1954 Agfa Solinette

This is the first camera I bought when getting back into analog photography. I liked the design, it looked clean, and it came with its original case so I snagged it off of Etsy. It's completely manual (no rangefinder, no light meter, no auto mode) so you have to figure out the correct settings--aperture, shutter speed, and distance from your subject. It's actually not as difficult as it sounds. Although I did underexpose quite a bit early on because I kept thinking "it sure is sunny and bright out here" so I would set the shutter speed to 300 out of fear.

There are other Solinettes on the internet but they are all folding cameras. I'm not 100% sure where this fits into the scheme of Agfa cameras but I believe it to be from the 1950's. (Update 9/19/17--recent research has revealed that this camera is from 1954.) This camera most resembles the Agfa Silette but has a Prontor-SVS shutter instead of a Vario. The Solinette also has a full compliment of shutter speeds (topping out at 300) whereas the Silette is restricted to four--B, 25, 50 and 200.

I had to make a couple of leather straps for the case when the original ones broke. I was carrying it around for awhile after the strap broke but got tired of doing that so I made my own straps. The camera itself doesn't have any strap lugs but the case isn't too cumbersome so it's not a problem to keep it in the case and remove the top when you're ready to shoot.

All pics were shot on Kodak T-Max 100 film. Developed in R5 Monobath. Scanned using an Epson V550 Scanner.

 

 

Next month's camera: Ansco Color Clipper

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

introduction

I knew it was a bad idea to count up the number of film cameras I own. I thought I had maybe 12 and had a great idea of using a single film camera each month for an entire year. As it turns out, I actually own 18 vintage film cameras. 

So I've decided to spend the next year and a half using these cameras and sharing my results here. I’m not setting any rules regarding film (black and white? color?) or how many pictures I can take in any given month. My only rule will be that I will only carry one single camera for the entire month.

The Line-Up:

Manual Cameras:

Agfa Solinette

Agfa Isoflash Rapid C

Canon Demi EE17 (half frame)

Medium Format:

Ansco Color Clipper (w/flash)

Petri

Ansco Titan

Franka Solida III

Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex 1b

SLR’s:

Sears TLS

GAF L-17

Konica Autorex (full and half-frame)

Rangefinders:

Olympus XA

Konica Auto S

Chinon 35 EE II

Vivitar 35ES

Yashica Electro 35 CC

Ricoh 500G

Fujica 35 EE

I will try to mix it up from month to month but—due to the disproportion of certain camera styles—this won’t be mathematically possible. Actually, I think I’ll shoot these cameras in alphabetical order because it’s a pretty good mix that way.