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Agfa Speedex 'O' ~ Art Deco Camera :: change of item number and price reduction: eBay item number:314797208645

You won't see another one like this : eBay item number:314771989135

We managed to re-assemble this Speedex and all seems ok, but time will tell ! Very many thanks to all, am genuinely very grateful for your advice :0)

Many thanks winfried, hopefully it's gradually starting to make sense : I will let you know how I get on .... fingers crossed !

thanks kmac, suspected that would be the case on the shims, I had seen that specs page, again many thanks. The main problem is I still can't see just how the lens and shutter should be correctly retained, unless you're saying just glue it ? And crucially Are the shims correctly placed in first photo ?

thanks kmac, suspected that would be the case on the shims, I had seen that specs page, again many thanks. The main problem is I still can't see just how the lens and shutter should be correctly retained, unless you're saying just glue it ?

ok thanks, and I must add that there are three 'similar' thin shims that sit around the lens, more visible in our first image, resting on the rear of the shutter ~ should these all just be replaced as illustrated ?

ok thanks

very many thanks kmac what exactly do you mean by the locking nut ?

This is a 1930s Agfa vertical style VPK folding bed camera using 127 film, has a Solinar 3.9 lens with Compur shutter, this is the known as the export version of the Agfa 'Billy' O. Having removed lenses for cleaning ok , I now cannot see how to re-assemble all of it back into the body, problem being how to actually retain it using the slotted ring, which surrounds the rear element. Is there anybody who knows the trick, and it's not the same as other Agfas like the isolette, they're horizontal not vertical folders like this one. If I cannot get this 'together' in the true sense of word I am truly shafted ! Many thanks for any help you can offer.

In reply to gwhitegeog, many thanks for your very interesting posts, most informative and clearly laid out 😌

in reply to gwhitegeog

V. many thanks but camera was passed on for spares many moons ago 🙁

Rick , you're smack on mate 100%. To just re-iterate the fact that the major players like Nikon. Canon etc. "don't give a crap" has prompted me to enlarge (bad pun) on my original post, which does somewhat lack 'clarification'. A local enthusiast needed a repair to their Canon EOS DSLR which they had paid over £1000 for some 12 months back. They were told by the repair companies that spares were not any longer available for that camera, nor generally for any cameras/lenses more than 7 years old. Shocked by this news, said enthusiast took the matter up with the dealer who had sold him his expensive but now useless artefact. The dealer, who I know personally and trust 1000%, who had been selling cameras for at least 40 years, was equally incensed, and made some urgent enquiries in the trade. What he subsequently found out shocked him to the extent that he immediately stopped selling all second hand equipment as he would not be able to offer customers any repairs for anything over 7 yrs old, which obviously most are. The dealer's further enquiries also exposed to him the dire state of the current photographic trade: For many years all the main 'makers' have farmed out camera and lens manufacturing, to the extent that many companies do not know exactly where 'their' stuff is actually made, and so when it comes to spares they only stock the absolute minimum, hence the maximum 7 year limit that now exists. Of course anybody can spend what they want on new kit but that's not the point in question. It's when, like the previous example, you splash out on that older but mint looking marvel that you always longed for, only to find out later that you just won't ever be able to get it repaired... It gives us no pleasure at all to expose, (more bad puns), today's sad facts but hopefully it will help serious enthusiasts to avoid major upsets. Cheers.

At risk of repeating my original summary May we wish Happy Days to one and all 👩‍🦰 !!

Latin was not always my strongest point Ken but the phrase 'Q.E.D.' repeatedly springs to mind.. To put it another way ; all repairs have stopped because spares have stopped and makers are no longer makers...Q.E.D.

If you ever expect to get any photo gear repaired, read on : It is now a fact that no spares, none that is, zero, zilch.... are any longer being produced for photographic items that are over SEVEN , THAT'S 7 YEARS OLD This crazy situation now exists, it's not a bad dream it's stark reality. It's happened because all the major names no longer actually make cameras & lenses themselves and these companies couldn't actually give a toss. As long as you spend your money with them, that's all they need, any 'reputation' has long since evaporated. Don't believe me , ok just contact any major independent repairer and see what they have to say.... We would love to be proved wrong

Yes many very reasonable points made on this subject, makes a pleasant change !

Pic shows a 220 insert, do you get same problem of light leak with 120 ?

Yes, would tend to agree with you jim, perhaps prices will drop as punters get p'd off with the exorbitant costs of both cameras and especially film😠

Have been told the earlier versions are the best ....

Thank you so much for your very kind and sympathetic note, not a day passes when I do not think of him, we were close friends for 55 years..

Cheers Rick :0)

Love the face and the tattoo!!

Great shot and great camera a good old camera :0) Fully understandable :0)