Camera Talk

Hi, all -

Quite some time ago (more than a year, anyway), I sniped my way into a Speedex Special R. I've had dozens of these over the years. They're fun to fix, fun to shoot, and produce wonderful results. I used to spend an awful long time fixing old cameras. A sickness, really. But it had been years since I'd worked on one of these. I contacted Sandeha and ordered a new bellows, knowing that the stock ones would be trash. Camera arrived. Not in stunning shape, a little corrosion on the metal, and the usual maladies - stuck focus, wonky rangefinder, loose coverings, and bad bellows.

Then I stalled. Decided it would take more attention than I would have to put into a flip camera. Everything went in the drawer. It all sat long enough that I eventually listed the bellows for sale, figuring the odds were against ever finishing the camera.

Well, no one bought the bellows, and I got to thinking about it again. Read some of my old threads about the work, and yesterday had a couple hours to play. Broke into the shutter, cleaned and adjusted the rangefinder, replaced the bellows. The camera's now ready to load and test the focus. I remember now why I used to do this.

Ansco Speedex Special R by Scott, on Flickr

I'm sure I'll sell this someday, but not today. I have two kids interested in playing with it. My wife and I have a summer vaca planned, and I'm thinking about bringing the Speedex along with some Ektar just for kicks. And now I'm trolling for more projects.

Told you it was a sickness...

Scott

Sounds like a pleasant, productive hobby to me; sickness might be a tad harsh.

Robert

Robert, look back through my exploits on nelsonfoto sometime. T'was an obsession at one point.

Still, said tongue-in-cheek.

Scott

I had my Agfa Isolette III done by Jurgen Kreckel a number of years ago (can't remember when exactly). It costed me an arm and a leg (brassing, new bellows, CLA, shipping back and forth to the U.S., customs) but I figured it was worth it 'because I was going to use it much' (which I didn't). That was back then. Now I don't think I would do it again, but rather attempt to DIY it because (like you said) it is pretty easy to do yourself, once you have a good bellows. I have repaired one of those already : it was an Agfa Record III that I bought for EUR10.00 : it too had a frozen lens (focus) and a sticky rangefinder and I managed to repair both. These are indeed fun and rewarding cameras to work on because they are pretty simple and straightforward. After seeing your beautiful camera, I think I just may get myself another one and do it all over again, just for fun.

I like that with the blue bellows. The Agfa Isolette II/Ansco Speedex R is really a very solid camera.

The Agfa Isolette III was the second camera that I bought when I got back into photography. It's such a nice, friendly camera to use. Some of the cameras had the leather bellows.

I've yet to see one with plastic bellows that didn't have light leaks.

Nice repair, and the Apotar is surprisingly good most of the time. Sweet, practical and effective little folders.

Mine is so ugly, it's covered with some whitish stuff. I covered it with paper towels, and stuffed it back in the corner of my workbench, where it still sits after two years of waiting.

There is just something about an Agfa camera though. You did good with that repair, Scott.

PF