Agfa Super Silette c1955

I have recently bought a Agfa Super Silette and would like your thoughts on it.

It is in very good condition, lens is Agfa Apotar 1:3.5 / 45 (Prontor SVS Shutter) which is clean & focus is smooth as butter !!

Case is good too.....

Film I am using is Ilford FP4.

Is there anything I should know or be aware of with this camera??

Thanks.

marcusverger said:

Agfa Super Silette ... Agfa Apotar 1:3.5 / 45 (Prontor SVS Shutter) which is clean & focus is smooth as butter ... Is there anything I should know or be aware of with this camera??

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Nope. I take it this is the earlier model with the stepped top plate and top mounted shutter release.

The lens is perfectly adequate to very good. It's a front focus (floating element - very advanced (insert smiley if you feel you need one)) triplet and so performance will vary sample to sample as triplets are very sensitive to manufacturing tolerances. Expect performance to vary slightly with focusing distance.

If the focus is smooth then you have escaped the great plague of these cameras: green goo disease. This binds up the focusing helical with dried out green grease to the extent that heating with a torch and day-long soaks in solvent are sometimes needed to free things up. If the rangefinder is accurate then all is copacetic. However, make sure the lens is turning on the helical and not the front group mounting threads; the focus ring should go out a few mm from infinity to closest focus.

The Prontor SVS shutter is reliable, however it has a quirk in that the same mechanism is used for flash sync selection, M delay and the self timer. But I think the camera defaults to X sync with the self timer in use so not a problem (unless you are going whole hog vintage with flash bulbs).

Here are some pictures....

I much prefer cameras with the release on top. I find those downward sliding, front-mounted releases harder to hold steady and contribute to camera motion during exposure.

BobD said:

I much prefer cameras with the release on top. I find those downward sliding, front-mounted releases harder to hold steady and contribute to camera motion during exposure.

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I totally agree ! Release button on top is so much better to take a photo with...

Nicholas Lindan said:

Nope. I take it this is the earlier model with the stepped top plate and top mounted shutter release.

The lens is perfectly adequate to very good. Expect performance to vary slightly with focusing distance.

If the rangefinder is accurate then all is copacetic. However, make sure the lens is turning on the helical and not the front group mounting threads; the focus ring should go out a few mm from infinity to closest focus.

The Prontor SVS shutter is reliable, however it has a quirk in that the same mechanism is used for flash sync selection, M delay and the self timer. But I think the camera defaults to X sync with the self timer in use so not a problem (unless you are going whole hog vintage with flash bulbs).

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Thanks Nicholas, yes it is an earlier model - see pictures...

Thanks for giving me a new word - 'Copacetic' !! Such a great word!!

Also, if I did decide to use ye olde flash bulbs, how much of an issue would that be ?? (I have an old Agfa flash bulb flash unit I hope to use at some point).

Nice to see. After a Kodak Instamatic as a kid, this was the first real camera I had, gifted by my father when I was maybe 12 0r 13, I didn't appreciate it enough then, I wanted to save up for an SLR, which I did, an Olympus OM1 spot program with a Zeiss 70-210 zoom, took me five years to get though. The Agfa is a nice camera, wish I still had it now.

I have tested and shot with this model. Triplet lenses are usually poor to mediocre, but my testing and shooting showed that this Apotar is unusually sharp, with little chromatic aberration that typically plagues triplets. Whoever designed this lens for Agfa deserves a raise. As Nicholas warned, make sure that the focus helical is rotating properly. If the mounting threads are loose (bad), the lens will wiggle slightly and will turn effortlessly. If focus has some resistance, then you're probably fine. Enjoy it!

I have a Super Silette with the 50mm F/2.0 lens, and when there is not too much backlighting the lens is incredibly sharp. Biggest issue for me is short rangefinder base and stiff focusing mechanism leads to a lot of missed focus.

fj55mike said:

I have a Super Silette with ... stiff focusing ...

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That's about par for the course. The problem is probably the 'green goo' (that turns to 'green glue') in the focusing helicoid.

It's not that hard to fix.

Nicholas Lindan said:

That's about par for the course. The problem is probably the 'green goo' (that turns to 'green glue') in the focusing helicoid.
It's not that hard to fix.

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My usual method is to strip the focus mech down to the bare brass helicals, heat them in the oven, and then twist to separate them. Once apart, I soak them in naphtha and scrub off the green gluey grease with a toothbrush. Is there an easier way?

I have the Ansco Super Memar and Memar badged versions of these cameras. What impressed me about them was the solid and precision feel of the film advance. Absolutely no slack or play and a solid feel to it. And these cameras are compact - quite pocketable in larger pants or coat pocket. After a CLA by Zacks Camera my examples have smooth focusing and the rangefinder is on the money.

Stan