#canister — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #canister, aggregated by home.social.
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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Out With The 1940s Agfa Karat Rapid Film Camera
At the beginning of February, I added one of the first Rapid format film cameras to my collection of Agfa Rapid film cameras, the Agfa Karat. Released in the late 1930s, although mine is from the 1940s, the film format was then known as the Karat system. The Rapid format in the 1960s was a reboot of the Karat in order to compete with Kodak’s instamatic film.
The Agfa Karat was in reasonable condition, a little scuffed but sound mechanically. The lens had a bit of fungus and haze on the elements, and I gave that a careful wipe with a cotton bud lightly soaked in alcohol. Not too much to get on the bellows, mind. The viewfinder is also hazy, but if I want to clean that I’ll have to remove the top plate. I’ll address that later.
I was thrilled a c.1940s Karat canister was included with the camera, and decided that I would use this as the ‘take up’ canister. I was a little nervous that after so long it might be damaged and scratch the film, but I reckoned, ‘what the Hell’, that’s half the fun. I loaded a length of Harman Phoenix film into a Rapid canister and dropped it into the Agfa Karat. The film fed into the vintage canister quite smoothly and, after resetting the frame counter to zero, I was ready to take the Karat out for a test.
The Agfa Karat is a fiddly little beastie to use. First you have to remember to open the camera to release the bellows and extend the lens. Then you set the aperture and shutter speed with dials and a tiny tab on the lens plate, then dial in the focus (the marker is on the side of the lens, not the top — though there is a handy little stop for infinity), then cock the shutter before you can take an image. Oh, and the shutter won’t fire until you’ve wound the film onto the next frame. Oh, don’t forget to dial in the frame counter to zero before you start.
All that being said, the Karat is a lovely little camera. Yes, the viewfinder is hazy, but the fabulous images showed that the bellows were light tight. And there’s a nice little touch where the shutter cocking lever pops into view through the viewfinder after you’ve taken a photo, so if you can see it before taking a picture it’s a reminder to cock the shutter. I’m not actually sure where the light leaks present in a couple of the frames came from. Was it light getting into the nearly 80 year old canister or something else? I was not sure. Suffice to say, the Agfa Karat will be a regular addition to my outings in the future.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #Canister #Cassette #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage
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A brief interlude: The Agfa Silette Rapid F
From 1953 until 1974 Agfa released a family of 35mm cameras known as the Silette series. A basic manual focus viewfinder camera, these came in various forms and with different features. In the early 1960s, Agfa released a Rapid film version in competition with Kodak’s introduction of instamatic film. In fact, they released three Rapid versions, the Silette Rapid I, the Rapid L, and the Rapid F.
All three Rapid cameras had the same characteristics as their 35mm counterparts, but instead of a cold shoe for an external flash, the Rapid F (and Silette F) had a small translucent window and a flip up lid into which a flash bulbs could be plugged. The flash bulb was powered by a Pertrix No. 74 battery, but otherwise the camera was wholly mechanical. The Agfa Rapid F has a 45mm f2.8 Agnar lens and a Parator shutter with speeds of 1/30s – 1/250s (plus B and a synchro flash speed, but I’m not sure what this is). It has a four leaf iris, with apertures from f2.8 – f22.
Being a Rapid camera, the top of the camera is plain with the wind on lever on the bottom left of the camera. One wind of this will push the film one frame from the full Rapid canister on the left to the empty canister on the right.
On the bottom of the camera is a tripod screw and the film counter, which counts down from 12 to one. When the count reaches 1, the shutter is disabled and you can only wind on to finish the film. The position of the ratchets that catch the film sprockets to move the film suggests that a leader of about 40mm of film is left outside the canister.
My particular model, the Agfa Silette Rapid F, was picked up for 20€ from the Not Passed category of the Kamerastore website. Although it has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’, the only thing that was wrong with this camera was that the little translucent window for the flashgun was missing. Otherwise, it was perfectly sound.
The aperture selection, shutter speed selection, and zone focusing is all set on the lens assembly. Selecting the shutter speed and aperture is quite straightforward, but the focusing confused mess for a second. On the focusing ring, at the top and bottom are two arrows. Rotating the lens moves little icons on the top of the lens, a church and a mountain for infinity, a group of people for middle distance, and two heads for portrait/close up. At the same time, at the bottom of the focusing ring are shown distances in metres and feet. Choosing the right symbol, or setting the distance, should give reasonably close focus.
As I have several Rapid canisters filled with Harman Phoenix film for the Frugal Film Project, I took one of these to use with the Agfa Silette Rapid F. Loading the Rapid F was simple enough, just a question of making sure the wind-on ratchets lined up with the sprockets of the film and slowly advancing the film so that it fed into the empty canister. Then close the back of the camera and shoot two frames until the counter was at zero.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I took the Rapid F to Águas Boas. I took a range of images, long distance, middle distance, and close-up using the symbols on the lens and also the distance markers. To measure the exposure I used an app called Camera Meter. After exposing the film, I decanted the 35mm back into a 35mm cassette and took it to the lab.
The first thing to say about this camera is that it’s a really nice camera to use. All the movements are smooth, and a single wind of the lever moves the film from one frame to the next. The only thing that confused me early on was the focusing with the symbols. But even that became intuitive after a while. I was a little unsure whether the film was feeding properly into the empty canister, but there’s a different ‘feel’ to the wind on lever when film is present in the film gate and when it is not. I noticed that with the Lomo Smena SL, too.
The images came out really well, although with the high contrast Harman Phoenix emulsion some of the highlights were really blown out. I’ll put that down to my faulty exposure reading rather than the camera. One the whole I was really happy with how the Agfa Silette Rapid F performed, and it’s certainly earned its place as a backup camera to the Welta Penti II ‘Golden Wonder’ and the Lomo Smena SL.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#Agfa #AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #Silette
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A brief interlude: The Agfa Silette Rapid F
From 1953 until 1974 Agfa released a family of 35mm cameras known as the Silette series. A basic manual focus viewfinder camera, these came in various forms and with different features. In the early 1960s, Agfa released a Rapid film version in competition with Kodak’s introduction of instamatic film. In fact, they released three Rapid versions, the Silette Rapid I, the Rapid L, and the Rapid F.
All three Rapid cameras had the same characteristics as their 35mm counterparts, but instead of a cold shoe for an external flash, the Rapid F (and Silette F) had a small translucent window and a flip up lid into which a flash bulbs could be plugged. The flash bulb was powered by a Pertrix No. 74 battery, but otherwise the camera was wholly mechanical. The Agfa Rapid F has a 45mm f2.8 Agnar lens and a Parator shutter with speeds of 1/30s – 1/250s (plus B and a synchro flash speed, but I’m not sure what this is). It has a four leaf iris, with apertures from f2.8 – f22.
Being a Rapid camera, the top of the camera is plain with the wind on lever on the bottom left of the camera. One wind of this will push the film one frame from the full Rapid canister on the left to the empty canister on the right.
On the bottom of the camera is a tripod screw and the film counter, which counts down from 12 to one. When the count reaches 1, the shutter is disabled and you can only wind on to finish the film. The position of the ratchets that catch the film sprockets to move the film suggests that a leader of about 40mm of film is left outside the canister.
My particular model, the Agfa Silette Rapid F, was picked up for 20€ from the Not Passed category of the Kamerastore website. Although it has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’, the only thing that was wrong with this camera was that the little translucent window for the flashgun was missing. Otherwise, it was perfectly sound.
The aperture selection, shutter speed selection, and zone focusing is all set on the lens assembly. Selecting the shutter speed and aperture is quite straightforward, but the focusing confused mess for a second. On the focusing ring, at the top and bottom are two arrows. Rotating the lens moves little icons on the top of the lens, a church and a mountain for infinity, a group of people for middle distance, and two heads for portrait/close up. At the same time, at the bottom of the focusing ring are shown distances in metres and feet. Choosing the right symbol, or setting the distance, should give reasonably close focus.
As I have several Rapid canisters filled with Harman Phoenix film for the Frugal Film Project, I took one of these to use with the Agfa Silette Rapid F. Loading the Rapid F was simple enough, just a question of making sure the wind-on ratchets lined up with the sprockets of the film and slowly advancing the film so that it fed into the empty canister. Then close the back of the camera and shoot two frames until the counter was at zero.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I took the Rapid F to Águas Boas. I took a range of images, long distance, middle distance, and close-up using the symbols on the lens and also the distance markers. To measure the exposure I used an app called Camera Meter. After exposing the film, I decanted the 35mm back into a 35mm cassette and took it to the lab.
The first thing to say about this camera is that it’s a really nice camera to use. All the movements are smooth, and a single wind of the lever moves the film from one frame to the next. The only thing that confused me early on was the focusing with the symbols. But even that became intuitive after a while. I was a little unsure whether the film was feeding properly into the empty canister, but there’s a different ‘feel’ to the wind on lever when film is present in the film gate and when it is not. I noticed that with the Lomo Smena SL, too.
The images came out really well, although with the high contrast Harman Phoenix emulsion some of the highlights were really blown out. I’ll put that down to my faulty exposure reading rather than the camera. One the whole I was really happy with how the Agfa Silette Rapid F performed, and it’s certainly earned its place as a backup camera to the Welta Penti II ‘Golden Wonder’ and the Lomo Smena SL.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#Agfa #AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #Silette
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A brief interlude: The Agfa Silette Rapid F
From 1953 until 1974 Agfa released a family of 35mm cameras known as the Silette series. A basic manual focus viewfinder camera, these came in various forms and with different features. In the early 1960s, Agfa released a Rapid film version in competition with Kodak’s introduction of instamatic film. In fact, they released three Rapid versions, the Silette Rapid I, the Rapid L, and the Rapid F.
All three Rapid cameras had the same characteristics as their 35mm counterparts, but instead of a cold shoe for an external flash, the Rapid F (and Silette F) had a small translucent window and a flip up lid into which a flash bulbs could be plugged. The flash bulb was powered by a Pertrix No. 74 battery, but otherwise the camera was wholly mechanical. The Agfa Rapid F has a 45mm f2.8 Agnar lens and a Parator shutter with speeds of 1/30s – 1/250s (plus B and a synchro flash speed, but I’m not sure what this is). It has a four leaf iris, with apertures from f2.8 – f22.
Being a Rapid camera, the top of the camera is plain with the wind on lever on the bottom left of the camera. One wind of this will push the film one frame from the full Rapid canister on the left to the empty canister on the right.
On the bottom of the camera is a tripod screw and the film counter, which counts down from 12 to one. When the count reaches 1, the shutter is disabled and you can only wind on to finish the film. The position of the ratchets that catch the film sprockets to move the film suggests that a leader of about 40mm of film is left outside the canister.
My particular model, the Agfa Silette Rapid F, was picked up for 20€ from the Not Passed category of the Kamerastore website. Although it has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’, the only thing that was wrong with this camera was that the little translucent window for the flashgun was missing. Otherwise, it was perfectly sound.
The aperture selection, shutter speed selection, and zone focusing is all set on the lens assembly. Selecting the shutter speed and aperture is quite straightforward, but the focusing confused mess for a second. On the focusing ring, at the top and bottom are two arrows. Rotating the lens moves little icons on the top of the lens, a church and a mountain for infinity, a group of people for middle distance, and two heads for portrait/close up. At the same time, at the bottom of the focusing ring are shown distances in metres and feet. Choosing the right symbol, or setting the distance, should give reasonably close focus.
As I have several Rapid canisters filled with Harman Phoenix film for the Frugal Film Project, I took one of these to use with the Agfa Silette Rapid F. Loading the Rapid F was simple enough, just a question of making sure the wind-on ratchets lined up with the sprockets of the film and slowly advancing the film so that it fed into the empty canister. Then close the back of the camera and shoot two frames until the counter was at zero.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I took the Rapid F to Águas Boas. I took a range of images, long distance, middle distance, and close-up using the symbols on the lens and also the distance markers. To measure the exposure I used an app called Camera Meter. After exposing the film, I decanted the 35mm back into a 35mm cassette and took it to the lab.
The first thing to say about this camera is that it’s a really nice camera to use. All the movements are smooth, and a single wind of the lever moves the film from one frame to the next. The only thing that confused me early on was the focusing with the symbols. But even that became intuitive after a while. I was a little unsure whether the film was feeding properly into the empty canister, but there’s a different ‘feel’ to the wind on lever when film is present in the film gate and when it is not. I noticed that with the Lomo Smena SL, too.
The images came out really well, although with the high contrast Harman Phoenix emulsion some of the highlights were really blown out. I’ll put that down to my faulty exposure reading rather than the camera. One the whole I was really happy with how the Agfa Silette Rapid F performed, and it’s certainly earned its place as a backup camera to the Welta Penti II ‘Golden Wonder’ and the Lomo Smena SL.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#Agfa #AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #Silette
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A brief interlude: The Agfa Silette Rapid F
From 1953 until 1974 Agfa released a family of 35mm cameras known as the Silette series. A basic manual focus viewfinder camera, these came in various forms and with different features. In the early 1960s, Agfa released a Rapid film version in competition with Kodak’s introduction of instamatic film. In fact, they released three Rapid versions, the Silette Rapid I, the Rapid L, and the Rapid F.
All three Rapid cameras had the same characteristics as their 35mm counterparts, but instead of a cold shoe for an external flash, the Rapid F (and Silette F) had a small translucent window and a flip up lid into which a flash bulbs could be plugged. The flash bulb was powered by a Pertrix No. 74 battery, but otherwise the camera was wholly mechanical. The Agfa Rapid F has a 45mm f2.8 Agnar lens and a Parator shutter with speeds of 1/30s – 1/250s (plus B and a synchro flash speed, but I’m not sure what this is). It has a four leaf iris, with apertures from f2.8 – f22.
Being a Rapid camera, the top of the camera is plain with the wind on lever on the bottom left of the camera. One wind of this will push the film one frame from the full Rapid canister on the left to the empty canister on the right.
On the bottom of the camera is a tripod screw and the film counter, which counts down from 12 to one. When the count reaches 1, the shutter is disabled and you can only wind on to finish the film. The position of the ratchets that catch the film sprockets to move the film suggests that a leader of about 40mm of film is left outside the canister.
My particular model, the Agfa Silette Rapid F, was picked up for 20€ from the Not Passed category of the Kamerastore website. Although it has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’, the only thing that was wrong with this camera was that the little translucent window for the flashgun was missing. Otherwise, it was perfectly sound.
The aperture selection, shutter speed selection, and zone focusing is all set on the lens assembly. Selecting the shutter speed and aperture is quite straightforward, but the focusing confused mess for a second. On the focusing ring, at the top and bottom are two arrows. Rotating the lens moves little icons on the top of the lens, a church and a mountain for infinity, a group of people for middle distance, and two heads for portrait/close up. At the same time, at the bottom of the focusing ring are shown distances in metres and feet. Choosing the right symbol, or setting the distance, should give reasonably close focus.
As I have several Rapid canisters filled with Harman Phoenix film for the Frugal Film Project, I took one of these to use with the Agfa Silette Rapid F. Loading the Rapid F was simple enough, just a question of making sure the wind-on ratchets lined up with the sprockets of the film and slowly advancing the film so that it fed into the empty canister. Then close the back of the camera and shoot two frames until the counter was at zero.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I took the Rapid F to Águas Boas. I took a range of images, long distance, middle distance, and close-up using the symbols on the lens and also the distance markers. To measure the exposure I used an app called Camera Meter. After exposing the film, I decanted the 35mm back into a 35mm cassette and took it to the lab.
The first thing to say about this camera is that it’s a really nice camera to use. All the movements are smooth, and a single wind of the lever moves the film from one frame to the next. The only thing that confused me early on was the focusing with the symbols. But even that became intuitive after a while. I was a little unsure whether the film was feeding properly into the empty canister, but there’s a different ‘feel’ to the wind on lever when film is present in the film gate and when it is not. I noticed that with the Lomo Smena SL, too.
The images came out really well, although with the high contrast Harman Phoenix emulsion some of the highlights were really blown out. I’ll put that down to my faulty exposure reading rather than the camera. One the whole I was really happy with how the Agfa Silette Rapid F performed, and it’s certainly earned its place as a backup camera to the Welta Penti II ‘Golden Wonder’ and the Lomo Smena SL.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#Agfa #AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #Silette
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A brief interlude: The Agfa Silette Rapid F
From 1953 until 1974 Agfa released a family of 35mm cameras known as the Silette series. A basic manual focus viewfinder camera, these came in various forms and with different features. In the early 1960s, Agfa released a Rapid film version in competition with Kodak’s introduction of instamatic film. In fact, they released three Rapid versions, the Silette Rapid I, the Rapid L, and the Rapid F.
All three Rapid cameras had the same characteristics as their 35mm counterparts, but instead of a cold shoe for an external flash, the Rapid F (and Silette F) had a small translucent window and a flip up lid into which a flash bulbs could be plugged. The flash bulb was powered by a Pertrix No. 74 battery, but otherwise the camera was wholly mechanical. The Agfa Rapid F has a 45mm f2.8 Agnar lens and a Parator shutter with speeds of 1/30s – 1/250s (plus B and a synchro flash speed, but I’m not sure what this is). It has a four leaf iris, with apertures from f2.8 – f22.
Being a Rapid camera, the top of the camera is plain with the wind on lever on the bottom left of the camera. One wind of this will push the film one frame from the full Rapid canister on the left to the empty canister on the right.
On the bottom of the camera is a tripod screw and the film counter, which counts down from 12 to one. When the count reaches 1, the shutter is disabled and you can only wind on to finish the film. The position of the ratchets that catch the film sprockets to move the film suggests that a leader of about 40mm of film is left outside the canister.
My particular model, the Agfa Silette Rapid F, was picked up for 20€ from the Not Passed category of the Kamerastore website. Although it has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’, the only thing that was wrong with this camera was that the little translucent window for the flashgun was missing. Otherwise, it was perfectly sound.
The aperture selection, shutter speed selection, and zone focusing is all set on the lens assembly. Selecting the shutter speed and aperture is quite straightforward, but the focusing confused mess for a second. On the focusing ring, at the top and bottom are two arrows. Rotating the lens moves little icons on the top of the lens, a church and a mountain for infinity, a group of people for middle distance, and two heads for portrait/close up. At the same time, at the bottom of the focusing ring are shown distances in metres and feet. Choosing the right symbol, or setting the distance, should give reasonably close focus.
As I have several Rapid canisters filled with Harman Phoenix film for the Frugal Film Project, I took one of these to use with the Agfa Silette Rapid F. Loading the Rapid F was simple enough, just a question of making sure the wind-on ratchets lined up with the sprockets of the film and slowly advancing the film so that it fed into the empty canister. Then close the back of the camera and shoot two frames until the counter was at zero.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I took the Rapid F to Águas Boas. I took a range of images, long distance, middle distance, and close-up using the symbols on the lens and also the distance markers. To measure the exposure I used an app called Camera Meter. After exposing the film, I decanted the 35mm back into a 35mm cassette and took it to the lab.
The first thing to say about this camera is that it’s a really nice camera to use. All the movements are smooth, and a single wind of the lever moves the film from one frame to the next. The only thing that confused me early on was the focusing with the symbols. But even that became intuitive after a while. I was a little unsure whether the film was feeding properly into the empty canister, but there’s a different ‘feel’ to the wind on lever when film is present in the film gate and when it is not. I noticed that with the Lomo Smena SL, too.
The images came out really well, although with the high contrast Harman Phoenix emulsion some of the highlights were really blown out. I’ll put that down to my faulty exposure reading rather than the camera. One the whole I was really happy with how the Agfa Silette Rapid F performed, and it’s certainly earned its place as a backup camera to the Welta Penti II ‘Golden Wonder’ and the Lomo Smena SL.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#Agfa #AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #Silette