every camera I own: the agfa isolette

Welcome to the first in a series of Every Camera I Own posts. I'll be digging into the collection pretty much in a random order determined in part by what's accessible, and this series debut is brought to you by a camera that has been sitting at my desk at work for several months. My friend G. gave me a few cameras he found as he's cleaned out his apartment - the other one is a Polaroid, which I'll get to later.

This is an Agfa Isolette with a Vario shutter and an 85mm Agfa Agnar lens that stops down to f4.5. You can read more about this camera on photoethnography.com. I was concerned about the bellows but on an overcast mid-winter day they seemed perfectly light-tight - the thing is well preserved for a camera that was produced nearly sixty years ago.  A bigger problem will be human error: It will take me some time to get used to range focusing again:

Oddly, I had an easier time focusing at the short end of the Agnar's range, which is about three feet. I can't show you what I think is the best photo I took with this camera, because it's subject did not think it was a good picture of him (I disagree), but this is what my desk looks like: