'my personal peak of slowness so far" - or 'agfa silette'

[maxmuenster]

my grandparents recently found their old camera again - it seems to be an agfa silette II, accroding to the imprint on the lens (color-agnar 45/2.8) - i cant seem to find any info on this specific model, but i assume it's one of the many versions that only vary in detail.

anyway, the camera is a really mint condition - the plastic in the filmchamber is glossy as on the first day ... so i decided to try if that camera from the 1950 would still work: the shutter needed some release to get to new live, but it seems it still runs the speeds correctly.

to get really vintage i worked with a metraphot 3 exposure meter - its from an even older, out of function zeiss ikonta of my dad's grandparents. the values seemed reasonable when i compared it to the matrixmetering of my fuji s5 - so i was ready to go.

having no other film at hand at that moment, i loaded a roll of superia 200 - which i realized was way too fast for a camera that only runs bulb, 30, 60 and 125-exposure times.

that showed the second problem - small apertures lead to significant amounts of sharpness - the third problem, the "focusing" was probably the biggest one ... scale focusing is something i would have to become familiar and comfortable with ...

anyway, it was great experience shooting so old stuff - what freaked me out most is the near-silent shutter and the extrem slow-down in photography -
im a digital kid (19 years old) , i started photography with a canon t70 (4 fun) 2.5 years ago, then learned the basics with a nikon d70s( 1 year) and now use a fuji s5 pro for 1.5 years - i started going the analog sideway a year ago with the canon t70 again ... with a semiautomatic, manual focus camera photography seemed so much slower to me, but gave me 10 times better results ( i mostly shoot slidefim) ... now i have a bessa r2a (bought on this forum, thx toni) lying next to me, waiting for a ultron 1.7 ...
but the silette is the peak of slowness so far - and it was great.

the pics below are from a trip to the local bank to transfer the money for the bessa.


regards,
max


edit: ah yeah, pics are scans from the 10x15cm prints from the local discount market - cheapest paper to save money in the case of total exposure mayhem ~ was not the case fortunately

 

[jnoir]

Congratulations! You have a capable camera.

Agnar lenses are triplets. Color-Agnar (which first appeared by the end of the 50's last century) are also triplets, with better correction for color negatives (more and more popular by then)

I had my first camera (an Agfa Isolette III) when I was about 17. Not ten years later, I use one folder everyday, carrying it with me everywhere. I own nearly 100 cameras with just one being digital.

I use hyperfocal and sunny-16 rules. Maybe you can start from there, it will probably speed up preparation and allow you to focus on composition rather than on using a particular camera.

 

[maxmuenster]

yepp - that whole hyperfocalthingy is definetely on my "have-a-thorough-look-at"-list.
i wonder what would happen if i tried to get a roll of slides through the silette - but that migth turn out a little bit expensive ...

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Max,

I particularly like the pink flowers shot. For REALLY slow operation, though, try to get hold of an Exakta: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps collect varex.html

You might find the following useful on zone/scale focusing, too: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps how zone focus.html

Cheers,

R.

 

[Muggins]

I used to have a Silette with an Agnar, and I found that it gave very soft, muted colour rendition - it looked a little like 1950s Kodachromes, which I thought was rather nice.

I like your light meter with it - I have a Kodalux (mainly because I like strange bits of odd kit. In practical terms, it's nearly useless!).

Adrian

 

[maxmuenster]

oh yeah - thx for the second link, roger. exactly what i was searching for!

regards,
max