Agfa Billy

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With Billy called Agfa a simple medium format folding camera with Faltbalgen that was located from 1928 to 1960 in production and significantly contributed to making the camera works Munich rose to the biggest camera factory in Europe.

classification

Format 6 × 9

Around 1930 practically all simpler cameras were working with the roll film format 6 cm × 9 cm. The main advantage was that with contact copies, you were holding photos of acceptable size in your hand. Smaller formats, in particular 24 mm × 36 mm, also required more precisely manufactured cameras, which at that time could not be realized cheaply. In any case, the camera manufacturers only gradually got into the 35mm technology, Agfa not even until 1937.

construction

For the entry-level cameras, there was only the option of choosing a box-shaped sheet metal case as the housing, as there were no usable plastics for camera housings. In the price range over RM 25 , however, it was already possible to drive more effort and thus achieve smaller dimensions in particular. This was achieved with the folding camera, the lens moved out into the recording position when the front cover was opened. This design was standard in mid-range cameras until the early 1950s, but was then viewed as outdated pre-war technology.

Transition to isolette

In the course of the 1930s the trend was increasingly towards smaller formats, in the case of roll film to 6 cm x 6 cm. In the autumn of 1937, Agfa presented such a model with the Isolette , which the Billy gradually replaced.

camera

Basic construction

The Billy was a folding camera with the lid hinged on its left side. There were rails on it, on which the lens standard came out and could be moved to focus. The camera used the type 120 roll film , which was then known in Germany as B 2. Most of the models exposed it in the format 6 cm × 9 cm, some in the format 6 cm × 4.5 cm. The film transport was operated with a wheel, whereby it had to be turned until the next frame number appeared in the window on the back wall. The camera weighed about 600 g.

Billy

The first Billy was initially sold for RM 34, then RM 36. It used the format 6 cm x 9 cm and had the three-lens Jgestar lens with f / 8.8.

In the export markets this camera was called Speedex No. 1.

Billy Optima

The Billy Optima was published in 1931, its name indicated the larger format 7.5 cm × 10.5 cm, which required a larger roll film. The camera was available with the four-lens Solinar f / 4.5 and Compur shutter for RM 105, with the three- lens Igestar f / 6.3 and Pronto shutter for RM 63. Agfa later also called the first camera with automatic programming Optima , but the term did not refer to the film format, but to the exposure control.

Billy Record

Agfa Billy Record when unfolded; The two viewfinders are clearly visible

In 1933 a simple model for 26 RM was added with the Billy Record . In a promotion , Agfa offered to trade in the price box for its original retail price of RM 4. The Record had a lens with a 100 mm focal length and a shutter made in-house called Agfa Automat with times 1 ⁄ 25 s, 1 ⁄ 50 s, 1 ⁄ 100 s and B for long exposures. On the flap of the Record there was no running rail for the lens standard, rather it was connected with a joint, the distance was set from 2.5 m to infinity by turning the lens. For close range, Agfa offered a close-up lens. The Record had two viewfinders, a fold-out sports viewfinder on top of the camera and a brilliant viewfinder on the side of the lens.

The camera with the Igestar cost f / 7.7 and kept all in black 19.50 RM. It was also available with the Igestar f / 8.8 for 24 RM or 26 RM with an additional self-timer. These two variants were available for 2 RM surcharge with chrome-plated housing parts and for a further 3 RM surcharge with housing release instead of a release directly on the shutter. Finally there was a version with the Igestar f / 6.3, both with and without self-timer, as well as Apotar f / 4.5, the latter was 52 RM. The Record remained in production until 1942.

Billy Compur

The top model of the Billy series came out in 1934 and had a Compur closure, which was effective in its name. With the four-lens Solinar f / 4.5 it cost 74 RM, later a variant with the three-lens Apotar f / 4.5 was added for 44 RM. The Apotar was still a design by the Rietzschel Optical Institute , the predecessor company of the Agfa Camerawerk. The Billy Compur remained in the program until 1949.

Billy Clack

Agfa Billy Clack (1937)

The Billy Clack not only differed in its Art Deco design, the extension of the lens also works differently: There was no flap, rather the front plate with the lens extended straight out, guided by scissor elements on the top and bottom. The Clack had a bilinar lens for which the aperture values ​​11, 16 and 22 or an Igestar lens for which the aperture values ​​8.8, 11 and 16 could be selected with a lever in the front panel. The shutter only worked with one exposure time. The camera was available for the format 6 cm × 9 cm as well as for 4.5 cm × 6 cm.

Billy I

The Billy I was a camera for the format 6 cm × 9 cm. It appeared in 1931 and its lens was the Anastigmat Igestar f / 8 100 mm with the times 1 ⁄ 25 to 1 ⁄ 200 and B as well as a distance setting in two locking steps.

Alternatively, the Billy I was also equipped with the Agfa Agnar f / 6.3 105 mm, which enabled the exposure time to be continuously adjusted from 1 ⁄ 25 s to 1 ⁄ 200 s as well as B.

Billy III

The Billy III was in production from 1933 to 1935 and differed from the Billy I in some detail improvements: On the one hand, the standard went automatically to the infinite position after the lid was opened; on the other hand, the distance could now be read from above, while the scale was previously only at the top in portrait format. With the Igestar f / 5.6 105 mm focal length it cost 52 RM.