Agfa Isomat Rapid

What?

A three-element f/4,5 , 38mm Color-Agnar lens with a zone focus and a 1/30, 1/70sec. shutter.

When?

1965 -1969

How

Thrift store in Amsterdam. (€1,25)

Well?

I bought three Agfa camera’s at once at the thrift store, only to discover at home that neither of them took ordinary film rolls. The lived in a corner of my attic for a few years, until I found them again, and realised I could combine the empty canisters in two of the camera’s and fill them film myself. The rest, as they say, is history. It’s a lovely little camera, compact, and I like the square design. I’m also a sucker for square format pictures. It does have a few quirks though.

The frame counter only goes to 16, after which you need to open and shut the camera to keep on shooting. I have noticed that different films are different to stuff into the canister. For instance, home made redscale is extremely difficult to put in (I think it’s because you have to push against the natural curve of the film), and the black and white film I tried went in very easily (thinner backing?). This means that there’s no real way of knowing how many exposures you can expect. Oh, and one og my cansiters has a dent, so if I’m not carefull pulling out the film will produce some nasty scratches.

Still, I this baby has evolved into one of my favourite camera’s.

Sample pics