2024 – The Hachinger Bach in Unterhaching, Germany, on a day late in winter. Photo captured with a Agfa Super Silette-L viewfinder camera from 1958 on AgfaPhoto APX 100 black and white negative film. Photo © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
As you may know, I re-discovered analog photography with old cameras a while ago. It began by the desire to not just look at and edit photos from the past but to refresh the memories of the photographic experience.
So I purchased this Agfa Super Silette-L on eBay, and the camera came very close to my memories. I was (and still am) uncertain whether I actually shot reguarly with this camera as a boy in the 1970s. It could be, but today I definitely know that I shot with the Kodak Retinette 1B of my mother. I did not remember this camera when I purchased the Agfa Super Silette-L though.
When the camera was delivered, I inserted a fresh b&w negative film – the excellent AgfaPhoto APX 100 – and started shooting. I did not shoot a lot of images, and when I realized that I was really looking for the Kodak Retinette, the excitement faded slightly. So, it took me almost a year to finish off the film.
One morning early in March 2024 I took the camera to our nearby stream, the Hachinger Bach, and captured this image. Now I got the film back from development, and I realized that – after more than six decades – the essential camera functions work like a charm: exposure meter, shutter, focus ring, film transport. (I did neither test the self-exposure timer nor the flash function.)
I present this image almost unedited, straight from the negative scan. I am quite satisfied with the result. The image is sharp, the exposure is well-balanced, and there seems to be no dust, scratches or hairs on the image.
Yummy.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date & Time | 2024 |
| Location | Unterhaching, Germany |
| Camera | Agfa Super Silette-L |
| Lens | Agfa Color-Solinar 1:2,8/50 mm |
| Film | AgfaPhoto APX 100 b&w negative film |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 16 bits/pixel, grayscale |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 7232 x 4755 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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