Agfa Parat-I |
Version française |
Manufactured or assembled in Germany from 1963 to (After) 1968.
Index of rarity in France: Infrequent (among non-specialized garage sales)
Inventory number: 13044
See the complete technical specifications
Chronology of cameras Agfa
Cameras with "Parat" in their name made by Agfa are models that use 135 film, but the negative is only half the size of a 24 x 36 mm frame, that is, 18 x 24 mm. A 36-exposure 135 film will give 72 shots with these cameras. This can be seen as an advantage because it requires fewer film changes, but it can also be seen as a disadvantage because 72 shots can take a long time to use. To address this issue, Agfa sold a cartridge called "Week-end" with a reduced capacity of 24 shots (equivalent to a 12-exposure 24 x 36 film).
These cameras date back to the early 1960s and are contemporaries of Olympus Pen cameras. They are very well made, and their small size makes them beautiful objects.
Years | Price for 1965 | |||
Parat-I | 1963-68 | Simple without lightmeter |
168 francs | |
Paramat | 1963-67 | Identical to the Parat-I, but with automatic aperture adjustment by the light meter. | 337 francs | |
Optima-Parat | 1964-69 | Fully automatic camera, like contemporary Optima models | 548 francs |
The Parat-I is the simplest model in the series, as it does not have a light meter or a collimated viewfinder frame. The shutter offers three instantaneous speeds and a B mode. The aperture and shutter speed values are displayed in two small windows on the crown surrounding the lens.
The focus adjustment, by rotating the front lens, is indicated either by three pictograms (portrait, group, landscape) placed above the lens, or by scales in meters and feet placed below. For this, the focus ring has two marks; so the camera must be turned over to see the distance setting display.
The lens is a 30mm Color Apotar with a maximum aperture of f/2.8.
The rewind release button is located on the top of the body. The accessory shoe has a flash sync contact.
The shutter release button is located on the front left of the lens (therefore on the operator's right hand side) and has a hidden thread for a cable release.
The back, completely removable, is locked by a lever located under the bottom plate. Right next to it is the view counter, which is countdown and manually resettable. A particularity of this counter is that it advances only once every two exposures (but it does advance by two graduations).
It is a very simple, but well-made, well-finished, compact camera and, thanks to the 72 exposures allowed by the half-frame, perfect as a "notebook". It was presented at the 1963 Photokina, during the renewal of the half-frame format.
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