Agfa Silette-L, 2024 (I)

JANUARY 2024 – Close-up of an Agfa Silette-L viewfinder camera with Prontor-SVS shutter and Agfa Apotar 1:3,5/45 lens. Photo © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com

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The story behind the image

In Gear Talk #7, published last Sunday, I shared my experience with a used Agfa Silette-L viewfinder camera from 1956.

For this piece I shot several photos of the camera (sadly, not with the camera), and here is one of the images. A beautiful close-up, shot with Canon’s EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM which is a superb lens for macro photos.

I love the way the large aperture blurs everything except the focal pane. This sets the attention on the details and features of the Agfa lens, highlighting its metallic robustness that has already survived almost seven decades. It shows the distance setting, the depth of field indicators, the exposure times, and the f-stops.

One speciality, by the way, is the exposure value (EV) setting on the far left (in bright red) which sits on the same ring as the f-stops. Setting a higher EV (for a brightly illuminated scenery) will automatically select a higher f-stop number. Even better: the lens shows all possible combinations for f-stop and exposure time for a given EV. The settings shown in my photo, for example, enable you to shoot from f/3.5 at 1/300 sec to f/16 at (about) 1/15 sec. Super easy to use once you understand how it works.

You can override the restrictions of the EV setting by simply ignoring it. Just set the f-stop/exposure time combo you like, and release the shutter. (Don’t be disappointed, though, when the image comes grossly over- or under-exposed.)

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The high resolution image

Capture Date & Time	14-JAN-2024, 10:23
Location	Unterhaching, Germany
Camera	Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens	Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
ISO	100
Exposure	1/100 sec at f/2.8
Digital Image Source Format	Canon Camera RAW (CR2)
Edited Image Format	JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB
Edited Image Dimensions	4771 x 3181 Pixels
Copyright	© by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com