Flexilette

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The Flexilette (also sold as the Agfa Reflex, as in the lower picture here) is an unusual TLR camera for 35mm film produced by Agfa in about 1960-61.[1]

The body is similar to a conventional 35mm viewfinder camera (McKeown compares it to the 1958 Silette[2]), but made a little taller with the extra lens and viewfinder grafted on.

The top plate houses the waist-level viewfinder, frame counter, shutter release and double-exposure release. The front of the viewfinder hood can be opened to form a direct vision, reverse telescope finder. The winding lever and rewinder are on the base.

  • Lens: Apotar 45mm f/2.8 (stopping to f/22), focus to 3 ft
  • Shutter: Prontor Special leaf shutter, 1 to 1/500 second + B

The camera was replaced after about a year by the Agfa Optima Reflex, which is similar, but the waist-level finder is replaced with an eye-level pentaprism one, and there is a selenium meter for automatic exposure. These two cameras failed to compete with the burgeoning range of SLRs available at the time and the Optima-Reflex was withdrawn in 1966.[1]



Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). p22.
  2. While McKeowns may compare this camera to a Silette, it clearly more closely resembles an Agfaflex.


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