Bought me an Agifold

[sweathog]

So, I had been hankering for some MF foldy goodness. So I gave in to the GAS and bought myself an Agilux Agifold. Well, two. Long story; there is more than one version of the Agifold (four, as far as I can discern), and not all are RF models. The first one I purchased was not an RF model (although it is much sexier IMO), so I bought another one that was an RF model. Ironically the RF is blacked out on this one, so I have tow scale focus Agifolds now. Oh well, at least it was only two. More on my blog (http://nextcoder.net/advalev/parallaxerror/2008/02/24/agilux-agifold/).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2289552974_29095791d5.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/2288767967_cea9de97e0.jpg?v=0

[fidget]

Congrats!
I have one of these, an earlier model with a lovely chrome part housing the non coupled range finder and an extinction meter. I was surprised how big and heavy it is for a 6x6.
Are the lenses three element in yours (I guess later versions)?

Dave...

[mike_j]

I had one of these (secondhand) in the early 60's. OK in its day though the extinction lightmeter was pretty useless.

Here is a current advertisement for one. Eighteen pounds would have been serious money in those days, well over an average weeks wage I should think. I probably have some negatives from it somewhere - I must try to find them to see how it actually performed. I replaced the camera with a Zeiss Ikoflex I seem to recall.

[sweathog]

Are the lenses three element in yours (I guess later versions)?

Dave...

Hi Dave,
I don't actually know. How would I find out how many elements are in the lens?
I've had some really good results from the three rolls I've put through so far, it is a lovely camera. Now that I've got a Watameter hotshoe RF I can really start to enjoy it, as I am always a bit wary scale-focussing (as the RF window on the camera is blacked out).

[fidget]

The lens looks to be the same as that fitted in the earlier cameras. It is good to hear that you are enjoying it (regardless of how many elements are in the lens).
I too have re-discovered that aside from being inexpensive and fun to use, many of these 50s folders can give surprisingly good results.

Dave..

[sweathog]

I was very impressed witht he first results I got back. I'm currently putting a roll of 800 Portra VC through, so I'm rather excited to see the results when I get them done.

[P C Headland]

I'm pretty sure it is a three element lens.

The RF is pretty easy to work on. I swapped out the RF semi-silvered mirror, as the coating on mine had turned to dust. Being non-coupled, it is pretty easy to work on. The only annoying thing is the placement of the cocking lever. Other than that it seems quite well put together.

The lens performs quite well, and is quite interesting when wide open (past the widest marked setting). Here are a couple of example shots when used wide open:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1336/538508251_f060a2ae77.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1238/538508241_371424ee9d.jpg

Some more examples from the Agifold on my flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mad2cv) site and over on fotopic.

[sweathog]

The lens performs quite well, and is quite interesting when wide open (past the widest marked setting).

Do you happen to know just how wide it is when you push it beyond the last marker? I'd hazard around f3.5, but I really wouldn't want to guess.

Nice shots too.

[P C Headland]

Do you happen to know just how wide it is when you push it beyond the last marker? I'd hazard around f3.5, but I really wouldn't want to guess.

Nice shots too.

That was what I was guessing at too.