Agfa Super Silette

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Agfa Super Silette 1

Specifications:

Type: Rangefinder

Lens: Agfa Apotar 45mm f3.5 - f16

Shutter: Prontor 9 speed + B 1,2,4,8,15,30,60,125,300

I picked this particular gem up at a local car boot sale in a box of "scrap". It was absolutely filthy and starting to corrode on the alloy casting of the front panel. Also the advance lever return spring had broken, but it looked at me with it's sad eyes and said "take me home and care for me". Well how could I refuse such a plea so I paid the man and took it away to safety. Once home in my workshop I started to lavish some TLC on it and, to my delight, discovered that the spring was exactly the same as an old Silette which I had in my spares box, job done. On close inspection, under magnification, the front lens element looked like it had seen better days but the rangefinder was bang on the button and the rest of the camera scrubbed up well so I decided to give it a go before I condemned the lens. So within 3 hours of rescuing it from the scrap bin I've fixed it, cleaned it and loaded it with film ready to go out in the field. I am very glad that I did because it produced some fantastic shots up the gardens, which you see here. This now goes straight up to the top shelf with the cameras I will use again. The only problem I have left to sort out is the slow speeds from 1/4 to 1 sec which are a real struggle for poor old thing, in fact the 1 second takes about 15, but from the 1/8 upwards it seems OK.