Agfa Optima rapid 250v User manual

2I DIN
               IOO ASA
                                       AGFACOTOR-
        AGFA ISOPAN IF   AGFA ISOPAN ISS       U N IVE RSAL
     I7 DIN         17 DIN
    40 ASA         40 ASA

=RAPID

lllustration
E-l Open camera back by pressing down        any further out of the cassette but
     locking catcfr. ln the right toading          just make sure that it is straight.        '     cfiamber is an empty Rapid cassette.
                                            Close camera back. A white triangle              g
El   tnsert the new Rapid cassette on the          will then be visible in the exposure
       left with the arrow pointing towards         counter window. Operate the quick
     the centre of the camera. Then press        wind lever twlce to the left as far as
     cassette down. Do not pull the film               it will go.

2

Exact distances from 4'3' (1.3 metres) to
infinity are marked on the lower part of
the focusing ring. lf you turn the lens
mount ring beyond lhe 4'3" (1.3 metres)
mark, as far as it will go, you can photo-
graph objects 3'3" (1 metre) away. The
white setting mark for this scale ring is
between the two words of the camera's
name, i.e. "Optima A Rapid".
Diameter of screw mount for filters, supple-
mentary lenses and lens hood: 30.5 mm.



                                            N.B. Make sure that the letter A is visible
                                            in the upper window of the milled ring.
                                                                        lf not, turn this ring until the A is visible.
                       A click stop ensures the exact setting.
                                  You can then be certain that the camera
                                                 will operate fully automatically.

www.butkus.us
HOLDING THE CAMERA
To obtain good photographs it is essen-    For close-ups (37+ ft.) the four dots in the
tial to hold the camera steady. You should    viewfinder form the limit of the picture.
therefore take your Optima Rapid in both   The illustrations below show the correct
hands, bracing your arms against your    positions for taxing oblong and upright
body. In the viewfinder you will see a   photographs. Make certain that the expo-
luminous frame which surrounds the sub-    sure meter window is not covered by your
ject and shows the exact picture area.     finger.

When lining up the subject hold the cam-    After the exposure operate the quick wind
era absolutely steady for a moment to en-    lever to the left. lf you should let go of
able the builtin exposure meter to react.    this lever before the full stroke has been
When the green signal appears in the   made, it returns to its original position
viewfinder this means "all clear" for the   and must then be operated again as far
exposure. Then keep the camera in the   as it will go.
same position and expose by pressing   As already mentioned, the release button
the magic release button down slowly as   can only be operated when the camera
far as possible.                             is loaded with film. In addition your
The red signal means stop-do not ex-   Optima Rapid .camera is fitted with a
pose. In such cases you can use flash or   double and blank exposure prevention
make time exposures (see pages 7 and 8).    device.

6

www.butkus.us
Your colour photographs can be improved
by using one of two filters:
a colourless ultra-violet filter in the moun-
tains or an Agfa R 1.5 filter on bright but
misty days and for long shots in the moun-
tains or at sea.
The lens mount of your Optima Rapid has
a thread for filters, supplementary lenses
and lens hood (30.5 mm diam.).

                       WITHOUT THE
                            AUTOMATIC MECHANISM
                                                             lf the red signal remains visible in the
                                          viewfinder when lining up your subject
                                                this means that there is not enough light.
                                                 ln such cases you can use flash, which is
                                      done as follows:
                                      Disconnect the automatic mechanism:
                                            turn rear milled ring to flash symbol (,2).
                                   The lens stop numbers then appear in the

small window and the shutter speed is    pears in the window (e.9. f/5.6 in the illus-
r/ro sec. Each Agfa flashgun is provided     tration).
with a table from which the correct lens   On this setting the shutter remains open
stops can be seen (watch film speed).      as long as the release button is pressed
Slide the flashgun (Agfa lsi M or Agfa   down. lt is advisable to use a tripod and
Tully M, see ill. page 7) into the acces-   cable release due to the risk of camera
sory shoe of the camera; this makes the    shake. The cable release socket is on the
required contact between the flashgun    lens mount, below, right.
and the camera (2, see main illustration).                               When the automatic mechanism is dis-
lf you wish to connect an electronic flash-   connected the red signal is visible in the
gun without a shoe contact it is neces-    viewfinder.
sary to use the Agfa Adaptor type 6793.
TIME EXPOSURES
By these are meant slower shutter speeds
trom 1/z sec. to several seconds which are
used for motionless objects such as when
reproducing  pictures, documents, postage
stamps and also for night photography.
For this purpose turn the ring for the auto-
matic mechanism to the B setting and see
that the required lens stop number ap-
I

www.butkus.us
cLosE-uPs
It is interesting to photograph the won-
ders of the miniature world at distances
between 16 and 28 inches. To do this you
will need a close-up attachment, e.g. Agfa
6711/305. We would also recommend that
you use the Agfa Natarix Universal view-
finder, type No. 6722.
The index mark on the viewfinder attach-
ment should be set to the third right-hand
line on the swivel foot (see adjacent  ill.).
For close-ups you can still make use of    field you can choose the lens stop you
the camera's automatic mechanism  if the    require by disconnecting the automatic
green signal appears in the viewfinder on   mechanism in favour of the time exposure
pressing the magic button.                   or flash setting.
In such cases however you have no in-
fluence over the extent of the depth of  END OF FILMfield since this always results from the
lens stop selected by the automatic con-    After the 12th exposure the film counter
trol system.                                  points to 1. Then make full strokes of the
 lf you wish to photograph a subiect so    quick wind lever until the letter E appears
that it is sharp over a certain depth of    in the counter window (the release button

is blocked during this process). Now
open the back as illustrated in fig. 1, tilt
the camera so that the cassette contain-
ing the exposed film drops into your hand,
and put it in its light-tight packing.
N.B.Eot pg! lhe end of the fllm mark-
ed with the word EXPON and other par-
tlculars ol the film (e.9. CT = colour re-
versal film for daylight) inlo the cassetle.
For the next film remove the empty Rapid
cassette by turning it outwards in the
opposite direction to the arrow and place
it in the right loading chamber so that
the arrow points towards the centre of
the camera (see instructions in cassette
charirber).
CLEANING
Now and again, when changing the film,
it is advisable to clean the inside of the
camera carefully with a soft lens brush.

10

www.butkus.us
The lens should be cleaned only with a   For colour and black-and-white pictures:
piece of soft leather or a special lens brush.                        Agfacolor UniversaI
                                                               Gevacolor N 5.
FILM TIPS                            For sharp, sparkling and realistic
                                            colour transparencies in daylight:Before loading the camera with film, as                                                     Agfacolor Reversal Film GT 18described on pages 1 to 3, we should like
to give you a few tips on choosing the                                 Perutz C 18                                                                     or Gevacolor R 5.right film.
                                    You can also have CT colour prints made
Make a habit of using Agfa lsopan F,   from your mounted transparencies.
Perutz 17 or Gevapan 27. They have fine   You may be interested to know that there
grain and good acutance.                are Agfa Touring Maps for Upper Ba-
For sports photography the high-speed    varia, Allgdu, Munich, Vienna, Cologne,
Agla lsopan lSS, Perutz 21 or Gevapan 30    Rhine and Moselle, Lake Constance areas
are the right films.                    and Switzerland containing photographic
                                          advice on all the points and places of in-
Agfdcolor films open up the world of col-    terest. Ask your photographic dealer to
our to you. For more than 25 years these   show you these interesting maps.films have been great favourites due to
their natural reproduction of pastel tints  EXPOSURE HINTS
and bright colours alike. Their high speed  When a subject with sharp contrasts has
has also made colour snapshots a reality.    to be photographed and you wish to ob-

tain the correct exposure for an object
which is small in comoarison with its sur-
roundings,  it is advisable to take a close-
up reading. Without this a photograph of
a woman in a light dress in front of a
dark background (to give an example)        Ever-ready case
would be over-exposed.
In such cases approach with the camera
to a short distance from the subject and
press down the release button a little way.
Hold the button there and return to your    Agfa CP 150
original position to take the photograph.           .
The correct exposure values set when
taking the close-up reading are fixed by
holding the release button partly pressed
dcwn.
For showing your colour slides we re-
commend the Agfa CP 150 or the at-
tractiuely styled ASfa Diamator H.
Agf acolor K slide frames protect yortr
p.tlunble transparencics from dust ntrd
tltlttln 8e.
12