List of the AGFA photo camera series
The following list of the camera series that were manufactured by Agfa from 1926 to 1980:
Photo cameras
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The standard camera was a plate camera for 83 x 108 mm plates. You opened it, then you saw the lens. It had an Agfa lens double anastigmat with an opening of 1: 4.5 and f = 13.5 cm, which was pushed to its working position on rails on a bellows. The lens could be adjusted in height by 2 cm. Shutter speeds were from 1/2 to 1/100 s and arbitrary, the openings of the lens ranged from 1: 4.5 to 1:32. Where the plate was inserted later, there was initially a screen.
The camera was built from around 1926 until the mid-1930s.
Billy
The first best seller under the Agfa name was the Billy in 1928 . It was a 6x9 camera for roll film, the specialty of which was its quick readiness. Previously, you had to pull the lens standard out over the floor, but now it jumped out at the push of a button by opening the housing flap. Other manufacturers followed this trend-setting design, such as Voigtländer with the Bessa or Zeiss-Ikon with the Ikonta . Agfa also used the first self-constructed shutter in the Billy , with times B, 1/25 s, 1/50 s and 1/100 s. As was customary at the time, the Billy was also available with different locks and lenses. The simplest variant initially cost 34 RM , later 36 RM and with this low price enabled many amateurs to get started in photography. In England and the USA, Agfa called the camera Speedex , which indicated the rapid readiness.
Trolita
The Trolita was built between 1938 and 1940. Structurally reminiscent of the Billy models (folding bellows, 6x6 and 6x9 format, Anastigmat Apotar 4.5 and Prontor II lock), this model differed in the housing material: Trolit, a bakelite-like plastic that was previously only available in the classic box shape when Trollix was used. With partly brown leather upholstery, this model was part of Agfa's model policy as a Billy luxury edition.
Because of the fragile material and the small production quantities, one of the rarer collector's items today.
Isolar
The Isolar from 1929 cost from 90 RM and was aimed at committed amateurs. She used flat or plate films in the format 9 × 12 and had a lens f / 4.5 / 135 mm. It was a folding camera, the standard of which was u. a. can be moved vertically and horizontally to avoid converging lines. Full rectification according to Scheimpflug's rule - i.e. additional horizontal and vertical rotation - cannot be achieved in contrast to reports that have been circulated again and again. On walking floor cameras, however, a temporary and difficult to control lens pivoting was possible by partially folding in the walking floor. Only very few floor-mounted cameras are also able to swivel lenses to a certain extent. This mostly only involves lowering and raising the walking floor together with fixing the walking floor in the lowered and raised position, which is associated with a pivoting of the lens around an axis. Technical cameras like the Linhof Technika can of course handle more sophisticated panning.
carat
Although the first camera for 35mm cartridges appeared with the Leica as early as 1925 and Agfa of course also produced this type of film, it was not until 1937 that its own model came out. It was a construction with bellows, the lens standard was pulled out for photography by means of a scissor mechanism. Locks prevented double exposures as well as film transport without prior release. The simple version with the Igestar 6.3 lens cost 49 RM, while the luxurious model with the Solinar 3.5 cost 75 RM. Variants of the Karat also appeared with expensive lenses, such as the Xenar 2.0 . The camera remained in the range until 1954 when it was replaced by the Silette .
A special feature of the first Karat cameras were their special cartridges, which made film loading easier. With the Karat 36 , however, they finally switched to the standard type 135 cartridges .
The appropriate slide projector at that time was called Karator .
box
Agfa made its cameras popular with the various box models, supported by spectacular promotions. Boxing cameras have been around since 1930 and they made up the lion's share of camera production in the 1950s. They were very often bought by customers who could afford a more expensive device, but feared it would be complicated to use - a problem that Agfa was only able to solve with the Optima in 1959 .
Isolette
The Isorette was released as a modern medium-format folding camera for the 6x6 format in autumn 1937 and was renamed Isolette after just a few months . It gradually replaced the Billy with its 6x9 format and remained in the range throughout the 1950s.
The Automatic 66 introduced in 1956 was also based on the Isolette's case ; it was the first camera with fully automatic exposure control, an aperture automatic.
Solinette
Although 35mm cameras with fixed lenses appeared everywhere around 1952, Agfa only joined this trend two years later with the Silette and first brought out a new model in the conventional design with bellows. The Solinette was an isolette for 35mm film of type 135. Both cameras had the same design, and the Solinette also remained in the range until the end of the 1950s.
Clack and click
The transition from the box to the compact camera happened with the models Clack and Click . Both models had a plastic housing that avoided the previous box-shaped appearance and thus appeared very modern. The Clack worked unchanged with the format 6 cm × 9 cm and is sometimes still counted among the boxing cameras. Its name is derived from the sound of the shutter, but it also takes up the name of the first Rietzschel camera. The advantages of the 6 cm × 9 cm format in a cheap camera lay in the fact that you could make prints through contact copies by not using an enlarger in the darkroom , but instead placing the negative directly on the photo paper.
The Click also used roll film of type 120, but for the format 6 cm × 6 cm, which is why it is usually no longer counted among the boxing cameras. It cost 16.50 DM, the Clibo- Blitz (for lightning bulbs) 9.50 DM, its name stood for "Click Box". The smaller image format not only made the camera smaller, but also made it possible to install a more powerful lens. The problem with single lensers was the image quality at the edge, and with the square format this was not so far from the center. The disadvantage of no longer being able to make contact copies in an acceptable size no longer played a role. The Click became even more successful than the Clack and remained in the program until 1970. At this point, however, it was long out of date, and entry-level cameras were now using Instamatic type 126 film.
Silets
After miniature folding cameras like the Karat were no longer in vogue and were viewed as outdated pre-war technology, Agfa finally brought out a model with a fixed lens, the Silette , in 1954 . It sold excellently until the appearance of the Optima , then cameras with manual exposure settings played an increasingly less important role. In the 1960s, for example, a Silette was derived from the Optima , but no new model came out after 1970. The original Silette from 1954 with its bound DM 98, - was more in the upper price segment according to its equipment. The sales success was based on a well-balanced "metallic" style that looked solid with the appearance of a precision device and the generally dominant sales brand in the range at the time.
Ambiflex
3 model series of 35 mm cameras with interchangeable lenses. Start of production of the first model series in 1958. The cameras had a coupled light meter above the lens and, unlike most other SLRs of the time, a central shutter . Another special feature of the camera was an exchangeable viewfinder system, either as a prism viewfinder or as a shaft viewfinder .
Optima
Evaluations in our own large laboratory showed many incorrectly exposed images, so there was a need for a camera that controlled the exposure completely by itself, automatically. This idea led to the Optima introduced in 1959 , the first camera with automatic programming in which the shutter speed and aperture are controlled by a photocell . If there is a threat of underexposure or overexposure , the photographer is warned by a display in the viewfinder, and in some series the shutter release is prevented.
The camera turned out to be a great success and also fulfilled the plans to help the technically ignorant to get correctly exposed images and to prevent exposure errors without effort.
This was of great and promotional importance for color photography, which was just becoming popular, since the associated color slide films generally still had a rather small exposure latitude.
The original design was followed by new series in 1968 and 1977, with the usual automatic locking mechanism and modern, revised technology. The Agfa Optima s remained in the program as a long-lasting camera series in the current design until the end of camera production.
Isoly
Just as the Click represented an intermediate step from the box to the rapid camera in the entry-level camera, the Isoly introduced in 1960 was responsible for the transition from the simple Isolette models to the high-end Rapid variants in the price range above . It was a type 120 roll film camera, and its importance lay primarily in the modern plastic housing that came with it. An exception was the Isoly Mat , which was already in the middle price range with its automatic exposure control.
Selecta
Since Agfa had little trouble deriving a semi-automatic camera for amateurs from the fully automatic Optima , one of these appeared in 1962 with the Selecta . It was an automatic shutter, so the photographer could influence the composition of the picture by preselecting the exposure time. However, a relatively high selling price prevented this camera from being widely used, which was even more true of the Selecta m with motor drive.
A single-lens reflex camera with an interchangeable lens was even launched under the name Selectaflex .
Rapid
Agfa tried to counter the Instamatic cameras with its own system. But since Kodak had protected its solution with several patents, a comparable user-friendly cartridge was out of the question. So they remembered the cartridges of the original Karat cameras and reintroduced them with minimal changes under the name Rapid. The associated camera program ranged from simple models to an automatic programmer, which was also called Optima . Due to the numerous Agfa dealers, a significant number of Rapid cameras came into circulation, but in the end Kodak had the better argument with the extremely easy film change, whereupon Agfa also switched to the Instamatic cassette in 1970 and did not pursue its own system any further.
Parat
In the 1960s it was believed by almost all camera manufacturers that smaller formats would become more widespread among amateur cameras with increasingly high-definition films. For example, Rollei and Wirgin (brand name Edixa) relied on 16 mm film. Another way was in half format . The advantage lay in the ordinary 135-format film that could be bought everywhere. However, the camera had to be held upright for horizontal shots. Agfa released a few cameras for this format and called them Parat, but they weren't very important.
Inferior optics
In complete contrast to these innovations, little emphasis was placed on comparable optical equipment with the primitive 3-lens standard lenses Agnar and Apotar, which are mostly used. For too long it was assumed that the buyer only needed pictures up to the size of a postcard anyway and would therefore pay more for eye-catching improvements such as a built-in light meter. The emergence of Japanese cameras in the export markets with their 4 and even 5-element 2.8 standard lenses, which in West Germany were only reserved for far more expensive devices, then led the Agfa brand to slip into the category of plastic clippers. The offer was upgraded too late with the 4-lens Solinar. Even then, there were clearly visible savings through inferior coating and omitted blackening of the ground lens edges inside the lens.
Agfamatic
After the limited success of the Rapid system, Agfa switched to the Kodak Instamatic system and named the associated cameras Agfamatic. After Kodak presented its pocket film in 1972, Agfa reacted immediately and a year later it was the first licensee to present its own camera, the Agfamatic Pocket, and the film for it. The great success then followed with the 2000 to 6000 series.
Selectronic mirror reflex
In order to keep a modern SLR camera in its range, Agfa added cameras to its range for the first time in 1980 with the three models Selectronic 1 , Selectronic 2 and Selectronic 3 . The customers noticed this immediately and were not prepared to pay a surcharge for the Agfa lettering and sensor trigger, since the otherwise identical cameras could be bought cheaper at Foto Quelle under the name Revue, for example . So the project turned out to be a huge failure.
Compact
The Agfa Compact is the last camera produced at the Munich plant; it was also sold under the name Optima 935 . It was a trend-setting construction. On the one hand, it turned out to be very small, in keeping with its name, on the other hand, the lens extended by a motor and was otherwise protected in the housing. A few years later, this still rare design became the standard for a 35mm viewfinder camera. A battery-powered flash unit in the same design that could be clicked onto the camera was available as an accessory.
Cine film cameras
Movex
Agfa was interested in increasing sales of the cine films with its own amateur cameras. It all started in 1928 with the Movex 12 for 16 mm cine film. 8 mm cameras in the form of the Movex 8 have been available from Agfa since 1937. All Agfa film cameras with a fixed focal length were called Movex , the last of which were even released for the new Super 8 format , after which the zoom lens became standard.
Movexoom
With Movexoom , Agfa incorporated the great importance of the zoom lens for the film camera into the camera designation. It began with the Movexoom in 1963 and extended to the last Agfa film cameras - apart from the family system - Movexoom 6 and Movexoom 10 , whose production ended in 1977.
Microflex
When particularly compact Super 8 cameras appeared at the end of the 1960s, Agfa was immediately represented with a model. After all, these pocket cameras could be carried comfortably with you, which promised a new customer base and thus additional sales of film cassettes. In order to make the small size clear in the name, the camera was not called Movex , but Microflex .
Family
The Agfa Family system was a combination of film and photo camera, but it did not meet the customer's requirements and proved to be practically unsaleable. Since it devoured a lot of money for their shapes due to the elaborate plastic housing, it contributed significantly to the demise of the Munich camera factory .