Agimatic & Agima

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The Agimatic was an unconventional 35mm rangefinder camera, made in England by Agilux. The first Agimatic was introduced in 1958; it had a similar "round the lens" film advance system to the Werra. Only this went a step further - the lever not only wound the film on, but fired the shutter as well. There was also lever-operated rewind, without the need for a rewind release.

It was a well constructed little camera that had not only an uncoupled rangefinder, but a built in extinction meter and an interchangeable lens - and a slider for masking the viewfinder for the longer 85mm lens. The lens mount is operated by a lever; instead of turning the lens to unlock, the lever rotates the mount and the lens stays still.

In the UK, it was very competitively priced compared to similar German models because it did not have the burden of import duty.


The later model had a deeper viewfinder housing to accommodate the Bright Line viewfinder and had an uncanny resemblance to the contemporary Paxette. In fact the detachable back was almost identical to the Paxette's.

The camera top, base plate and lens assembly were top quality alloy castings and the camera has a beautiful "feel" to it with a much higher standard of construction than the camera it so closely resembled.

The Agimatic name was later reused for a simple plastic 126 cartridge snapshot camera.

Specification

The first model Agimatic had the "four in one" control that "advances the film, advanced the exposure counter, resets the shutter and takes the picture"

Agimatic

Price £24.17.6 (1958)


Agima

  • Revised Agimatic
  • Combined leverwind & shutter release
  • Bright line Finder with rangefinder "spot" and frames for both lenses
  • Coupled rangefinder
  • 9 speed shutter (1 - 1/350)
  • Flash synchronised
  • Lever Rewind
  • Flash synchronised
  • Bayonet Mount
  • Interchangeable 85mm f5.5 Tele Lens

Price £19.7.6 (June 1962) (Telephoto Lens £11.10)


Links

Great British Cameras AGI Ltd