Super Sharp, Super Solinette

[P C Headland]

Since I like medium format folding cameras so much, when I spied a clean looking 35mm folder on the local auction site, logic dictated that it would fill an newly identified gap in the camera fleet. I let it run a couple of auction cycles, telling myself I really didn't need another camera, especially another 35mm camera, and certainly not a folding 35mm camera. But, each time it didn't sell, I could hear the camera calling. No, I already have a small, folding 35mm camera - a Minox 35GT, and I don't need another. But it would go well alongside the MF folders. But then Agfa grease glue. But the seller said it seemed to work fine.

Ah, why not. Scratch the itch!

So, the camera arrived, a rather clean looking Agfa Super Solinette. Everything seemed to work well and the camera was in fine cosmetic condition. I loaded a film and wound to the first frame. And kept winding, and winding and winding. Hmm, something's not right. So, a quick look online and the top's off. The flat spring that governs the frame spacing mechanism had somehow popped up too far, so the lever would not engage in the frame counter. A bit of poking around to work out how the mechanism worked, and the flat spring-steel spring was persuaded back into the correct position. I also checked the RF and lens focus (spot on) and cleaned the helical so the focus is now nice and smooth.

The start of winter was quite pleasant and warm. This time when I loaded the film (Fomapan 100), the winding stopped at frame 1, just as it should. I headed about 20km north for a walk around an inlet.

Here's some shots from that first roll. I threw caution to the wind and developed the film with the remaining HR-DEV developer. Untested camera, untested film+dev combination. Well, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Perhaps a tad overdeveloped & overexposed, but the camera is super sharp. No leaks in the bellows or other issues, focus is bang on.

[P C Headland]

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