Agfa Isolette L

[photax]

Hi !

Sometimes I make a bid on Ebay between 5.- and 7.- Euro on supposed precious cameras and once a year I`ll get one. Won the auction on this Agfa Isolette L at 5,50 winning bid last week, which totally surprised me. It is the “flagship” and last model of the famous 6x6 Agfa-Isolette series. The camera has an uncoupled light-meter (still working) and had been produced from 1957 till 1960. The viewfinder can be switched to 24x36 format, because this model also takes 35mm film. The lens is a Color-Apotar 1:4.5/85 in a Pronto-shutter.



The first Isolette ( written Jsolette ) had been manufactured in 1937. It has a Bakelite top and took pictures at the format 6x6, or 4.5x6 and became a frequently used camera by the German soldiers in WWII..



The Isolette V was named “Ansco Speedex 4.5” for overseas selling in 1951. A metal plate inside the camera tells: Made for Ansco by Agfa Kamerawerk München Germany.



There had been a lot of models and different versions ( about 80 ) of the Isolette made by Agfa. I have a few and now I `ll try to find one of the super rare Super Isolette`s…

MIK

[daveh]

Very nice too. I see the new camera won't be in isolation - having a few family already at home.

[PeterW]

Dave,

I like your play on words ... isolette, isolation.

As usual this started the little grey cells working and I wondered how Agfa coined the word Isolette.

Isolette also means an incubator but I don't think that's the reason. It had to be a word that could convey the same meaning in most Indo-European languages which suggests it was coined from either Latin or ancient Greek.

Isos is a Greek word meaning equal, and the suffix ette usually means smaller (cigar, cigarette etc).

So, equal ... smaller ... I wonder.

The original Agfa Isolette took 6x6 cm pictures, smaller than the normal 6x9 cm for 120; 6x6 cm is an equal-sided format, so ... equal-sided, smaller than the usual 120 picture ...

Anyone else got any bright ideas?

PeterW

[daveh]

Peter,

I'll go along with your thinking - unless one of the German speakers comes up with anything else.

As regards "isolation": yes it was meant as a bit of a play on words. I often try to put something of similar ilk in my posts, particularly on a few rugby club forums. It always tends to be the same people who pick them out. Mind, some of my thinking is so convoluted that I can't even pick "it" out when I re-read it myself. The is less need on here to resort to wordplay as a picture is worth a thousand words; or so they say.

Dave.

[Doug T.]

Hi MIK !
Those are nice cameras you've got there. I have a real soft spot for anything from Agfa / Ansco. Quite a few Agfa cameras were manufactured not 10 miles from where I live. Ansco had it's base and manufacturing facilities right here in Binghamton, and quite a lot of Ansco equipment was just re-badged Agfa.
I should start an Ansco/Agfa collection before they totally disappear

Doug

[mickeyobe]

ISO. International Standards Association. The European version of ASA. American Standards Association.
ette. Diminutive but also an expression of affection.

I guess I am stretching reality quite a bit to suggest that Agfa loved the International Standards Association and preferred it to the ASA's methods of measurements.

Mickey

[photax]

Hi !

I think that the „Iso“-part of the word Isolette is related to the Agfa Isopan (and later also the Isochrome) films. The first picture shows some from the late 1930`s to the mid 1950`s. Mickey, Agfa used the DIN-code ( Deutsche Industrie Norm ) instead of the ISO. The first model of the Isolette was named Isorette. As Peter said, the –rette part is related to the handiness of the camera, but I also don’t know where the Iso-part came from. I have a book titled “ Agfa, the history of a German worldwide concern from 1867 – 1997 “, in which the Isolette story is described, but no reference about the name-finding. The Greak Isos means equal, as Peter mentioned. That would be a bad advertising strategy: “Buy a Isolette, make all pictures look the same !” Agfa had manufactured a Isolar camera plate camera in 1927 and the Isolar-plates ( picture 2 ). The Chromo-Isolar plates are from 1915 and the stereo-plates from 1942. I guess Iso- was always on their mind, even from the beginning…

AGFA stands for “Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation“ : Stock Company for Analine Production. 1982 or 1983 ended the camera production in Germany, the last camera was the Agfa Compact, the final Agfa Optima model ( picture 3 ). It is sad that most of the great names in German camera production are gone. Doug, collect some of the Agfa/Ansco cameras, now they are relatively common, not too many people interested in, and cheap I noticed that the Ansco Work was located in Binghampton NY. Is the building still there ?

MIK

[Doug T.]

Mik,
The buildings were torn down a couple of years ago to make room for a small business incubator. We do, however, have an extensive collection in the local museum, and a lot of vintage ansco items in the area antique shops.
I read somewhere, I can't remember where though, that Ansco / GAF was the only film manufacturer to win an Academy Award. I have quite a few friends who used to work there.
I really like the Compact, it's got a neat 80's look to it

Doug

[daveh]

As all the best threads go, this has branched off and all sorts facts ranging between completely new and totally forgotten about come to light.

On the subject of AGFA film: in the 1970s and 80s I used several rolls of ORWO film, mainly black and white. Many people thought ORWO was Russian, but it stood, I believe, for Original Wolfen. This was, I seem to remember reading was where AGFA film started being produced.

On the subject of film speed: I remember BS, Weston, Ilford and Scheiner being quoted on some film packs. The list is almost endless, www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Film_speed. Thank goodness someone had the sense to produce a standard for all.

My mention of Weston starts me wondering about where my fathers old Weston Master disappeared to. Perhaps he gave it to my nephew Mark when he started doing his photography course fifteen years or so ago. Mark has got Sixticolor meter. (I had bought it cheap in Cardiff on the basis that I might use it sometime - never really did in earnest.)

[cuchulainn]

Wow! that looks like a nice set up. I myself just got my first Isolette; it's the WWII vintage with the bakelite top that's in your second picture. I paid about $8 for it this morning. I was wondering about them; but now I can't wait to try it out!