Agfa Isolette III

[Camera - Film - 120 - Rangefinder - Folder]

Well made, cool, reliable and inexpensive cameras, the Isolettes are a classic. Easily found on eBay. They can be fitted with several lenses and shutters combination. The cameras above are Isolettes III

You will find basically 3 lenses on Isolettes:

• Agnar, the simpler triplet with a typical maximum aperture of F6.3. Agnar lenses are usually associated with a simpler shutter, without the slow speeds.
• Apotar, the "mid-range", also a triplet, usually F4.5
• Solinar, the "high end" lens, usually F3.5. This lens is the Agfa's version of the Zeiss Tessar, with 4 element

The Agfa triplets can be VERY sharp if stopped down to f=8 and rather soft at wider apertures. The creative use of these characteristics can deliver stunning results, especially for portraits. The Apotar, for example, is a nice high contrast lens and very nice for portraits IF you keep the aperture at F3.5-5.6 range. If you stop down it to F8-11 it can be much sharper and maybe not so good for portraits.

Left: This one is fitted with an Apotar 85mm F4.5 single coated triplet and a Prontor shutter with old style speeds from B to 1/300s, old style. This means 1s, 1/2s, 1/5s, 1/10s, 1/25s, 1/50s, 1/100s and 1/300s. Note the 3x factor between 1/100s and 1/300s instead of the usual 2x.

Right: A different combination: An AGFA Solinar 75mm F3.5 (4 element Tessar like, single coated) and a Synchro Compur shutter with “normal” speeds, from 1s to 1/500s + B.

The Isolette III has an uncoupled rangefinder. Note the knob on the left of the flash shoe. You turn it until the focus point, then read the distance and set the focus manually on the lens. Well, better than nothing. Those rangefinders are not great and get pretty gummy with the time. They are easy to fix and clean but you need to be careful to not damage it.

If you need to service it, here is the starting point, on Roland and Caroline excellent website. Also very good information here.

This camera is a bargain and maybe my favorite 6x6 folder. The Solinar/Synchro Compur model combines superb optics and shutter and a reasonably good and usable rangefinder in a very pocketable medium format camera, for an unbeatable price.

Isolette III

Lens: Read text

Shutter: Read text

Film type: 120 (6x6 frame)

Filter: depends on the lens type

- Try to find a lens hood for them. Those lenses are single coated but still prone to flare.

- Double check for holes in the bellows.