What the hell did I just buy?

[Dr Croubie]

Saw one of these on ebay: http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Agat_18K
Was only $35 shipped. Instantly fell in love with the black plastic and contrasting yellow, so hit the 'buy' button.
Looks a bit grubby, but seller assures that it works. I'm not expecting it to be up to the standards of my EF, Zeiss, or Mamiya 645 glass. Hell, i'm not expecting it to even work, it will look just as good sitting on a shelf, if it works too then that's a bonus.

Anyone else ever use one, or own one?

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Cool camera, it looks like its a scale focus half frame camera. Your roll of film is gonna last a long time! Before having a go with it with a full roll, I suggest shooting a much shorter roll to test it.

 

[nicholai]

Here's a video-review of the camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9PqFwuend8

 

[Rudolf Karachun]

This is the old Russian camera. But I never used it.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Looks interesting.

Jeff

 

[rjbuzzclick]

I have one. They can be very hard on sprocket holes! Just wind on until it stops and don't force it farther. Also, the shutter arms when winding and won't arm if there's no film in it. The shutter also won't arm if the film is not wound far enough to the next frame. The f-stop and shutter speeds are linked, you can't chose one independently over the other, so just use the little symbols for setting exposure. They feel like cheap plastic, and I kept expecting mine to break, but it hasn't yet.

 

[Dr Croubie]

Thanks for the video review, that guy sure did crap on a bit in the middle though (he also needs to learn metric and cyrillic by the sounds). I've found another review here, which is a bit weird, he complains that it actually works "too well" for a toy camera.

Reid, i'm still wondering about the linkage between light, f/ and shutter speed. That video review answered one question, in that you turn the dial to set iso, you turn the dial to set f/ (the other half of the dial is just the 'weather' pictures). Then what's shutter speed? According to camerapedia it can change from 1/65 to 1/540, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of light-meter. Or does it just set 1/iso at f/16 and scale up/down from there? (I suppose I could get used to that).

Anyway, I've just realised that I don't get that funky cap with the Belomo logo on the front as seen in the video review. Damn. Maybe if I like this camera I'll have to buy another one to get the cap, there's actually a fair few only $35-50 shipped on ebay. ("only". and that's how it starts).
Still, looks like a lot of fun. I split some Rollei Retro 100 off a bulk reel into canisters the other night, I must have had forethought because I did some very short (<5 shot) rolls 'for testing'. Now I've got something to test them on. Muahahaha.

 

[nosmok]

The lens on these is a lot better than you might think but they are hard on film and QC is spotty. But a good one will surprise you. And there's nothing more compact for the neg size.

--nosmok

 

[agnosticnikon]

I've got one too. Got it about 6 yrs. ago, based on it being a half frame camera, and its looks too. It is kind of quirky to use, but I found it took pretty good pictures. Better than my Mercury II, but not as good as my Yashica Samurai. I've got to dig it out and give it another spin, because it just looks like fun, right?

 

[Dr Croubie]

Well, I got it in the mail yesterday, took me 10 minutes to figure out how the hell to load it and work it (mine seems to have a quirk when I wind on, I have to wind past the point where the shutter cocks, but if it's hard up then the shutter won't fire, I have to wind and then back it off a bit).
I've also already met the "hard on sprocket holes", the take-up spool only has one tooth to catch when winding on, that one tooth does like ripping through film.
Anyway, one of those rolls of 12ish-frame Rollei Retros I bulk-loaded went in and I took a walk around the block. It's been 20 years since I guessed light levels with my Kodak Instamatic, but I managed to not do too badly, in fading light at sunset.
Only 1 messed up double-exposed frame (probably my fault from forcing something), the other 27 look good.
Mucked up the dev a bit, 1+100 rodinal for 1 hour, it turned out rather grainy for my usual tastes (I probably didn't need that last agitation at 45mins).

Still, lens looks damn sharp (at least, for the price), and not bad bokeh either:


I've got my second roll in it and already half through, damn it's a fun camera to use.
For $30, everyone should get one.

 

[rjbuzzclick]

Reid, i'm still wondering about the linkage between light, f/ and shutter speed. That video review answered one question, in that you turn the dial to set iso, you turn the dial to set f/ (the other half of the dial is just the 'weather' pictures). Then what's shutter speed? According to camerapedia it can change from 1/65 to 1/540, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of light-meter. Or does it just set 1/iso at f/16 and scale up/down from there? (I suppose I could get used to that).

Sorry for the slow reply. From my understanding, there is no light meter, the shutter speed is set based on where the aperture is set, sort of a rough kind of sunny-16 I guess. I think I used the weather pictures more than the f-stop setting because of that.

Yeah, you see what I mean now about hard on sprocket holes. I ripped a few sprocket holes during winding as I wasn't sure if the shutter had cocked.

I guess you can also pull out the take-up spool and use an empty film canister in that spot as well, you wouldn't even have to rewind!

Your photo looks great, nice work.