Agfa Silette

The Agfa Silette was originally launched in 1953, but this is a 1958 model as the winder has been hidden in the top plate. This 35mm camera has a three element 45mm Color Apotar f/2.8 lens and a Pronto shutter with speed ranging from 1/25 to 1/250. It has a film reminder disc with a range of ISO 25-1000 (notated in the DIN system), a manual frame counter that counts down from 36 and also allows for the first couple of shots of leader before the first frame, double exposure prevention interlock, self timer (7 seconds), PC flash socket, and depth of field guide. The lens will focus as close as 1 metre (about 3 feet).

I'll be honest, this camera was basically thrown in with the Bencini Koroll II, which I bought for £4.99. I knew nothing about it and wasn't particularly looking for one of these.

According to its user manual:
The lens of your Agfa Silette camera was computed and manufactured in conformity with the most up-to-date scientific methods. It was thoroughly tested in the test laboratories of the Agfa camera Works, Munich, and the high quality of its performance is positively assured with brilliant definition, extremely high resolving power and exceptional contrast rendering to meet the exacting requirements of miniature photography  - both colour and black and white.
AGFA AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT Camera-Werk, Munich. 

Well, that's set my expectations pretty high! It goes on...

In your Agfa Silette you have acquired a camera of the highest technical perfection. Everyone will congratulate you on your purchase. The great moment has come for you to press the release for the first time.

Crikey, maybe I should only handle this camera with special gloves. Seriously though, claims like this were pretty standard in camera literature at the time. That's why Ensign made such bold claims about their cameras. They were competing with the likes of Zeiss and Agfa and their self-proclaimed achievements of highest technical perfection.

There are some useful tips in the manual. It advises that when taking close-ups (3-6 feet) there may be a parallax error between viewfinder and taking lens. To compensate for this it recommends tilting the camera slightly in the direction of the viewfinder.

Like many cameras the Silette has a hyperfocal setting, or snapshot setting as they call it, so you can snap away without thinking about focusing the lens. Just match the red number 3 or 10 on the distance focusing scale to the red dot between apertures f/8 and f/11.

In another blog article written by a gentleman who bought this camera from new in 1963, he recalls he paid £25 12s 5d for it, amounting to two weeks' wages. Quite the investment.

So it would seem that the camera that came free with the Bencini Koroll II is a far superior model with a nice lens and pretty decent specs. Not bad.

The film disc reminder is extremely finicky to set. You pull the rewind knob up, feel under the disc and then rotate. The values on the disc are in the German DIN system:

DIN 15 = ISO 25
DIN 18 = ISO 50
DIN 21 = ISO 100
DIN 24 = ISO 200
DIN 27 = ISO 400
DIN 31 = ISO 1000
CN17 = Agfacolor CN17 (ISO 40)
CT = Agfacolor Daylight (ISO 50)
CK = Agfacolor Artificial light  (ISO 80)

Given the disc just mangled my fingers running through those numbers I probably won't bother with it again.

In the user manual I quoted above these speed values are given in ASA, and the focus distances are given in feet, so I can only assume the manual was for the export model. My camera, I assume, was for the German market.

Now it should be pretty obvious from the photos that at some point in its life this camera wasn't particularly well cared for. Or, as Nicky put it, it looks like it's been stored in a bag of rocks. The problems weren't just cosmetic though, as when the camera arrived the shutter would not release.

Much tinkering and swearing later and we had a shutter that worked. All that remained was to clean the incredibly grotty lenses and recalibrate the focusing. Delighted to say the camera is now functional, and has been made a prime candidate for recovering due to its mucky leather. It's probably about time this camera received some TLC. Now, which colour to choose for its new leather? Pink? Or Snakeskin leatherette? 

Update:

We have since acquired an updated model of this camera in another job lot of bits and pieces. This one also dates from around 1958, but naturally there are some cosmetic and functional differences. The main difference is the fancier Prontor-SVS shutter. This offers speeds from 1 second to 1/300, plus bulb mode, and is coupled to the aperture ring, just like on the Franka Super Frankanette.  If your light meter gives exposure values, read off the EV number, set this on the aperture ring, and then any of the coupled aperture-shutter settings will work for your lighting conditions. You can override this and keep total creative control by depressing the button on the aperture ring. 

The frame counter has been moved to the top plate and has been incorporated into the winder. The film speed reminder is still finicky but on this model the speeds are given in ASA, as follows:  ASA 25, 32, 50, 80, 100, 200, Colour D, Colour F.

So, essentially the same camera but with a few more speed options. Very nice.