Agfa Isolette V

Pronto Agnar 1:4,5 85 mm  – 754156

1950 – 52

My Agfa Isolette V was given to me by my wife having found it when she was helping her Mum move house. The Isolette was her Dad’s, bought in 1950 when he was doing his National Service in Berlin, Germany. The camera is in excellent condition although the leather case offers only protection and can not be carried around due to the missing shoulder strap. I also have my father-in-law’s steel Bilora Stabilo tripod in a leather case and Bilora Luxa flash, which both cleaned up very nicely.

 The above pictures are borrowed, and I will replace them with photographs of the actual items!

Now came the fun bit. Would the Isolette still take a photograph? I couldn’t wait to try it out.

First I had to find a manual. Although to be honest there are only three settings; Aperature f4.5 to f32, Shutter Speed 25 to 200 and a manual focus ring. What no auto-focus and image stabiliser?

Finding 120 film was fairly easy. I went for Fujifilm 100 ACRO, then waited for a sunny day. I didn’t have to wait long and a family walk along the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes gave me the opportunity to nervously try out the camera. With each shot taking what felt like several minutes to compose and shoot, finding subject matter to photograph without lagging too far behind was a problem. However, 12 clicks of the shutter and several twists of the film winder later and I was done.

Right I thought. Lets get the film rolled and sealed and get it off to Boots for 1 hour processing! How little did I know .. I knew that I would have to find a specialist photo lab but I didn’t realise that it would be so difficult to find a high street lab close to where I live in Wokingham. Google came to the rescue and after reading a few blogs about recommended mail order photo labs I posted my order off to Genie Imaging www.genieimaging.co.uk. Five working days later my 12 6×6 photographs arrived.

Although I knew that the photographs I took were nothing special and were not going to win any accolades, I was still excited to see whether the old camera was still capable of producing an image on film. Imagine how pleased I was when I found that more than one of the photographs was half decent!

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For my next venture into medium format photography I am going to attempt to develop my own film. Watch this space ….

Nonetheless, folded up the Isolette is not much bigger than a Kodak Retina IIIc (a 35mm folding rangefinder) and could easily be describable as “pocketable” – more so than even the smallest Canon EOS.

The shutter uses an inexpensive Vario leaf shutter. The body appears to be made of aluminium. There is no double exposure prevention on it, so you can make ghost images to your heart’s content. When you wind film, you must observe the little red window on the back and align numbers. Quite a simple mechanism, which means that most of these units still work.

There were three choices or grades of lenses from worst to best. Apparently, with the 3-element lenses, stopping down to f/8 or f/11 will yield the best results. The 4-element Solinar is also reputed to be an excellent lens.

The lens on my camera is an Agnar 85mm f4.5, 3 element.

Film type: Type 120 (medium format), 6cm x 6cm exposure size (actual 56mmx56mm)

The Agfa Isolette models include:

Isorette                    1936 (renamed Isolette) Some sources say 1937

Isolette 6.3                1938-42

Isolette (model 4.5)        1946-50

Isolette V                  1950-52

Isolette I                  1952-60

Isolette II                 1950-60

Isolette III                1952-58

Isolette L                  1957-60

The skill is assembling the cards so that they are evenly spaced across the mounting card.

The completed Buzz Board is then framed within a box frame so that the 3D effect is enhanced behind glass.

The images below illustrate how the Digi-Studio 3D Photograph Buzz Board is constructed.

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The images are available in .png format so that they can easily be placed over your photograph in any word processing, desktop publishing or graphics package.

Use the user guides below for detailed instructions on how to apply these 11cm x 7cm Christmas Photo Card border Art designs.

        PDF – Applying Border Art to Photographs – Publisher

        PDF – Applying Border Art to Photographs – Word

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The poster graphics here were created for the Wokingham Lifestyle Magazine and a pop-up shop at Pulse 8, Sindlesham in Wokingham.

Pulse 8 event on Wednesday 7th December, at Pulse 8 Health & Fitness Club, Mole Road, Sindlesham, Wokingham, Berkshire, UK, RG41 5DJ  

Download poster: Pulse 8 – Poster 2011

Click on the image to enlarge ….

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    Click on the link below to view and download the PDF document

    Forest – Winter Fayre 2011 – Poster (no sponsor)

    Forest – Winter Fayre 2011 Programme (A5 booklet)

The Forest School Christmas Fayre 2011, on Saturday December 10th from 12pm to 3pm at the Forest School in Winnersh.

Four graphics to choose from, each with Old Style and Contemporary text variations.

Reindeer – Snowy Photo Merge – Bold & Basic – Snow Burst

Click on the image to enlarge ….

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Available to order. Contact sue@pilola.co.uk

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The iCushion is constructed from durable fabric and filled with a mix of wadding and natural and synthetic beans that makes the stand soft to the touch with weight to keep your mobile device safely in an upright position. A simple design, but so effective! 

The larger iCushion for iPad and other tablet computers and eBook readers has been a hit with those who prefer not to accessorise with a bulky case and stand, and prefer instead to handhold their device in its minimalist form, and rest it on a cushioned stand to operate or play applications hands free. The iCushion pyramid shape design provides a 30 degree viewing angle which is enough to hold your device securely and view the screen comfortably with minimum glare. The different iCushion fabric colour and pattern options mean that you can choose the stand that best suits your home or office, giving a softer and less-tech look than the traditional hard lined plastic products. 

The iCushion is handmade by Sue Parker and is only available through Pilola. 

Contact sue@pilola.co.uk

Why all this advertising on a photography and design web site? Well, I took the product photographs and do all the promotion and marketing design! The Pilola iCushion product photographs were taken using a white popup tent and portable studio lighting, with minor brightness and exposure enhancements in Photoshop.

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Each table runner is interlined with cotton wadding, backed with ivory cotton and is hand finished in a complementary fabric. The appliqué design is hand embroidered in red to pick out the colour in the patterned fabrics.

Buy Pilola Christmas Table Runners online from www.pilola.co.uk or find Pilola on Folksy.

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