How Good Is the Igfa Isolette Agnar?

[Steve M.]

I'm in the process of selling my high end MF gear and want a simple, cheap folder for fooling around with. In the past I've owned Isolette and Speedex cameras w/ the Apotar and Solinar lenses and they were great, but the humble Agnar models are available plenty cheap. Is anyone shooting one? I was wondering if stopped down this wouldn't be a good lens.

 

[ZorkiKat]

I would say that the Agnar is as good as any triplet could be. The larger 6x6 negative hardly gets to be enlarged very much anyway to see how bad (or good) it is.

It rarely gets to be used at max f/4.5 too, at least in my case. The scale-focusing system it uses does not encourage the use of big f/stops for obvious reasons. It's almost always at f/8 or f/11, where the focus quality of this lens is at its best. Nothing to worry about at f/16-22.

The slightly 'oversized' lens (85mm) gets to have only its sweeter parts on the negative, and the poorer outer areas effectively out of the frame.

One chief merit of the folding Jsolette is its compact size. Folded, it can easily slip into the bag or even a big pants or coat pocket. The three speed AGC shutter of the Jsolette V (25, 50, 175) can be fairly limiting, but for quick and grab shots, they can be quite sufficient.

Here are two examples, the first one was even shot at its minimum focus and at f/4.5:

 

[ZorkiKat]

I think this one was at f/16. Contre-jour, the lens still did OK.

 

[charjohncarter]

A little craziness at wide open is sometime useful. I have two Apotars and I would like a little something at wide open that they don't provide. I'm not sure if you will get this from an Agnar, but I bought a First Six just because I thought the lens would be, well let's say, in casual disarray, so I would not have that tack sharp everywhere look. Get it and if you don't like it find an Apotar. Here is my First Six not quit wide open f5.6?:

 

[charjohncarter]

Also, here is Flickr's Agnar search:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=agnar&m=text

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I was wondering if stopped down this wouldn't be a good lens.

Yes - you are quite right!

 

[MV72]

This is what you can get :

 

[oftheherd]

Never had any Agfa camera, other than a 9x12 which I have yet to put though its paces. But common 'net wisdom says the Agnar is a usable but inferior lens.

Zorkikat's images are very nice, but at least on my monitor at work, don't look sharp.

But as someone said above, try it and if you don't like it, get something else. An agfa with a better lens, or another brand with a better lens.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Thanks for the comments. I just pulled out the Jsolette from the cabinet and will shoot more with it. 🙂

The scans I posted are I think at 600X600 or so.

 

[Roger Hicks]

It's a modestly priced triplet and behaves exactly as you would expect a modestly priced triplet to behave, i.e. it's surprisingly good at small apertures. At full aperture... well, it takes pictures, and at the risk of receiving hate mail from Holga owners, I know which I'd rather have.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Steve M.]

Sounds like the Agnar is the Novar of the Speedex/Agfa line. The pics posted here look fine to me. Can't find any First Six cameras on the auctions, although the photo from one looks nice here.

I now begin the search for an Isolette w/ a sound bellows and unfrozen lens. Might take a while 🙂

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

It's a modestly priced triplet and behaves exactly as you would expect a modestly priced triplet to behave, i.e. it's surprisingly good at small apertures. At full aperture... well, it takes pictures, and at the risk of receiving hate mail from Holga owners, I know which I'd rather have.

Cheers,

R.

Roger - did I ever tell you about my exeptional LUBITEL?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Roger - did I ever tell you about my exceptional LUBITEL?

Dear Dave,

No, but all the ones I've tried have been far better than they have any right to be.

Cheers,

R.

 

[ZorkiKat]

It's a modestly priced triplet and behaves exactly as you would expect a modestly priced triplet to behave, i.e. it's surprisingly good at small apertures. At full aperture... well, it takes pictures, and at the risk of receiving hate mail from Holga owners, I know which I'd rather have.

Cheers,

R.

Roger, I had hoped, and counted, that my Agfa Jsolette with the Agnar combo would create a messy job like the Holga. But it didn't. The Agfa Click plastic box camera can almost do the Holga's bits, but it still is too good to do as bad. 😀

Here is my JsoletteV with Agnar. Converted to an RF camera by adding a Smena shoe-mounted rangefinder (originally meant to be on a Smena 1 or 2) of the same vintage. It helps for those critical close up focusing at f/4,5. But the business of focusing through the RF, then reading the scale,
followed by transferring the read value to the lens focus scale CAN be messy, clumsy, and awkward.

The added RF does not give much benefit. The fuss makes it obvious that going scale focusing is the better and faster way to go with this Jsolette. Come to think of it, the RF-equipped Agfa Jsolettes don't have their RFs coupled to the lens anyway. Or were there any which were?

 

[chris00nj]

Sounds like the Agnar is the Novar of the Speedex/Agfa line. The pics posted here look fine to me. Can't find any First Six cameras on the auctions, although the photo from one looks nice here.

I now begin the search for an Isolette w/ a sound bellows and unfrozen lens. Might take a while 🙂

Agfa had two lenses with 3 elements, the Agnar and the Apotar, of which the Apotar is supposedly better. I've wondered what the difference is, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer.

You might want to purchase your Isolette from Dennis at Workmans Photography: http://www.etsy.com/shop/cameraoldies

I bought new bellows from him for my Ansco Speedex B2 (which is similar to an early Isolette). He has several Isolettes with new bellows for under $100.