The baffling case of the Agat baffle

Huss · Jun 16, 2022

Yesterday I used arguably the greatest 35mm camera ever made - the Agat 18K Half Frame. A mechanical and aesthetic triumph....

So here's da deal, I noticed that the pics have a slightly darker vertical stripe on the left side of the image (which would be the right side in the camera). The camera is designed to be held in the horizontal/landscape format when you take pics, but as I like to make dip and triptychs, I hold it in the portrait format.
Most of the pics were taken when the sun was pretty low on the horizon, so I think that had something to do with it, the angle of the light in the lens box area. But I am also curious so I opened it up and took a look inside.
There is a big baffle on one side, but not the other! And no signs of a baffle having fallen out etc, as it is molded into the plastic.
So... why this design?

Sun low:

Sun high:

Sirius Glass · Jun 16, 2022

Baffling! Perhaps someone removed it when it was worked on in the past. You need to buy several others to compare or use for parts.

AgX · Jun 16, 2022

Maybe it was forgotten at assembly... Or left off by design. I got western cameras with asymmetrical baffling too.

Huss · Jun 16, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Baffling! Perhaps someone removed it when it was worked on in the past. You need to buy several others to compare or use for parts.

maybe someone else here has an Agat 18K and look inside theirs?
I mean, it's not I'm using this camera for critical work, just curious. This thing is for fun.

(it was bought NOS)

Bronson Dugnutt · Jun 16, 2022

Two or zero would seem to make more sense but there may been some non-obvious design limitation. Or a baffle shortage?

It's likely a choice related to it's usage in the intended landscape orientation. If the lens isn't shifted with respect to the baffle, it could tame flare when the sun is included in the top of the frame.

Huss · Jun 16, 2022

Bronson Dugnutt said:
It's likely a choice related to it's usage in the intended landscape orientation. If the lens isn't shifted with respect to the baffle, it could tame flare when the sun is included in the top of the frame.

That most probably is it. I'll try and shoot a roll in it in the orientation that the designers had in mind and see how it turns out.

Sirius Glass · Jun 16, 2022

You could get some black foam core material and make another baffle to install.

gone · Jun 16, 2022

An FSU camera that doesn't work right? I'm shocked!

Huss · Jun 17, 2022

momus said:
An FSU camera that doesn't work right? I'm shocked!

Why do you say it doesn't work right?

xkaes · Jun 17, 2022

It's hard to tell from your pictures and your description, but I just took a look inside my Agat 18 (NOT an 18K) and it looks exactly like yours -- except mine has a fixed take-up spool, of course.

The film plane is slightly wider on one side than the other -- just like in your photos -- but inside the "lens box" I see no "baffle" anywhere. Both side walls are flat, black shiny plastic on mine.

So maybe you are talking about something else -- I can't tell from the pictures or your description. You could say, "I'm baffled".

Huss · Jun 17, 2022

xkaes said:
It's hard to tell from your pictures and your description, but I just took a look inside my Agat 18 (NOT an 18K) and it looks exactly like yours -- except mine has a fixed take-up spool, of course.

The film plane is slightly wider on one side than the other -- just like in your photos -- but inside the "lens box" I see no "baffle" anywhere. Both side walls are flat, black shiny plastic on mine.

So maybe you are talking about something else -- I can't tell from the pictures or your description. You could say, "I'm baffled".

Hmm, the pics look very clear to me! First pic shows a vertical baffle on the left side in the "lens" box. 2nd pic shows the right side of the "lens box" with no baffle.

Huss · Jun 17, 2022

This is what happens when you photo merge 2 Agat pics in LR:

Under Perspective setting:

Cylindrical setting:

Huss · Jun 17, 2022

madNbad · Jun 17, 2022

Camerapedia has an image of that only shows a single baffle so apparently it was designed that way.

Huss · Jun 17, 2022

madNbad said:
Camerapedia has an image of that only shows a single baffle so apparently it was designed that way.

Yeah, as Bronson pointed out it's most probably due to the camera meant to be held in its native landscape orientation.

xkaes · Jun 17, 2022

Huss said:
Hmm, the pics look very clear to me! First pic shows a vertical baffle on the left side in the "lens" box. 2nd pic shows the right side of the "lens box" with no baffle.

I see a wide dark gray line in the first picture. I cannot tell anything else about its dimensions. I see no gray line inside my Agat 18 on the left side.

xkaes · Jun 17, 2022

madNbad said:
Camerapedia has an image of that only shows a single baffle so apparently it was designed that way.

Care to help us out with a link?

xkaes · Jun 17, 2022

Huss said:
Yeah, as Bronson pointed out it's most probably due to the camera meant to be held in its native landscape orientation.

If that were the case, you would think it would be in the Agat 18 as well as the Agat 18K. I don't see it in mine.

Huss · Jun 17, 2022

xkaes said:
If that were the case, you would think it would be in the Agat 18 as well as the Agat 18K. I don't see it in mine.

which model is the most recent?

AgX · Jun 18, 2022

The Agat is from 1983, the Agat-18 from 1989.

The differences are not clear to me. Already of the plain Agat at least 2 technically different versions were made (with and without thread for cable release inside the the release button).

xkaes · Jun 18, 2022

Show me a picture of a "plain Agat" without a "cable release socket inside the release button". PLEASE.

The original Agat 18 appeared in 1984. The Agat 18K appeared in 1988 -- and they were both produced at the same time.

The 18K is the same except for minor changes to the lens cap, weather icons, film speed scale -- AND the removable take-up spool that allows the camera to be used as a RAPID-type cassette camera. The 18K also was available in a Black & Yellow body. And who knows, maybe they made some sort of change to the interior of the lens box -- like adding a baffle or whatever it is or isn't.

AgX · Jun 18, 2022

The Agat was designed by Belomo and production was taken over by or added to Velijka.
(As this was not said yet...)

xkaes said:
Show me a picture of a "plain Agat" without a "cable release socket inside the release button". PLEASE.

I mixed up names. I meant "plain Agat 18" versus "Agat 18K"

Early Belomo "18"

http://www.sovietcams.com/sovietcams/m/m_images/wfiles/iEM0L2Z8B.jpg

Likely first Vileika "18"

http://www.sovietcams.com/sovietcams/m/m_images/wfiles/iA3DXDJ9D.jpg

Common Vileika "18"

http://www.sovietcams.com/sovietcams/m/m_images/wfiles/iS01SRHQW.jpg

AgX · Jun 18, 2022

xkaes said:
The 18K is the same except for minor changes to the lens cap, weather icons, film speed scale -- AND the removable take-up spool that allows the camera to be used as a RAPID-type cassette camera.

Not Rapid but SL cassetes. As the SL Orwo cassettes were lacking the film-sensitivity actuator the Agfa Rapid
cassettes (and some of their Rapid cameras) got.

To make a camera work with SL cassettes one needs not only no take up spool, but need instead to redesign the film transport. Also SL cameras can be designed lower (by the height of the protruding stud of the 135 cassette).

If the 18k version is an SL camera, it most likely was an export model, as no soviet film manufacturer offered 35mm film in SL cassettes.
And filling an empty SL cassette (somehow acquired) with film from a soviet re-fill package makes no sense at all, when there is a 135 version of it.
And producing a camera only to be filled with imported Orwo (colour) film does not make much sense either.

Huss · Jun 18, 2022

Either way I completely recommend the Agat! A fun, tiny, quirky camera that actually has a very good lens. And people won’t believe it is a real camera so u can take pics anywhere.

xkaes · Jun 18, 2022

AgX said:
Not Rapid but SL cassetes.

Thank you for the pictures. I was unaware that there were different versions of the Agat 18.

I was not saying that the Agat 18K used Rapid cassettes. I said it was "a RAPID-type cassette camera."

As the earlier picture above shows, the top of the take up spindle on the Agat 18K is not attached. This is because it is removable. Once removed, a 35mm cassette can be inserted in its place. So, like early Rapid cassette cameras, you install a pair of 35mm cassettes -- one with film in it and the other empty. At the end of the roll, you remove both cassettes and insert another pair. Of course, the take-up 35mm cassette has to have a removable top.

That's the main difference with the Agat 18 and the 18K.

The baffling case of the Agat baffle

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency