Pentona II (1963)

Pentona II (1963)

#404

This photo is from the copy I own

History and technical features 

The Pentona is a viewfinder camera for 35mm film. It was developed by Zeiss Ikon and produced first by KW and later Pentacon.

The black coated parts of the camera's body and the bottom are one part which has to be removed for film load. Thumb wheels (knurls) on top and bottom serve as film advance/rewind controls. Other elements on the top are the flash shoe, the shutter release and the exposure counter. The viewfinder is a reverse-Galilean type. The metal surround of this has two tooth-like pointers near the top, which are parallax-correction guides for use at close focus.

In the middle of the bottom is a second thumb wheel, the camera lock. Another element on the bottom is a tripod screw thread. The most characteristic part of this camera model is the metal front part of the body, in which the lens tube is mounted. Nearest to that part is the aperture control ring. The middle of the lens tube is the speed setting thumb wheel. In front of that part the tube is narrowed towards the inner part of the lens tube. This inner tube with engraved distance scale which turns for focusing.

Model II

The Pentona II was introduced in 1963 and is properly a Pentacon model. It has a much bigger viewfinder than the first model; McKeown states that this has a bright-line frame, which must be of the albada type. The camera has a film advance lever instead of a knob. The front bodywork is much simpler than the characteristic shaped front of the earlier model.

Source: camera-wiki.org

The Pentacon Pentona is an unusual camera in the Pentacon camera family but it offers some great features, most notably its lens. Read more after the break!

The VEB Pentacon firm in Dresden, which was then East Germany, was the biggest camera and lens factory in the GDR between 1959 and 1990. Best known for its ‘Praktica’ series of SLR cameras, it did however produce a few other more curious gems throughout its relatively long existence, including the Pentacon Six 120-film SLR leviathan, as well as two versions of the camera that I’m going to review here, the 35mm Pentacon Pentona.

Originally produced in 1956 by KW, a camera manufacturer that later got absorbed into VEB Pentacon, the Pentona is a fairly basic little point-and-shoot camera which might well have been aimed primarily at children (the frame counter dial has a lovely little smiley face on it.) It nonetheless has some highly attractive features in both of its two versions (I’m reviewing here the second version which differed only in minor details from the first.)

It has a lovely bright viewfinder positioned right above the lens which if combined with clear correction pointers, reduces parallax error to a minimum. It’s robustly built — mostly of aluminum rather than plastic. The whole of the back slides off to load the film, creating more of a light-tight seal to last. It’s small in the hand, and has an incredibly quiet shutter. The film wind lever is on the left (rather than on the right as is more common) and needs to be wound quite firmly along a short span three times to both prime the shutter, advance the film, and move the frame counter.

Finally, the shutter won’t work without film in the camera — the sprocket holes on the film turn a cocking wheel mounted at the center of the camera. Shutter speeds are limited at B-130-60-125. And aperture settings likewise, it’s between 3.5 and 22. It is an all-manual camera with shutter and aperture setting levers mounted on the front lens itself. There is no rangefinder or another way to get exact focus — you have to rotate the lens barrel to the range that you want. This will probably all sound relatively familiar to anyone with a Smena but I think the Pentona has better general build quality and a knockout lens.

Source: lomography.com


Specifications

Specifications
Type: viewfinder camera
Manufacturer: KW
Year of launch: 1956
Film: 35mm
Lens: achromatic Meyer-Optik Görlitz Trioplan 1:3.5/45
Shutter: Priomat leaf shutter, flash-synchronized with speeds 1:/30 to 1/125 sec. plus B
or Prestor RVS shutter with speeds 1 sec. to 1/500 sec. plus B
Aperture: 1:3.5 to 1:22
Viewfinder: optical
Film advance: knurl, advancing unlocks shutter for next exposure
Dimensions: 125 × 84 × 67 mm

Source: camera-wiki.org


Model


Reference sites

camera-wiki.org

lomography.com

simonhawketts.co.uk


Manual


Film


Pictures taken with this machine


Videos

Agfa Click-II (1959-1970)

Agfa Click-II (1969-1970)

#403

This photo is from the copy I own

History and technical features 

Click-II is a medium format film viewfinder camera manufactured by Agfa Kamerawerk AG, Munich, Germany and produced between 1959-70.

The Click was yet another cheap Agfa camera designed for the Lomography. With its one speed shutter and few option it was never intended to be anything else than this. Unlike it's 6x9 brother the Clack it was completely constructed out of plastic making it quite vulnerable for damage, if you drop a Click it will most likely break. The main differences between the Clack and the Click is the lens, the Clack has a lens of f11 - f16 while the Click has a f8.8 -f11 lens. Other differences are the fact that the Click II is 6x6 camera (opposed to the 6x9 of the Clack) and thus is a little more economic. The Click II also lacks a socket for a cable release and it's a mystery why Agfa decided to drop this feature. The results of the Click II are not bad for such a cheap camera.

The other camera in the Click line is Agfa Click-I.

Source: camerapedia

More than three years ago an Agfa Click II became my constant companion. This circumstance was neither achieved by a high-resolution image sensor nor by any other special features, but is owed to the absence of modern settings. Apart from all the things the Click is lacking, it holds some attributes that make photography such a pleasure. The 50 year old leather case, that closes with a press button on its back and still is in near mint condition, as well as the sturdy plastic body are just the beginning.

Technical details
The Agfa Click II was produced in Germany from the end of the 1950s until 1970 – how many cameras can claim that nowadays? It has approximately 75 mm focal length, which is almost a normal lens for 6×6 cm medium format. The settings of the fixed-focus lens that focuses on 4 m to infinity, are limited to one lever, which can be set to “sun” (ca. f 16) or “clouds” (f 8.8). Apart from changing the aperture, the same selector can be used to swivel in a built-in close-up portrait lens (f 8.8), that focuses on 2.5 to 4 m. The exposure time always amounts to 1/30 sec, which is why sometimes photographs become blurred by camera shake – but this simply belongs to the Click’s characteristics. Once there was the clip-on flash Clibo enabling the Click to take pictures regardless of sunshine, but it was only produced in a much smaller number of pieces. Furthermore, fitting batteries and flash bulbs are extremely rare today.
When I bought my pre-owned Click II, I found an old film inside that had not been manufactured since 1974 – which also explains the camera’s sound condition. Since then I have almost exclusively equipped the camera with (in part expired) slide film. By choosing the film material the last “setting option” is gathered.
En route with the Click
In all fairness, the technical details concerning the Click are of marginal importance. Much more essential are subjects that stand to benefit from a restrained unsharpness and vignetting as well as a colour shift which results from expired film emulsion. Therefore it is definitely worth taking the Click outside. Weighing only 460 g (including leather case and roll film) it is far from being a burden. For my liking the Click is primarily a fair weather camera, although it can be used in all weathers, independent of power supply and anywhere around the world. All that is necessary is a 120 roll film, which is manually wound forward by means of the winding knob after every single exposure. Due to the few settings (one exposure time and two apertures) photographing with an Agfa Click is so easy – far from the compulsion to take perfect pictures. When getting the film developed you will never know in advance what you will receive exactly. (However you can be sure to get a well exposed film as the Click is much more reliable than a Holga without doubt.)
The Agfa Click II provides all images with its own characteristic visual impression, even those that would look rather unexceptional and boring when captured with perfect sharpness, perfect colour reproduction and perfect exposure. That is what makes the Click so special and in my opinion more than perfect. When it is treated well, it will probably render a service for the next 50 years or more – as long as roll film and film laboratories exist.

Source: ueberlicht.com


Specifications

Film: 120 roll, picture size 6x6cm
Focusing: fixed focus, 4m to inf.
Viewfinder: simple Galilei
One shutter speed, about 1/30
Lens: Achromat 72.5mm f/8.8; downs to f/11
Aperture settings: cloudy and sunny setting ikons on the lens-shutter barrel; switchable lens proves 2.5-4m close-up taking
Tripod mounting screw on base plate
Connection pins for the Agfa Clibo flash unit
The bend back cover plays a role as a film pressure plate and provides for a steady and good sharpness
Body: plastic

Source: camerapedia


Model


Reference sites

camerapedia

ueberlicht.com


Manual


Film


Pictures taken with this machine


Videos

Agfa Isolette (1937-1942)

Agfa Isolette (1937-1942)

#402

This photo is from the copy I own

History and technical features 

The Isolette is a compact horizontal-folding camera for twelve 6×6 cm (2¼-inch square) pictures (or sixteen 4.5×6 cm (2¼×1⅝ inch) pictures, with the first model of the camera) on 120 film. It was made by Agfa Kamerawerk AG, Munich, Germany, from 1937, and the series of cameras continued until about 1960.

Some of the series were sold (and some made) in North America by Ansco as Speedex models.

The cameras are as follows:
The original Isolette (1937-42)
Isolette 4.5 (1945-50)
Isolette V (1950-52)
Isolette I (1951-58)
Isolette II (1950-60)
Isolette III (1952-58)
Isolette L (1957-60)
   
There was also the Super Isolette (1954-60), a coupled-rangefinder camera.

Source: camera-wiki.org


Specifications

This first model (1937-42) is a dual format camera. It has hinged masks in the film chamber (they pivot around the spindle of the film rollers on each side of the film gate), to change it from the 6×6 cm format to 4.5×6 cm. There is also a mask for the viewfinder, put in place with a selector lever by the eyepiece.

It first came on the market as the Isorette (embossed in the leatherette of the front door/lens bed as JSORETTE), but the name was changed to Isolette (again, marked on the camera as JSOLETTE) within a year, with no significant change to the camera itself.

One of the distinctive features of the camera is the top housing, made of a plastic called 'Trolitan'; the post-War camera has a cast aluminium top housing. This camera also has loops to attach a strap, the only version of the Isolette to have these.

Different lens and shutter combinations were available, allowing a wide range of levels of specification. All have front-element focusing. The shutter release is on the body. Film advance is by a wide, flat knob, using a red window; there are two red windows in the back, one for each film format, and a swivelling cover for the upper (4.5×6 cm) one. There is a swing-out spool holder on the supply side of the film chamber. This model was called the "Soldatenkamera" (soldier's camera) in Germany during the War.

Year of release: 1937
Film Format: 12 exp. 6x6 or 16 exp. 4.5x6 on 120 type rollfilm.
Shutter: Vario, Pronto, Prontor II, Compur or Compur-Rapid.
Lens: 8.5 cm f/6.3 Igestar, f/4.5 Agnar, f/4.5 Apotar or f/4.5 Solinar.
Viewfinder: reverse-Galilean viewfinder
The earliest cameras have Vario shutters which are not labelled as such.

Source: camera-wiki.org


Model

First model (1937-42), dual format camera


Reference sites

camera-wiki.org

ken.lyndrup.dk


Manual

English Manual


Film


Pictures taken with this machine


Videos