Agfa Agfamatic Sensor 200
This was another of my brilliant 75p finds in our local charity shop. My copy is in good mechanical, optical and cosmetic condition, though the case is a little battered. I am amazed at some of the interesting old things that crop up there.
About
This is a small ‘instamatic’ style camera from Agfa which entered production in 1972. It was designed by Schlagheck Schultes Design. It has the classic styling of the Agfa Sensor range with the large red membrane shutter release. The body is black plastic. There is no flash, though there is a coupling for instamatic flash cubes. There is a tripod mounting socket on the base.
It takes 126 film with an image size of 28x28mm. All in all this is a lovely alternative to Kodak instamatics, and it takes pretty nice images, with just a hint of a vignette from the lens.
Lens and Focus
The lens is a 3 element fixed focus 44mm Colour Agnar. Based on the 28mm image size this gives a field of view of 35°, to fit a full body length shot in frame you would need to be about 3m away.
Assuming the lens was focused hyperfocally for f/16 (at 4.37m) it would have a close focus of about 2.1m; the manual states a focus range of 1.2m-∞ so I an guessing there is a certain lattitude in the quality deemed acceptable there!
Exposure
There are four exposure settings with symbols indicating sun over water, sun, partial cloud and overcast. The sun over water setting is 1/80s at f/16. Sunny is 1/80s at f/11. Partial Sun is 1/80s at f/8. Cloudy is 1/40s at f/8.
This would appear then to be calibrated for ISO 32 film, which seems very slow. The manual shows an advert for Agfacolor Special CNS which was rated at ISO 80. I wonder if the values are adjusted for life in northern Europe where (I often find) the rule is more like sunny 11, even on a good day! I have provided an exposure table below.
1/40s is said to be the flash sync speed, but there is no separate flash setting – From my translation of an old French advert the settings can be used to determine flash distance (1-1.5m at f/16, 1.50-2m at f/11 and 2-3.5m at f/8) which indicates it will actually sync at all speeds.
| Film Speed | Setting | Ev | Conditions |
| 32 | Sun over water | 16 | Bright sun over sand/snow |
| Sunny | 15 | Sunny 16 – Bright/hazy sun with distinct shadows | |
| Partially Cloudy | 14 | Weak hazy sun (2) | |
| Cloudy | 13 | Cloudy Bright – no shadows | |
| 64 | Sun over water | 17 | Rarely encountered in nature |
| Sunny | 16 | Bright sun over sand/snow | |
| Partially Cloudy | 15 | Sunny 16 – Bright/hazy sun with distinct shadows | |
| Cloudy | 13 | Weak hazy sun (2) | |
| 125 | Sun over water | 18 | Rarely encountered in nature |
| Sunny (1) | 17 | Rarely encountered in nature | |
| Partially Cloudy | 16 | Bright sun over sand/snow | |
| Cloudy | 15 | Sunny 16 – Bright/hazy sun with distinct shadows | |
| 250 | Sun over water | 19 | Rarely encountered in nature |
| Sunny | 18 | Rarely encountered in nature | |
| Partially Cloudy | 17 | Rarely encountered in nature | |
| Cloudy | 16 | Bright sun over sand/snow | |
| 1) I have tried this with Verichrome Pan, which rates at ISO125, using the correct setting according to the conditions and had reasonable results. Verichrome Pan has quite a wide latitude, but is also not known for losing speed. 2) I will often allow EV14 (Sunny 11) or even EV13 as a guide in summer in the North of the UK. | |||
Gallery
Vital Statistics
Type: 126 Cartridge Camera.
Shutter: Two speed; 1/80s and 1/40s.
Lens: 3 element fixed focus 44mm Colour Agnar.
Aperture: f/8, f/11, f/16.
Transport: Manual single stroke.
Dimensions: 106 x 59 x 54; 181g.
Links
My sets on Flickr taken using the Agfamatic Sensor 200.
Agfamatic Sensor 200 on La Collection d’Appareils (in French).
Agfamatic on Wikipedia (in German).
Agfamatic Sensor 200 on Christian Zhan’s Optiksammlung (in German).
Agfamatic Sensor 200 on Camera-Wiki.
Agfamatic Sensor 200 on Wolfen Industry and Film Museum (in German).
Agfamatic Sensor 200 on KniPPsen Virtual Camera and Photo Museum (in German).
Owners Manual