135compact.com 35mm half format cameras Agfa Optima Parat
The Agfa
Optima Parat is half frame camera, one of 3 early 1960s half frames produced
by Agfa in Germany. The Parat I was a completely manual camera, focus,
speed and aperture had to be set manually. There was a Paramat model
with automatic speed and aperture, twice the price of the Parat I. Both
cameras have a good Apotar lens, specially designed for the half frame
format. The top model, presented here, called Agfa Optima Parat, was launched 2 years
later. It has a top Solinar lens and additional shorter shutter speeds. It's fully automatic as well.
The Optima Parat model was was released in 1964. The Parat series
housing was a new
design, partially (good quality) plastic, partially metal, which makes
it a relatively light camera for those days. The Optima Parat has lots
of silver metal trim and was therefore called Silberfisch (silver
fish), it's much heavier than the Parat I. Obviously there were plans
for a full
format camera within the same housing, as the frame seems to be
reduced. The Optima 1a has the same kind of back with its opening lever
and the Optima 500 SN has a very similar design, but has a hinged back.
Like
most half frame cameras, the Parat series cameras are vertically orientated, so it's portrait
mode.
The camera's main features are:
35mm film half-frame camera, picture size 24 x 18 mm
Lens: Agfa Color-Solinar 1:2,8/30 mm, 4 elements, F2.8-F22, min. focus 0.9m
Shutter: automatic Compur, 1/500 - 1/30, B, cable release at the bottom of the shutter lever
Cable release socket, tripod socket, hot shoe, automatic exposure ISO 10-200 DIN 10-24
Size 110 x 72 x 45 mm, Weight 413 gr
Some pictures of the camera:
Front.
Viewer and lens. Around the lens: 2 tabs for mode (A, flash and B) and aperture in case of flash and B. Shutter lever.
Distance setting via symbols and metres/feet. There are click stops for the 3 main settings,
Back
view. Finder. Film advance via lever. The
finder has a luminous frame with parallax marks for short distances and
an indication for the rare tele lens. If you hold the camera in
landscape mode, there is a red signal at the lower edge of the
frame. If you slowly press the shutter lever to the first pressure
point, the signal should turn green. Press the shutter down completely.
If it stays red, there is not enough light.
Seen from above. Rewind, film speed dial, rewind release and hot shoe.
Seen
from below. Back opening lever. Tripod socket (necessary for B mode).
Film counter and counter setting. Has to be set according to the film
length and counts backwards.
Camera
back open. You can
see that they installed a blind to reduce the frame. So they wasted 18mm
of the camera width, nearly 20%.
Set to A = automatic, so no aperture.
Set to B and F22 aperture.
Set to flash and F2.8 aperture. If you own a cable flash, you need an adapter as the camera only has a hot shoe. There
is a device helping to set the flash aperture for groups and portrait
photos. Read the guide number of your flash. Then move the tab until
you see the according guide number, in the picture it's 45 for
portraits and 90 for a group. Keep in mind that flash bulbs had high
guide numbers.
In this picture it's 29 for portaits and 58 for groups. The according
aperture is then visible in the little window under the flash symbol.
The very rare Agfa Color Telepar lens, which nearly doubles the focal length.
It screws into the filter thread.
It has its own distance scale from infinity...
...down to 3m.
Camera and shade.
The shade is foldable and fits into the leather case.
The original leather case.
A special little case for the tele lens. The camera case can be transformed into a half case.
The Agfa Optima Parat is a sturdy camera, easy to handle. It
takes
very sharp pictures. Spacing is not tight, so you get 72 photos from a
36
roll. It's mainly for outdoor photos as there are no slow speeds. There
is a hot shoe, so
interior photos are possible with a flash. Night photos are possible as
well, as
there is a B mode and a cable release. The automatic shutter is a good
help, but has its limits and does not let you know which aperture/speed
combination it chooses.
Seen
today's film prices, a half frame is a nice idea. There is not so much
choice if you want one. This one is one tends to be expensive if it's tested and in working order. It's a real camera, not a Lomo style gadget. And it is an easy camera, much fun to play around with it.
For me the Parat I is the better choice, not so
heavy, not so expensive and with a little shoe mount meter you can use the speed/apertue combination of your choice.
