Agfa Selectronic Sensor

The target market for the Selectronic Sensor cameras seems to have been that of a second camera for a serious enthusiast. They have some fairly unique features.

•The shutter release is a two stage electromagnetic type, where a half press activates the meter. It's very smooth in use, and was designed to eliminate camera shake.

•The shutter itself is a “Paratronic”, which comprises two blades. The first blade is released when you press the shutter release, and the second is held back by an electromagnet for a period of time determined by the amount of light collected by the CdS cell, which in turn is converted to an exposure time by the camera's auto exposure circuitry.

•Shutter speeds are infinitely variable between a massive 15 seconds and 1/500th of a second.

•There are two circular windows on the front of the camera: the right-hand window is a CdS cell, while the left is a luminous indicator that shows the battery condition and flashes during delayed exposure.

•The large viewfinder displays both the shutter speed and aperture, via projected pointer needles and two separate scales.

•The film loading mechanism comprises a closed receptacle with a slit, through which the film leader is inserted and gripped by a sprocket wheel (no slots in spools or their variations), such that exposed film disappears behind a door and is (apparently) protected against accidental opening of the back cover.

•The film transport mechanism is unusual in as much as a small lever marked “R” (located on the users right side of the lens) reveals a push-button, which reverses the transport gearing so that the film advance lever rewinds the film, with the exposure dial counting down and thus showing when the film is fully rewound. The film advance lever is on the user's left side of the bottom plate, and the film is effectively exposed up-side-down.