Clack
The Clack camera was manufactured by Agfa 1954-65. Earlier models had a metal body, later ones were made of plastic. It is a simple, boxlike camera, with a single-element 95mm meniscus lens with built-in close-up lens and yellow filter. It takes 6×9 cm pictures on 120 film.
Intelligent solutions
To enable this camera to take quality pictures with such a simple lens, it is always stopped down to f/11 or below. The large negative size allows usable contact prints. The negatives don't need to be enlarged by so great a factor. The best feature is the curved film plane. There's no pressure plate in the back of the camera; the film isn't supposed to be flattened. The camera body is oval shaped when viewed from above, and the film is led around the curved back of the camera to create maximum sharpness: an intelligent solution to create a low-cost camera of decent quality.
More data:
- Aperture f/11 and f/12.5
- Shutter about 1/30 plus B
- Built-in yellow filter
Zone focusing with two steps:
- 1-3m (3-10 feet) with a built-in close-up lens.
- 3m (10 feet)-infinity with just an aperture ring between the lens and the film
A useable camera
The Clack is a light viewfinder camera. It works great with ISO 50 slide films like Velvia, so use it while you can still get that film. Black and white ISO 50 films, and overexposing 100 speed color negative by one stop ought to be fine.
Loading the camera
To change the film, use the bottom screw. Two arrows and a text in German and English show how to open the camera. The bottom and most all sides save the lensboard come off. The pictures shows the bottom screw and some of the imitation lizard skin that covers the body.
More images
