Agfa Parat I: Half Frame, Full Camera

Build between 1963 and 1968 by Agfa Camerawerk Munich, the Parat Series took advantage of the risen resolution of films by that time. Double the amount of pictures could be taken on a standard 35mm Film by exposing two 18mm x 24mm negatives instead of a single 36mm x 24mm negative.

The Parat´s Aperture settings range from 2,8 to 22, a fast lens for a camera this small I think.
Times “B”, 1/30, 1/60 and 1/125 can be chosen and are displayed in a small window on the border of the lens, just as the aperture. Focus is set by the trusted head, group and mountains symbols but also on a scale for meters and feet.

A nice feature of the Agfa Parat I is the capability to really use a rare film to it´s extends by giving you double the pictures you would get out of it using a normal camera. Let them be developed just like any film and you´ll get more full prints out of that rare old film you found at your grannies house. Or, and that is what I would suggest, let two images relate to each other and scan both negatives side by side.

Since you can fire away as you like with that amount of film ammunition try panoramas, scan the photos and let autostitch stitch them together. It´s also a good camera for learning how to deal with manual shutter speed and aperture control since you wont waste that much film. It is the perfect Lomographic camera. When I load my Parat with film and the sun is out I go Lomo-berserk, firing like a manic. Hell, there´s 72 frames to fill. No need to think, at least about how much film is left.

There´s a film counter on the lower side which I regularly forget to set back it counts the full 72 frames, really helpful, I can´t keep track about that amount of photos.

The Parat is light and small, the shutter is really quiet, I use the camera for candid shot. It´s fairly easy and cheap to get. It´s also a good camera for learning how to deal with manual shutter speed and aperture control since you wont waste that much film. There may be higher quality half frame cameras out there, the Parat is the most Lomographic I have seen this far.

Try it out!

written by zark on 2009-04-01 #gear #35mm #agfa #review #vintage #half-frame #halfframe #german