome plating.
The beautiful side of both the Iso and Record IIIs is that if you put your mind to it, they are do-it-yourself repairable. Jurgan is self-taught and it was with Agfas he made a name for himself. Most anyone that's handy with a jeweler's screw driver and has a steady hand on the lens spanner can master bringing these simple folders back from dead.
I don't accept any eBay seller's claims while selling a folder at face value. Show me the goods. I show you things that need work on Voigtlanders and Zeiss Ikons as well.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
Yes, they are easy DIY projects. Even the shutters are not that difficult. Beats me how so many manage to mess them up. There was some guy here on the forum a while back though, who somehow managed to ruin THREE Apotar lenses trying to get the front and middle elements apart. I guess he had no patience.