Agfa Silette
Agfa used to make cameras, and this is one
of 'em. It's a sweet little 35mm viewfinder
job with a bright line finder. "Viewfinder"
means there is no mechanical device on the
camera to help the user with accurate focus.
You take your best guess and set it on the
lens. Understanding depth of field helps a lot.
The camera above is shown with a yellow filter
(I shoot mostly black and white), and a neat
little Sekonic Twinmate light meter. If you
are not good at estimating exposure on dull
days (like me) these are really handy.
Just Enough
The lens is just
fast enough, and just sharp enough, for me at least. It's no
Nikkor, but it does a respectable job. It has a simple shutter,
with speeds from 1/30 to a just fast enough 1/250, plus "B" for long
exposures. Minimum aperture is f22, which is just small enough
for asa 400 film on sunny days. The little red knob is the self
timer and the flash sync is on the left. It will sync at all
speeds.
It has an accy shoe, but it's not "hot". The film counter is at the bottom. The rewind knob on the left pulls up so you can get a better grip to use it. The shutter button on the right is threaded for a cable release.
There's a sticker inside the back plate admonishing the
owner to use Agfa Isopan film. I couldn't find a single
roll of Isopan at the local drugstore. I guess they were
out of it. So, I figured APX 400 should be close enough.
Hey, it's still Agfa film, so it shouldn't hurt the
camera, right? I shot a roll and developed it in
Gainer's PC-TEA formula.
Negs were printed on Agfa MC Premium RC paper.
As is my wont, I shot another barn, and this
time I got a big-un. Everything's about
snow in these parts this time of year.
The marquee for the old Blue Fox theater. I just love everything about this old place. Guess that's why I keep coming back to it. The sky is white here because it was white when I took the photo. Clouds.
And the ticket box at the Fox.
I love a place with a nice painted glass door. Great name for a bakery eh?
We see a lot of this here on the prairie. I've seen it where there has been a sprinkler left on over a freezing night, but this is au natural. Ma Nature did it without any help. Looks kind of like fuzzy frosting.