Skeletons From The Closet - August's Agfa Record III - Buddhist Temple

My SFTC camera for August made a huge impression on me. The Agfa Record III with Solinar is a super capable camera.

 

(Click Here) to read about the camera.

 

Producing big ol' 6x9 negatives, the image quality is spectacular, in my opinion. Here are some shots from a recent trip to my local Buddhist temple, all on Kodak Portra 400 color negative film.

 

Altar Flowers, by Reed A. George

Agfa Record III with 105mm f4.5 Solinar Lens

 

Tree Deck and Altar, by Reed A. George

Agfa Record III with 105mm f4.5 Solinar Lens

 

I wish I had lined up Buddha's face in the reflection on the rail. That would have been difficult but interesting.

 

Bell, by Reed A. George

Agfa Record III with 105mm f4.5 Solinar Lens

 

Smile!, by Reed A. George

Agfa Record III with 105mm f4.5 Solinar Lens

 

This old camera is amazing. I recently found myself looking long and hard at the modern Fujifilm GF670, a folding 6x7 medium format camera. While I was looking, the Record III showed up in my life, thanks to a package from my Mom. With its uncoupled rangefinder built-in, and accessory shoe to hold my Voigtlander CV Meter II, the Record III is very convenient to use; I don't have to carry around a separate meter and/or rangefinder in my pocket. And, unlike the GF670, the Record III doesn't need a battery to operate.

 

So, the Record III is a perfect high quality medium format camera for carrying on travel. In fact, it went with me to Maui recently. The film is off for processing at The Darkroom now, so you'll see those pics soon as well.

 

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August's Skeletons From The Closet Camera - The Agfa Record III 6X9 Folder

My camera for this month is a real prize. My Mom found it in an antique store. Here it is:

 

Agfa Record III 6X9 Camera with Solinar 105mm f4.5 Lens

 

This camera is really nice. Made from 1952-1955, the Record III has an uncoupled rangefinder, and importantly, an accessory shoe. This is important to me because I like to use my Voigtlander VC Meter II, which mounts in the shoe. The Agfa Record III was available with an Apotar or Solinar lens; mine has the higher end Solinar. It has a maximum shutter speed of 1/500 second, relatively fast for this type of camera.

 

(Click Here) to read more about the Record III.

 

The uncoupled rangefinder allows you to use a split image in the finder to judge distance, which you read off of the dial on the top of the camera, and then make the same setting on the focus ring of the lens.

 

When I received the camera, the lens looked pristine, but the shutter was sticky, and the rangefinder was completely stuck. I shipped it off to Jurgen Kreckel (Certo6) for repair. Jurgen very quickly gave it a complete service, including a brand new bellows. He does excellent work, and specializes in folding cameras.

 

(Click Here) to go to Jurgen's website.

 

I've shot a couple of test rolls already. Be ready to be impressed by this camera in the coming days.

 

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Skeletons From The Closet - April Results - Agfa Solinette II

April's SFTC camera was the Agfa Solinette II.

 

(Click Here) to read about my Solinette.

 

So, how did it go? Honestly, I'm getting tired of guess focusing. My last two SFTC cameras - the Zeiss Ikonta folder and April's Solinette are both guess focus cameras. It can be fun and refreshing to work without a rangefinder or through the lens focusing. However, I did come up with several images with both cameras that were just not quite sharp enough. That's frustrating, especially when I can see how good it could've been.

 

Here are some more images that I shot with the Solinette.

 

Spring is Here!, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II 35mm Folding Camera

 

You may recognize the house below from one of my pinhole posts.

 

(Click Here) to see how it looks in black and white through my pinhole camera.

 

Thornton House, Manassas National Battlefield, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II 35mm Folding Camera

 

Here's a quick grab shot of an early spring barbecue in preparation. I really like how the color in this shot came out. It's a trivial subject, but I think it shows how the Solinar can perform when you get things right.

 

Burgers and Dogs, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II 35mm Folding Camera

 

I'll wrap this up with some shots of an activity that caught my eye - window washers on the gigantic curved glass structure where I work.

 

Spring Cleaning #1, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II 35mm Folding Camera

 

These shots were easy, since there was plenty of light and I could shoot at about f11. Of course, the guys working on the glass wondered why this crazy guy with an old camera was taking picture of them.

 

Spring Cleaning #2, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II 35mm Folding Camera

 

Spring Cleaning #3, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II 35mm Folding Camera

 

I like ths shot above especially. I like how you can see the guy on the left clearly, while the guy on the right has made an interesting pattern of cleaner on the window in front of him.

 

Spring Cleaning #4, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II 35mm Folding Camera

 

The fact is, this little folder is capable of making some nice images. I really like how the Solinar lens represents color. With a maximum aperture of f3.5, applications in low light are very limited. In today's word, f3.5 seems so slow. However, the truth is that a wider aperture would make guess focusing even harder, due to the reduced depth of field that would result.

 

I actually had trouble finding the right circumstances to shoot this camera last month. It's not that there aren't plenty of places this camera does fine in; there are just many more where a little more aperture, or some type of focusing aid would have made it more useful. So, I found that I couldn't really rely on this camera to be anything like general purpose. I made it a point to carry it all month, but found limited opportunities to use it.

 

In May, I'm shooting my Minolta Autocord. This is also an f3.5 camera, but has the benefits of the big 120 medium format negative, and gorgeous ground glass focusing capability. We'll see if I can get more use out of that.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

Skeletons From The Closet - Results From April's Camera - Agfa Solinette II

I've only shot one roll of film through the Solinette so far this month. I've gotten a little behind in my writing for this feature as well. But, I did get a few images worth sharing, and I'm hopeful that I'll get some more film through the Solinette before the end of April.

 

My wife and I went to Dayton, Ohio recently. Here are a couple of shots from that weekend.

 

Springtime Portrait, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II with Solinar 50mm f3.5 Lens

 

While in Dayton, we visited a museum in the Carillon Park. I liked this mechanical detail of a generator at the museum.

 

Mechanical Detail, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II with Solinar 50mm f3.5 Lens

 

I have a few more images to share, these taken around home. First, the old manor house at the modern biomedical facility where I work still has spring flowers come up each and every year. These must have first been planted many years ago when the manor house was occupied. I think it's interesting to see these remnants of the lives that people spent living in this beautiful old house.

 

Daffodils at the Manor House, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II with Solinar 50mm f3.5 Lens

 

I grabbed this shot on the way to work one morning. I just had to pull over and catch this sunset.

 

Sunrise, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II with Solinar 50mm f3.5 Lens

 

 

Finally, this scene of a tulip magnolia tree at work caught my eye. I always enjoy when this tree bursts into bloom, and usually photograph it a few times per year. This year, I liked how the shadows of the branches above connected with the fallen petals on the ground. It's a little different, at least. I'll include two examples.

 

Tulip Magnolia Petals, by Reed A. George

Agfa Solinette II with Solinar 50mm f3.5 Lens

I've enjoyed shooting the Solinette so far, even though guess focus is challenging for me. The little Solinar lens is pretty darned sharp in my opinion. The colors are a little muted, but I'm not sure if that's due to the lens or the cheap color print film I used. Either way, I think they look decent.

I've got a new 36 exposure roll of Fuji 100 print film loaded up and ready to go. I think I'll carry the Solinette around tomorrow and see what I can do with it.

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