Agfa Isola II tryout

Yesterday I received my long awaited Agfa Isola II (after the mail service screwed up yet again). It was in not

so good condition, the leatherette is peeling and very dirty (ordered a new one already), shutter didn't work and

it had the beginning of fungus in the inner lens (first time ever I had fungus). So I put myself to work, took

the front lens apart and got rid of the fungus but I needed to re-adjust the frontal lens to acquire infinity

again but that worked out just nice. After some fiddling with the shutter release mechanism it suddenly popped to

life and needed no further work (luckily).

 

The Isola II has a nice Agnar lens. I belief it's very simple triplet because it has a front element, an element

between the first element and the shutter and an element behind the shutter but it can be possible that that last

element is just a piece of glass instead of a lens, can't tell for sure. The shutter is a Singlo 2 with 2

shutterspeeds (1/30 and 1/100) plus a Bulb setting. The aperture is either f6.8 or f11 and together with the

shutter it gives a little control, it's not just point and shoot. Focusing is done with the well known

Guess-O-Matic system and the closest you can go is 1 meter (3.5 feet). I didn't expect much of this little

critter at first but after seeing the results I was rather surprised. It's much more quality than the Agfa Click

or Clack and it has quite a sharp lens for such a cheapo camera.<br>

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<img src="http://users.skynet.be/unclegoose/brol/brand.jpg">

Nice shot! And -- obviously -- nice camera. I've gotten some similar quality out of some old folders. In fact I've got a backlog of test rolls from some that need developing. Maybe your post will inspire me to get off my butt....

 

Ahhh, yes, the fabled Guess-O-Matic® System! Ask for it by name!

Good photo! This is really an underrated and largely forgotten camera. I used to have one years ago. I like the quality of the camera, and little things like the swing-out "arms" to make loading film easier. And i bet the folks at Mamiya looked at this camera - with its collapsible, pop-out lens when it designed the Mamiya 6 .....

Great shot UG. well composed.

I have put a new leatherette on the Isola II ! I ordered a sheet of Seal Grain Red trough www.cameraleather.com and today I got the order, It's not perfect since I had to cut it myself and it was my first time I ever did this but the result is nice.<div></div>