I Think I got a bargain

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I was strolling through town yesterday when I decided to pop in to the local charity shop. normally they only have a few tacky plastic cameras, but on this occasion I could see the very obvious shape of a Box Brownie and... A brown leather case. I quickly dumped my shopping and picked up the case. It proved to contain a camera made by Agfa called the Ambi Silette. My Dad had owned a Silette, but this was obviously a whole different kettle of fish. It had a 50mm Solinar lens, a rangefinder, and a strange cover over the viewfinder/rangefinder. A quick look showed a clean fungus free lens and good condition to the rest apart from some brassing to the cover. A switch at the top showed 50-35-90, and flicking this changed framelines in the viewfinder. Interchangeable lenses then? Yep ure enough, a little lever on the front allowed the lens to be removed. Wow I thought this is pretty good. Viewfinder was really bright and clear, and felt huge compared to my III. The shutter looked clean, iris opened and shutter and the speeds seemed ok to my ear, so I paid the purchase price of... £3 or approx 6$ Not bad eh? I then checked on the net, and Stephen Gandy has a page on it calling the 'The Poor Man's Leica. Other reviewers said much the same thing. I decided to try it out today so I loaded it with film and took a few shots. It's not quite the joy to use as my III and felt a bit awkward in comparison, but it did have that solid all-metal feel to it. The viewfinder felt like an ocean compared to the III, and was really the standout feature. Anyway that's about it for this mini report, but I'm really chuffed to have picked up a really well featured and apparently useable camera for the price of a toy one. I'll post pics when I can.

regards to all

Andy

ps Anyone got the 35mm lens for this little beaut??
 
Cool, nice find. I've found nice cameras at car boot sales (and a LOT of junk too) but not found bargains at charity shops ..... yet :)
 
Thanks guys. Was wandering about the streets of Truro yesterday and took some pictures. Some of the controls are a bit fiddly, but shutter is quiet and sweet.

We'll see what comes out the other side. :)
 
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