Camera Talk

This is one of my favorite cameras. It has a few quirks, but overall I really have enjoyed using this camera.

The Optima-Parat is the premium Agfa half-frame, fitted with a sharp f/2.8 30mm Solinar lens and a Compur shutter.

It is mostly autoexposure, featuring a trap-needle meter powered by a selenium cell. The ASA range of the meter runs only up to 200. I've limited myself to Kodak Gold 200 and ASA/ISO 100 black and white film. There is a flash-synch speed of 1/30, and you can manually select the aperture – that would be your only ability to have manual exposure.

I think it's a handsome camera. The body is very smooth - almost too smooth. I find that it works best in a case. The all-metal can be difficult to hold because it's so smooth. Plus, in the winter months, it wouldn't surprise me if your fingers stuck to it. Well, maybe not, but I would imagine it to be very cold in your bare hands.

The body has no strap eyelets, so if you want to attach a neck strap, you really need the hard case. The top half detaches, leaving you with a nice half case.

The Solinar is a Tessar-type and very sharp. It is scale focus - make your best guess. But with it being a 30mm lens, even at f/2.8, you can miss on focus and still get your shot. The lens has a 25mm thread, and you can still buy filters, although you do have to hunt a bit for them.

I've shot a lot of color and black and white. I really enjoy using the Optima-Parat. Like most half-frames, the camera takes verticals/portraits by default. You have to turn the camera to take a landscape photo.

It's a great everyday camera, and it's very easy to use. The only thing that I would change is to use a top-mounted shutter release. I think that the front-mounted releases are more difficult to use, and the one on the Optima-Parat is slightly stiff. You have to take care when releasing the shutter that you don't move the camera at the same time.

» I have a review of the Agfa Optima-Parat on my site.


Some statues that occasionally caught me off-guard (I thought they were humans), despite me seeing them for something like eight years in a row.


Going through the car wash. Took the dog with me one day (not when I took this). When the water hit the windows, the dog freaked and leaped and clawed his way to the back seat. It was the last time that I took a dog through the car wash.


A building with an interesting reflection.


My niece with my big bro'. Shot on Kodak Gold, desaturated to b/w and then added some color back into the photo. I was trying something.


Comedian Jim Gaffigan does a funny bit about going to the Waffle House after a night of drinking: "It's 2 a.m. - still time to make one more bad decision."

Mike,
Your post has good evidence for why you like the Optima Parat: you can make excellent photos with it in a variety of situations-- it's at the ready in the car wash, passing by the Waffle House, or when your niece plays with the little dog. The lens really handled the detail and lighting on the two statues beautifully. It must stand with the top-of-the-line offerings in the HF world. I never quite understand why strap lugs are left off cameras that are set up to take dozens of pictures; the two Canon Demis that I know are like that.

Bill Delehanty

Yeah, I'd like to add one of these to the brace of Agfa cameras I already own. They were always making stuff that was not spectacular, but got the job done.

PF

Looks like a very serious little camera, and that lens is definitely a good one. Guess focus is not a problem with a 30mm lens. A good match for the Pen and the Demi and all the others, if not a bit sharper.

Maybe the designers wanted all these modern cameras to be smooth outside, probably to make them different from the older ones, full of little wheels and buttons outside - and eyelets. I remember looking at these styles and feeling how old my Retina II looked, at the time.