1966 Agfa Isoflash Rapid C

For the month of June, I carried around my 1966 Agfa Isoflash Rapid C. I found this camera at Goodwill for $2.99 and it came with a case AND two rapid cartridges. In the store, I didn't think the camera worked because I couldn't get the shutter to fire. But I read that you need to have film loaded in the camera for it to engage the shutter mechanism and that proved to be true. The camera came with its original battery but I replaced it with four small batteries (taped together with electrical tape) to fire the flash cube.


This camera is what is referred to as a simple camera. The only really adjustment available to the user is a sliding switch to select whether it's "sunny" or "cloudy". Outside of that, you frame up your subject and snap away!

You can load regular 35mm film into the rapid cartridges. In a dark room, I reel off two feet of film and gently feed it into the canister. This will give you the right amount to shoot 16 square pictures. That's right--the pictures are square.

For a good tutorial on loading rapid cartridges, I recommend THIS page over at Lomography's website.

This camera is small and inconspicuous which makes it easy to carry around and use without much fuss. I shot 16 pics in color (on expired Kodak Color 400 bulk film) and 16 pics in black and white (on expired Kodak Tri-X bulk film from the late 70's).

Here are the results:

Next month's camera: 1950's Agfa Solinette