Film cameras
Agfa flexilette User manual
User manual for Agfa flexilette. 32 pages in English. Read the original PDF, download or print a copy without registration.
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Document details
- Brand
- Agfa
- Model / document
- Agfa flexilette
- Document type
- User manual
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 32
- File size
- 3.6 MB
- Category
- Film cameras
- Document date
- Not specified in catalog
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Page 5 · Read text
Now thot you ore the proud owner of on Agfo Flexilette
twin-lens reflex comero you will be oble to toke wonderful
photogrophs os q constont reminder of the post. You ore to
be congrotuloted on your choice.
Two high-closs lenses orronged close together one obove the
other give this comero its distinctive oppeoronce ond enoble
the subiect to be viewed without porollox, to mention only
one of its mony technicol odvontoges. ..i.
The bright, ground gloss screen of the reflex viewfinder is the
some size os the finol picture ond mokes selection of the
subiect on eosy motter. Exoct focusing in on instont is o
further odvontoge offered by the built-in split-imoge ronge-
finder. Two things which moke photogrophy so simple ond
such o pleosure.
Your photogrophic deoler moy hove exploined the Flexilette
to you, but before using your new comero for the first time
we suggest thqt you reod through this little booklet to fomil-
iorize yourself with the vorious monuol operotions. lt offers
olso o number of voluoble hints ond suggestions.
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.IView original page 5Page 6 · Read text
Poges 2 to 13 contoin instructions on how to hondle your Flexilette ond olso some useful informotion regording ex- posure ond floshlight. Aport from this, detoiled porticulors of the wide ronge of occessories ovqiloble for the Flexilette, ond other useful hints ore given in the technicol section covering poges 14 to 25. Eqch time thqt o certqin port of the comero is described in the booklet, o number oppeors in o circle. These numbers ore supplied for eosy reference in finding the porl in the illustrotion printed on the reor cover flop. This flop should be opened out when reoding through the booklet. And now let us exomine the Flexilette in detoilView original page 6
Page 7 · Read text
lf there is no film in your comero, we
suggest thot you reod poges 20121 of
the technicol section exploining how
to lood the Flexilefie.
READY FOR INSTANT ACTION
Your comero is olwoys reody for oc-
tion due to its ropid tronsport lever @
on the bottorn plote. To tronsport the
film one frome you simply move the
lever out ond forwords with your fhumb
qs fqr qs it will go (see illustrotion).
If inadt:ertently the rapid transportlever
is not swioelled round as far as it utill
go, the operation should be repeated; in
such cases, the leaer may be blocked
half-way.
The film counter olwoys shows you the
number of exposures still left on your
film.
Double exposures ore impossible due
to o speciol locking device built into
the comerq.
(Pleose reod the instructions on p.22.)
www.butkus.usView original page 7Page 8 · Read text
CORRECT EXPOSURE . . . is the chief requiremenf for obtoin- ing successful phoiogrophs. The correct exposure of o film depends on fhree things: The speed of the film used, the lens. operture ond the oppropriote snulter speed. The shufter speeds ond lens opertures ore marked os numbers on'setting rings. These ore moved by meons oT keys (see upper illustrotion) to set the required.shufter speed ogoinst the in- dex mork ond by turnirig the milled diophrogm ring to set t6e nu."riory lens operture ogoinst the triqngulo-rmork (see lower illustrotion). - The more oction there is . in your photogroph, the shorter must be the shutter speed on" vor. comero (shortest speed r/uoo sec.). And th.e crieor- e.r the depth of the shorp focusinq zone"from the comero to.the .subiect is requirJd to be, thesmotter must be the operture settinq (smollestoperture , Furiher porticulors'oie given on poges l5l16.-t:.2-2.).View original page 8
Page 9 · Read text
VIEWING THE SUBJECT
Your Aqfq Flexileite twin-lens reflex comero
mokes child's ploy of lining up ondfocusing the
subiect. First open up the reflex finder @ bVpressing the smoll buiton in the direction of the
lf the focusing mognifier does
not sprinq up of its own occord,
push'the-smbll qrooved lotch ot
ihe right slightly to the left.
www.butkus.usView original page 9Page 10 · Read text
Now point the comero of the subiect (su9. il.l ustrotio ns, poge 4) o n d ro ise it until the focusing mognifier is close to your eye. Use thumb ond forefinqer tc turn the focusing ring until the "view- finder imCIge is ihorpl A RELIABLT CHECK CN F()CUSING f provi.ded by the. split-imoge ronge-finder. lf you'wotch ; vertic"ol line"of t!.u:ubiect in the viewfinder ond turn the tocusing ring, you will find thqt the two holves of the picture in the smoll focusing circle do not coincide (upp"l. illustrotion). As soon os these lines 'con_ tinue in singfe outfine from top to bottom ond o complete picture id toined (lower illusti-otion), the comero"b- is correctfy focused on the subiect.View original page 10
Page 11 · Read text
AVOIDING CAMERA SHAKE
Aport from focusing exoctly, it is essentiol to hold
your comero steody to obtoin shorp pictures. There-
fore toke your Flexilette in both honds. By shorten-
ing the corrying strop of the comero you con broce
it in the monner shown ond hove the tip of your
right forefinger resting lightly on the shutter
releose @. The Flexilette offers you four differentwoys of viewing the subiect when toking the
photogroph:
l. Throush th" *oii
level viewfinder
without the focus-
ing mognifier, us-
inging botlieyes.both eyes. ComComero held obout l0 inches be-
low the eyes. Focus control possible.
2. Through the woist-level viewfinder with focusjng
moqn'l-fiermogni-fier roised,roised, usinqusing onlyonly oneone eye.eye' TheThe
mognlmoqnifier is held closeose loto thethe eye,eye, givinggiving extroextro
www.butkus.usgood focus control.View original page 11Page 12 · Read text
3. Through the frome viewfinder using one eye. Roise
- the focusing mognifier ond hold the leni ot the { reor of the viewfinder hood close to your eye. No focus control possible.
4. Upright photogrophs with the frome viewfinder
using one eye. Roise the focusinq moqnifier. turn
the comero through 90c ond hold- the Lye-lens ol
the reor of the viewfinder hood close to'voui lelt
or.right pyf., Before toking on upright phoiogroph,
tr ts odvtsobte to tocu,s your subject in the oblong
position on the ground
gloss screen byheons
of the^ split-imoge
rongefinder.
r_f,
=>/
The reflex finder gives on imog-e the right
yoyyqy up.butup -our therne wrongwrong wo-ywoy round;round; theTromefhe trome vijw-view_
tinder gives on upright imoge the right woy round.View original page 12Page 13 · Read text
When holding the cqmero in your honds only shutter speeds of 1/oo to l/soo sec.
should be used, or 1/ao sec. if obsolutely necessory. With longer shutter speeds
ploce the comerq on o firm support of some kind, preferobly o tripod. For oblong
photogrophs press the shutter releose with the forefinger of your right hond. For
upright photogrophs (odvisoble only with the frqme finder) the thumb or index
finger cqn be used to operote the shutter releose, depending on which eye you
use. Press down the shutter releose slowly ond evenly os for os it will go. After
toking the photogroph, operote the ropid tronsport lever so thot the comero is
reody for the next shot.
Viewfinder porollox is non-existent in your twin-lens Flexilette os o result of the
proximity of the viewing ond toking lenses. You con therefore be certoin of
photogrophing the exoct picture oreq seen on the ground gloss screen, even ot
close distonces.
Your lwin-lens reflex cqmero enobles you to view the subiect from oll ongles
even during the octuql exPosure.
For exomple, you con point the comero verticolly upwords or downwords withouf
twisting your body in ony woy ond still hove the viewfinder ot eye-level.
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8View original page 13Page 14 · Read text
il
ffi
ffi
ff you wish to phofogroph over o crowd you ffi
merely hof d the Frexirette upside down obove your heod ond look of the ground gf oss screen ffi," : of the viewfinder from below.
Hdtrtr
when photogrophing smoil chirdren or oni-
mols you con even use the comerq sotis-
foctorify from o crouching position; in such
cqses it is odvisobfe to broce the comercl
downwords ogoinst the corrying strop round
your neck.
f t is of so possible to remo in unobserved ond
moke use of the ef ement of surprise by pho_
togrophing round q corner.
ln brief' The Flexirette mokes eosy work of
sefecting o wide voriety of subiects.View original page 14Page 17 · Read text
IN POOR LIGHT-
TIME EXPOSURES
For time exposures you should ploce
your Flexilette on o firm support or
use q tripod. When the shutter speed
ring is set to the "B" position the shut-
ter will stoy open qs long CIs you press
the releose. lt is normolly odvisoble to
use q coble neleqse which cqn be
screwed into the sh utter releose @.
lf, for instonce, you wish to photo-
groph q fireworks disploy, the time ofThe porticulors contoined in the ex- keeping the shutter open depends onposure tqbles on the previous pqges how long the firework burns.ore of course only intended os q guide;
it is better to moke quite sure by using The best method is to set the widest
o photoelectric exposure meter. The fens operture (f.2.8), the ttBtt position
Agfo Lucimeter S exposu re meter is on the shutter speed scqle snd the in-
not on ly hondy o nd ottroctively styled finity sign {*) ogoinst their oppro-
but olso very simple to use. priote index morks. For photogrophs
www.butkus.us12View original page 17Page 19 · Read text
TECHNICAL SECTION
OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION...
You will probobly wont to know something more
obout your Flexilette, to leorn of the ossociqtions
between shutter speed, operture ond depth of field, I
obtoin some useful hints on technique, hoW to
choose the right film for the right occosion-in I short, how to toke good photogrophs. And so we
odvise you to reod through the poges of this "Tech-
nicol Section". The time token will be well spent.
www.butkus.usView original page 19Page 20 · Read text
The diophrogm of o lens controls the When setting shutter speeds, use only
omount of light reoching the film. Un- the click settings for the vorious ex-
der good lighting conditions you con posure times; do not attempt to set in-
use o smqll operture, such os f .16 or 22, termediate oalues!
whereos in poor light o lorge lens
operture, such os f. 2.8 or 4, is nec-
essory.
The operture ond shutter speed deter-
As the diophrogm opens continuously mine the exposure of the film. Both foc-
it is olso possible to set intermediote tors qre reloted to eoch other. lt is thus
volues between ony two operture possible to combine o short shutter
numbers. speed with o lorge operture ond o
smoll operture with o long shutter
The shutter of your Flexilette offers you speed. The only importont point to
the second meons of controlling the remember is thot shutter speeds longer
omount of light possing through the thon t/66 sec. should not be used for
lens. Short shutter speeds, such os photogrophs holding the comero in
l/zso s€c., for exomple, ollow much less your honds; the obsolute limit is illight to reoch the film thon longer 1/36 sec. if comero shoke is to be ,I
speeds, such os 1/go second. qvoided. {t
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,--ttt ,,View original page 20Page 21 · Read text
Shorf shutter speeds ore used to freeze To express it simply: movemenf in oction photogrophy. A
smof l lens operture is used in londscope
photogrophy to obtoin good shorpness Lorge operture big oPening
in fhe picture right from the neor fore_ e. g.- f. 2.8 : deprhbut smollof field
ground to the distont bockground.
little oPening
greot but ln other words the diophrogm or lens Smolle. g.operturef.22 :
operture is used to regulote the depth depth of field
of shorp focus in our subject, refer_
red to os
To help you in finding out how for
this zone of shorp focusing for eoch Deplh of Field. The zone of shorp operfure ond distonce extends, use fhe focus in front of qnd beyond the Depth of Fiefd Toble on poges 26127. point on which the comero is focused
is thereforevorioble; it becomes greot_
er os the operture decreor", ond th"
distonce increoses.
t6
www.butkus.usView original page 21Page 23 · Read text
trote on the picture in the viewfinder THE RIGHT FILMond to press the shutter releose of the FOR EVERY OCCASIONmomenf when the light circulor portion
of the rongefinder gives on unbroken Before looding the comerq with film,imoge, indicoting thot the subiect is in here ore o few suggestions to help you
focus. in choosing the right film.
CARE OF..YOUR CAMERA Only 35 mm. minioture films ore used
To obtoin long life from your Flexilette in the Flexilette. The size of the pic-
it is odvisoble to protect it ogoinst the ture obtoined with them is 24x36 mm.effects of the weother with the proc-
ticol ever-reody cose mode speciolly These films ore wound on o spool en-
for the comero. closed in o light-tight cossette, ond ore
It is olso o good plon to moke sure supplied in two different lengths to
thot the inside of the comero ond the give 36 ond 20 exposures respectively.lens ore free from dust or dirt of ony
kind before looding the comero with Minioture films ore obtoinoble in vor-
film. ious speeds so thot you con choose
suited best to the film tvpe ofCAMERA NUMBER the ln yeor weother. ond seoson' the of
Your Flexilette beors o seriol number oenerol low-spebd films possess'films. o finerengroved obove the ropid tronsport droin thon l'iiqh-speed lf you
lever. We odvise you to moke o note fno* in odvonie thot you will be hov-
of this number immediotely ofter pur- ing big enlorgements mode from your
chosing the comero. ph"otolrophs It is therefore best to use
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l8View original page 23Page 24 · Read text
iil
' :l:
d.$ 6g
od-l30 Agfo lsopon FF, l30 DIN/]6 ASA. ond definition it offers the vontoge of of leost one extro lens
shutter operture or equivolentl7o The speed roiing of Agfo lsopon Advice F speed. on how to expose is 170 DIN/40 ASA. lt hos fine this film is contoined in eqch qroin, good contour shorPness corton. Ind wia-e exposure lotitude. This
is therefore ihe film to use os o The world of colour is open to you
normol-speed film. with Agfocolor film, o fovourite for
over 20 yeors becouse of the noturol21o ln poor light Agfo lsoPon lS5, woy in which it reproduces postel ond 2lo'DlNrl00 ASA, is the right bright colours olike. The high speed
film becouse it is twice os fost of these films hos mode oction photo-
os lsopon F. grophy in colour o reolity!
25o For very unfovouroble lighring For colour tronsporenc-ies' Agfocolor conditions use Agfo lsopon Ullro, Reversol Film CTlS; for colour prints
25o DIN/250 ASA. With subiects on poper, Agfocolor Negotive Film.
of normol controsi you con use in one shutter speed foster thon The lotter type of film is supplied 14o DIN/20 ASA ond with lSS, two speeds, 170 DtN/40 ASA. As o lost resort, where even the
speed of Agfo lsopon Ultro is not The correct woy to lood your cqmero
' enough, Agfo lsopon Record goes with film is described on ihe next two
one step further. With equol groin poges.
19View original page 24Page 25 · Read text
HOW TO LOAD THE CAMERA
First set the film iype indicotor (To be corried out in subdued
by turning the milled ring until light or in lhe shodow of yourthe required symbol oppeors in
the window, os follows: body.)
Block ond white morkings : Block-ond-white film
A
Drow out the rewind knob with
the left hond os for os it will go
ond insert the film cossette.
Push bock the rewind knob.
A
Open the comero bock by slid-
ing cotch in direction of orrow.
www.butkus.usView original page 25Page 26 · Read text
Insert the film in the slit so thoi
the lug engoges in the second
film perforotion.
Y Close the bock of the comero by
pressing it until it snops home.
As the film is wound on to the
first exposure (see poge 22) the
rewind knob @ will turn-indi-
coting fhot the film hos been in-
serted in the correct wov.
Drow out enough film for the
norrow tongue fo reoch the wind-
ing spool eosily. Then turn the
spool by its milled ring until the
brood slif ond smoll film per-
forotion lug ore uppermost. Now turn the winding spool in
the direction shown by the or-
row until obout r/srd. inch full
widfh of film proiects from the
cossette.View original page 26Page 27 · Read text
F ILM TRANSPORT FOR THE FIRST EXPOSURE
After closino the bock of the comero, set the film
counter whiJh olwovs shows the number of exposures
still left on your film. Press the smoll knob shown tn
ihe illustroti6n to the right until the ihin red line or
n"totk co'i b" ,u"n opposiie the diomond in fhe window'
lf vou hove looded o film for 36 exposures this will. be
;hJ;";;na-U"t*""n the numberi 0 ond 36,-or be-
twlen 25 ond 20 in the cose of o film giving 20 expo-
sures. You should then rnoke two blonk exposures'
inir ir done by moving the.rop.id tronsport lever os releose' the shutter presling possible bnd for os fepeg.t -either 36 or 20 the number until if'rlr i*i.L ot5."Juru -th" it Ldp.t-ii; t"d lin". Your Flexilette is then reody
for use.
DOUBLE AND BLANK EXPOSURE PREVENTION
Your Flexilette is fitted wifh o device to prevent.double ond blonk exposures'
itiir ruonrl["t two photogropht con never be token on the some fr.ome of tilm;;;;i;; thot in" nr,i *"Xoi'u" *"rnJ on until the exposure hos been mode'X;i;s"";;"; ;;';;il;;"p;* ir'" nim, th" shutter releose remoins blocked. www.butkus.us
22View original page 27Page 28 · Read text
REWINDING THE FILM
AFTER EXPOSURE
After the lost exposure, indicoted by
the I on the film counter, the ropid
tronsporf lever will not usuolly move.
The film is now on the windinb spool
ond must be rewound into iti liqht-
c_ossette before openinglighl -thebock of the comero.
To do this, pull out the rewind knob
@ to its first stop (obout t/a inch) ond
turn it whilst pressinq the lockinci but-
ton in the direction 5f the qrro; (see
illustrotion). When the rewind knob
turns much more eosily or con still be
turned when the locking button is re-
leosed, rewinding is complete. You
con now open the bock of the com-
ero, os described on poge 20, by pull-
ing out the rewind knob os for os if
will go ond removing the cossette.
Put the cossette in its light-tight pock-
ing ond mork it os exposed.View original page 28From the M. Butkus Camera Manual Library. Original publisher and archive notices are retained.
Check the model and edition against your equipment.
PDF verified 2026-10-10.
