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| A Color Ambion 35mm lens and the 35mm Curtagon for the Ambi Silette |
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The Ambi Silette 35mm camera was Agfa’s most ambitious rangefinder camera featuring fully-interchangeable lenses, a large, beautiful rangefinder-viewfinder with auto-compensating bright frames and a Synchro-Compur shutter with speeds from one second to 1/500th. However, Agfa never offered more than four focal lengths and the fastest was the 50mm f2.8 Color Solinear. The only wide angle was a modest 35mm f4 Color Ambion barely focusing down to a meter.
So where did this Schneider 35mm f2.8 Curtagon come from? It certainly did not start life as a Ambi Silette lens, but it mounts, focuses and changes f-stops flawlessly. Alas, no rangefinder coupling, but being a wide angle should allow a calculated guess to provide correct focus most of the time. The front end back to the aperture control is finished in a brushed chrome. In appearance it matches that of the Curtagons made for the Retina Reflex from the time period that the Ambi Silette was on the market. The word Compur engraved on the focusing ring would tend to confirm this.
The Aperture ring and the Ambi mount are a brighter chrome and made from a heavier stock, either chromed brass or stainless steel. At first one might guess that this is someone’s custom job run off on a lathe. But if so, why does the rim of the aperture ring sport a marking “Agfa – Typ 44017/100?”
Underneath the focusing ring is an engraved image of a flashbulb that acts as marker for a range of f-stops. Is this a flash guide? If so, for what type of bulb?
No filter threads, but 40.5mm slip-on accessories fit. It focuses down to two feet. It does not appear to vignette. So, here is a close-focusing, faster lens that uses a more modern five or six element retrofocus design. So why did Agfa stick to the slow, Tessar-based Ambion?
Who knows? But I intend to enjoy this lens and find out what it is capable of producing.
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| Looks like a Retina Reflex lens |
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| The Agfa marking on aperture control ring. |
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| Ambi Silette clamp mount. |
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| Flash guide marking on bottom of focus ring. |
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| Lens' beauty ring. |
