Agfa Silette Automatic User manual

2.8t50 mm. LEI{SAGFA COLOR-SOLII{AR f
The lens of your Agfa Silette Automatic camera was computed snd
manufactured in conformity with the most up to date scientific
methods. It was thoroughly tested in the laboratories of the Agfa
Camera Works, Munich, and t.h,e high quality of its performance
is positiaely assured rnith brilliant definition, extremely high
resolrsing power and exciptional,.contrast  rendering to meet the
exact requirements of miniatu.r, phZtography-both  colour ancl
black and zohite.
                 EF  AGFA AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
                           'g       Camera-Werk Muenchen

Venmo @mike-butkus-camera  Ph. 2083
PayPal Name  Lynn@butkus.org      www.PayPal.me/lynnbutkus

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A VERY OLD WISH OF YOURS
 hos of lost come true. You ore the owner of o new comero, the technicolly perfect
 Agfo Silette Automotic. Moy we congrotulote you on your choice. lt will give
 you ioyful, hopPy, restful hours, ond record them for the picture book of your life.
See how simple  it is to toke photogrophs with the Agfo Silette Automotic:
                     Set the distonce

                                                                _ - - i,                    Control the exposure qnd
                       press the shutter ;gleose button.
These four movements you will teor:n very quickly. However, it is useful to know
o little more obout ones comero; this is why we hove written this little booklet for
you. Pleose do toke o little tirne over itsritud! ond you will olreody reop the
benefit with your very first exposures.                                                                                            :,
Probobly your photo deoler hos olreody filooded " your comero (this is whot the
experts coll inserting o film). This minifiture firm is wound on o spool ond en-
closed in o light-tight cosette.  lt is                                 ivoiloble in two different lengths,  i. e. for
36 ond 20 exposures. (The film size, by the woy, is 24x36mm.).tf q-film hos not
been inserted in your comero pleose refer to instructions on poge s 24-25.

FILM INDICATOR DISC
The Siletie Automotic is fiited with o film indicotor disc which serves to remind
you of the film currently looded in lhe comero. lt is odvisoble to set it immediotely
you insert the film.
For this purpose the re-wind button is pulled out ond its top disc gripped
beiween thumb ond index finger (see fig. 2). The indicotor disc con now be
moved on by the index finger olong the milled edge until the opproprioie  film
                              doto oppeors in the window. The film
                               speed is stoted on oll film cortons. The
                                                             . .- disc con be rototed in either direction.
                                                        lf you insert e. g. o block ond while film,
                                 the block ond white fields should be set
                                                               :'- inr,the window of ihe field indicotor disc
                                     io signify this foct (see olso fig.3).
                                                             If you ore using colour negotive film, pro-
                                        vision is mode for the following setlings:
                         CN   : Colour negotive film,
                                 CN l7 = Agfocolo-negotive lilm for doylight                                               ond orttttctot ltght.
                                                        Fio. 2

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 When looding o colour reversor firm for tronsporencies, you shourd use one of the following seilings:
      T                   : coto* reversor firm, ortificior right tvpe (incondescent romps wirh 3400" Kervin)
                   : Cotor. reversol film, ortificiol floshlight type (38000 Kelvin)      T
                   : Colou. reversol film, doylighi type              ,fif"

D IN/ASA SCALE
 Il is olso odvisoble ot lhis stoge to set thp.
film speed os lhe bosic operoiion of the
exposure meter buili into your comero
depends on it.
To do this, move the liftle butlon io the
right with your lhumb ond rotote the scole,
found under the rewind button until ihe
block index mork is opposite the numbler
corresponding to the sp6ed of the$lm
you ore using (fig.3 lzo DIN/40 ASA).                                           Fis.3

                                                                                               3

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 FILM TRANSPORT
 During looding the beginning of the
 film is rendered un-usoble by the effect
 of light, ond you must begin by mok_
ing two blonk exposures. Eoch lurn
of the ropid winding lever winds the
film on one frome. Swing the ropid
winding lever with your thumb firmlv
right round to the stop. Should the
lever be locked, the releose button
must be depressed to free it. Afier
these operotions of winding on the
film ond releosing the shutter hsve
been mode twice your cqmero.will be
reody for oction.





                                         Fis.5

The reqdiness for qclion of your cqmero is considerobly increosed by the ropid
          windino lever; this is o porticulor odvontoqe if o sequence of pictures is to be
           copturid, becouse someiimes the success 6f photogiophing o'situofion full of
            tension. heliqht or fun, depends on o split second- decision. lf for horizontql
            picturei you-look through your viewfindqr. with your right e.ye, you- need not
         even move your comero- fr6m it for the film tronsport. The thumb of the right
         hond operoies the ropid winding lever, thereby'keeping you constontly "in
           the picture".
        An Ever Reqdy Cqse should qlwoys be used; it protects your comero ogoinst the
            influence of w'eother. A fixing screw reliobly secures the iomero in its Ever Reody
          Cose so thot you con toke y:our pictures ffom the Ever Reody Cqse of on ongl6
           without ony risk to your comero.

                                                                                                                                      i.     .,
      DOUBLE AND EMPTY EXPOSURE LOCK
          The Agfo Silette Automqtic is equipped with o double_ ond blo.nk exposure lock.
           This m-qkes it impossible to exp6si'the qgme piece of film twice, moreover the
            film connot be wound on withbut releqsing th'e shutter. lf therefore the releose
           button connot be operottid, you hove eith6r not yet wound the film on, or you
           previously foiled to'pull the iopid winding lever to iis stop. This lotter foult con
         be correited by rep'eoting this ngcvemeni to its completibn without losing ony
             film. lf you ore nevertheless in d6ubt whether the film hos been wound or not,
                     it would be wrong fro try the rdlose button, os this might lose you on exposurei
            insteod, you should try-to move the ropid winding lever. lf this is locked, your
              Silette Automotic will be reody for the next picture.

              6

I:i                                            \

IL

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                                                         E;^  A

JUDGE THE DISTANCE'_                             AND FOCUS
on the front rim of the lens mount the'iristonce vorues in feet ore engroved.
The block dot (6, see fig. 11, poge 13) rjs the focusing point which the distonce
volue orrived or must foce. stop_.nuqfiei's ore engroved to the reft ond the right
of this focusing mork. Theie ouxilioryYiumbers hqve o speciol tosk in coniunclion
with the distonce seitings, os we shori now exproin in some detoir, on pogesl6-lz.

WHAT WE MUST KNOW...
The preporotory work hos been completed, the distonce hqs been iudged ond
set, ond now you wqnt to know the exposure volue. Since the intensity of the
light is not olwoys the some your comero is provided with o number of different
shutter speeds ond olso different operture stops. With the oid of these two odiust-
ments the omount of light odmitted to the film con be odiusted to suit the bright-
ness of the subiect. Since only o certoin qmount of light, however, is odmitted to
the film-occording to its speed-it  is your tosk to determine the correct omount.
This tosk is solved for you by the exposuremeter  built in ond coupled to the
iris diophrogm ring of your Agfo Silette Automotic.
Let's try out right owoy how quick ond eosy the correct exposure setting of your
Silette Automotic con be determined.*
First moke certoin once more,th'otiihe DIN/ASA scole under the rewind button
hos been set to the speed of the film in the comero-os described on poge 3.
                                 t.ts

3. 5nopshols
                    When photogrophing ropidly moving subiects ond
                                   in qll coses in which quick oction is required set the
                                 shulter first, followinj fhe pointer in lhe viewfinder
                            frome while turning lhe stop ring-ond lhen releose.
                         The chief ollroclion of your cometo is the exposure
                           volue indicoiion reflecfed in ihe viewfinder which
                         con be controlled oi ony time when viewing your
                                   subiect. When copturinq o series of subiects (such os
                             scenes of sport, f loy oid children etc.)'this Teoture
                           proves to be especiolly useful becouse smoll ex-                            Fis.8
                             fosure fluctuotiohs con'eosily be compensoted. The
                                 principle of the exposure meosrremerit in the view-
                             findei is similor io the indicotion visible in ihe
                            vrindow, Above the reflecled luminous frome o
                                fixed block mork ond o pointer which con be moved
                       by turning lhe stop ring ore visible in o.luminous
                          window. As soon os this pointer is exoctly centrol
                           with the index mqrks the correct exposure volue
                                          is se$
                             Att exocl meosuring resull cqn only be ochieved                      whbn holdinq fhe comero in horizontol posilion
                           even if q vert'icql piclure is lo be loken.www.butkus.us

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WHAT IS THE CORRECT
SHUTTER-SPEED COMBINATION  ?

 Let us ossume thot the light meosure-
menf ollows-os we con olso see from
figure 11-the following shutter-speed
combinoiions:
   l/too   rlps r/ao l/so 7l*    l/e
2.8  4   5.6  8    ]t  16  22
As eoch of these combinotions odmiis  .-;
the some omount of light io the film
you need only choose the shutler speed
combinotion most suitoble for'your   .
subiect ond sei it opposite fhe trio,ngu--,i'
lor mork (see figure 11) by tr.irning the
lorge milled ring. Afler fhe meqsure- "                           ;*''ir*menl hqs been completed be sure lb              f*-"\ €
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    . - i!         1,lurn only lhe lorge millej ring. In ogler                                 \--.-to choose the correct combinotion ihe  -3:*ij                     \following focts ore importont to know:            Fis. l0   k

lf you wont to photogroph o londscope in which the foreground os well os the
bockground  is to be shorp, o smoll lens operture is necessory (occording to the
toble on poge 11, e. g. f/8 ond t/6q sec.). Slower shutter speeds (such os rlso, LljJ"
1/6, etc.) should not be used for hond held instontoneous exposures.
 lf you wqnt to copture o ropidly moving subiect, o fost shutter speed is essentiol
in order to obtoin o shorp, crisp picture (occording to the toble on poge 1'1,
e.g. l/soo ond stop between   f 12.8 ond f l4). ln the first cose, then, o slow shutter
wos set in the interest of q smqller lens operture, ond in the second cose o lorge
lens operture wos chosen in the interest of q fost shutter speed.
Noturolly o picture con of course-olso then be mode when the triongulor mork
ofter completed meosurement comes to rest between two stop volues.  lt is quite
in order to use on intermediote setting on the operture scole, but it is importont
thot the lriongulor mqrk ,never points- lor,on inlermediate setfing on lhe shutter
speed scale. However, this corr eosily be ovoided becouse the lorge milled ring
engoges in o positive click-stop setting corresponding to eoch shutter speed on
lhe scole.
                                            F

                                                       q*



t2

A FEW TIPS FOR THE EXPOSURE MEASURING PROCEDURE
Experience shows thqt in londscope subiects the sky occupies o consideroble
proportion of the piciure ond since wiih very few exceptions the sky is lighter
thon the moin subiect it is odvisoble to point the meter ot the dorker port of
the subiect to ensure occurote reoding. lf the subiect shows extreme differences
in brightness, you must decide which ports of it must be rendered correctly. The
reoding should be token close to the essentiql porl of ihe picture. This essentiol
feoture should be opprooched, ond the exposure meter wotched until the in-
fluence of the brighter surroundings hos been eliminoted.This point will be reqched
os soon qs the pointer of the exposu,r-€ meter ceoses to reoct noticeobly on further
opprooch to the subiect. With the exposure volue thus found, the photogroph  is
then token from the originol position.
When using Cotour Reversol Fi|m (b{;. fgfocolor Reversol Film) for your photo-
grophs it is odvisoble tci point the. meter ot the importont lighter port of the
subiect.                                         I
When using Negotive Coloui fimi tne exposure meter should olwoys be pointed
to the essentiol dqrfrer port of fre subiect.



14

DEPTH.OF.FIELD
When we deolt wiih the choice of exposure time/stop combinotions we men'
lioned o lorge ond o smoll stop; by lurning the stop ring the operfure con be
opened ond closed. To enoble you to wotch this operotion yourself sei the shutler
speed ring of your unlooded comero to B, press the releose button ond look ol
ihe lens from the froni. You will note when iurning the stop ring thot ot o lorge
operture opening o smoll number (i. e. 2.8), ond ot o smoll operture opening o
lorge number (i.e.22) is focing the triongulor mork.
                                         t               "        "T'lD"i i:::;ifl]i:"'"          "',:'?;'J'j:;;]['fi':,@    @
As you will see from the exomple, the zone of shorp depth is vorioble;  it in-
creoses with decreosing operlure ond olsd.with increosing distonce. To enoble
you to conlrol the extent ofthe shorp aone, your Silette Automotic hos o depth of
field scole (8, see fig.'l l, poge 13), fiom which you con reod ot ony time ihe
opproximote extent of the zone.  . I
 lf, for inslonce, you hove focused on 15tt ond siopped down io f/8, the ronge from one engroved
No.8 io the oiher defines the depth of field ot this operture ond disionce: in this poriiculor cose
opproximolely from l0 to 30 feet.

16

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 SNAPSHOT ADJUSTMENT
 Your reodiness for ociion will be in-
 creosed for close up or long dist-
 once shots if you moke use of the
 snopshot setting. For ihis purpose
 the distonces l0 feet ond 30 feet ore
 engroved in red on ihe focusino
 ring, ond in oddition, o red dof iI
ploced between f/8 ond f/1 1. lf you
now choose o shutter speed/stop
combinoiion so thot the red dot or                                                  Fis.12
f/.11 (occording to the resuh of the meosurement) foces the trionguror mork you
will h,ove o depth of field extending from g f-,9t to r5 feet with the red 10 setting,
ond from obout l7 feet to infinify ot ihe red 30 setting. Th" port, ,orked on
figure 12 render the obove more creorry ond iilustrotJhow tLe Jefth-of-fiera
zones con be reod on the depth-of_field'ring of your comero.
The depth-of-field toble on poges 2flb gives ihe occurotery corcuroted depth-of-field zones.           q

DELAYED ACTION
Occosionolly you will wont to be in the picture yourself. This is possible, becouse
vouiSilette Airtomotic is equipped with'o deloyed.oction mechbnism  (self-timer).First ploce your comero on ci iripod, or on o rigid support, ond set the green
E:::T,Y,JIf; Llts*'rJJ;,3:,""1,-'?:"i""'liff  ;:'i:"1'1ffi
ismissetinmotion,octuotingthepreviou.slysetshutterspeed{e+Wq
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             :ofter obout 7 seconds. All instontoneous shutter speeds con be'Fffi; ;;***M
used. The lever outomoticolly returns to X ond rirust therefore be rewound for
eqch deloyed oction exposu16. The delqyed oction olso works in coniunction with
the X flosh synchronizoiion shutter speeds. The deloyed qction must not be used
with the B (time exposure) setting.

WHEN TIlE LIGHI  IS INSUFFICIENT...
You con toke time exposures with yo-ur B sEtting. For this pu.rpose.the comero  is
s.t"*"J on io o trip6d-or ploced on o rigid iupport-qnd'o coble releose  (if
possible with o lockinq tcre#) screwed intoJhe buih of the releose button. With
ih" B setting the shuttir remoins opEn os long os the releose butlon is depressed.
The qreen numbers enqroved on th6 shutter speed ring connot be set. They only
                                                                                                      B.seruj to determine th6 exposurJ*ime when the shutt-er speed ring is set ot
They indicote the number'of whole seconds during which the shutter must be
 kept open of o given stop.

'18

With the X-synchronizofion-posi-   STOP TABLE FOR FLASH EXPOSU RES
tion of lever to X (or with deloYed                Shutier speed olwoys 1/so sec.
oction to V) speeds no fqster thon
l/eo or rTuo must be used. The oPer-
tures to be used ore given on the
toble opposite.

With the synchronizing lever set
to M foster shutter speeds thon
l/eo sec. con be used.

The opertures required ore given in
instructions ottoched to eoch flosh
bulb corton.
                                    Anv shutter speed, i. e' l/so to 1/roo sec., con be selAs the stop ond shutter sPeed rings     ir--l,n'eieittohic ftosh unit is used for block ond                                                                                                        the                                                                            However,                                                                                         film.                                                                      colour                                                           dovliqht                                          onaore coupled the shutler speed musli    *hit"                                                              tvpe'lle                                                                               the stop                                                                                     setting                                                               used                                                                         for                                                           ioinot                                                    toble                                      obovebe sel firsl ond then-by depress-'    which- must be colculoted from the guide- number
                                               Jf the hottt unit used, e. g' the guide--number 96 ising the pressure key dgoin-the E-    Jiuia"a ui n n.  (diston-ce fro-m subiect), which                                                                'this is ilie operture ot which the lens quired stop is set.                                      8,                                             shbuld"qroii be then set.

20

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 HOLDING THE CAMERA_
         SHUTTER RELEASE
The best distonce ond exposure settings
qre of no use if you spoil your pictures
by blurring them through incorrectly hold-
ing your comerq. Thus, hold your Silette
os shown in figure 13 with the finger tip
resting on the releose button, ond the top
finger joint on the top of the cqmero body.
You view your subiect in the viewfin.der;
the port of the picture visible inside the
reflected luminous frome only will oppeor
on the film.
 lf you cqn see only port of the frome then
your comero is not held close enough to
your eye. As soon os you hove toker4-oim
of your subiect, the shutter con -bej re-
leosed; to do this, presj down slofi  with
the finger tip os for os possible.                    Fis. 13

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          FILM TRANSPORT TO THE FIRST EXPOSURE
             The disc of the exposure counter is rototed os exploined on o
 q           poge 4 until the opex of ihe green triongle in front of the
             number % or 20-occording to the length of lhe inserted film- o6
!6   q            is opposite fhe morking. Move the ropid vfi*lihg lever os
               olreody described os for qs it will go ond press the shutter
                 releose. Afier this procedure hos been repeoted lwice the com_ o              ero is reody for oction.
         cARE OF YOUR- gAMERA
        We recommend you, to cleon lhe interior of your comero-
                 especiolly lhe cosselte chamber, lhe rewind spool ond the bock
                pressure plote-with o_poft                                              eoch time you chonge the film.                                            $rush
        CAMERA N UMBER
             The Agfo Color-solinbr lens ond your Silefte Automqiic hove o
              number.which is v$fble on the occessory shoe of your comero.
                        It is odvisoble to mEke o speciol note of lhese immediotely you
              purchose the comero.

THE FILM HAS BEEN EXPOSED-
                          REWINDING THE FILM
                                        After the lost exposure (No.1 opposite the
                                  index mork) the ropid winding lever con
                          no longer be operoted. Since, however,
                                   the film in o minioture comero is olwoys
                           wound openly on the toke-up spool,  it
                                 must be rewound into its light proof cos-
                                      setle before the bock is opened. There-
                                        fore, pull out the rewind butlon until you                                        -feel                                        ihe firsi resistonce (opprox. s/tu") ond
                                      rotote it in the direction of the orrow, ot
                                    ihe some time depressing the locking but-
                                           ,rton in ihe boltom of the comero (see fi9.16).
                            When the rewind bulton connol be rotoied
                                        Fig. 16   'further or when ofter leoving hold of the
                                          t.  locking button  it con be rototedveryeosily
the rewinding is comBlete, ond i@ tomero bock con be opened os described on
p.22.Ihe rewind button is pulled &t os for os possible, qnd the cossetie removed.
ll must be ploced immediotely in o lightproof wropping ond morked "exposed".