Agfa Isola

The Agfa Isola is a medium format camera with a transmitted light viewfinder. It was produced by the company “Agfa Camerawerk München” in Germany between 1956 and 1962.

The Agfa Isola comes with a fixed Agfa Agnar 6.3/75 and works completely mechanically without batteries. Therefore, the exposure has to be measured and adjusted by yourself. When choosing the aperture, one has the option between f/11 and f/6.3.

The Singlo-2 shutter allows exposures at 1/100 s or 1/30 s. In addition, there is a bulb mode for long exposures.

The Agfa Isola is focused by hand. The shortest distance to the subject is one meter.

To start using the camera, the lens barrel must be turned slightly to the left and pulled out until it clicks into place.

For flash photography, the Agfa Isola has a hot shoe. However, this is only used to attach the unit; the flash is fired via a socket on the lens barrel.

Films for the Agfa Isola

What is needed for the Agfa Isola is medium format film. Fortunately, there are still some manufacturers of medium format films. Possible films for the Agfa Isola are the Kodak Portra 160* and the Kodak TRI-X 400*. Of course, there are several other films that can be used with the Agfa camera. For example, there is material from Ilford, Foma or even Lomography, to name just a few suppliers of film material.

Color film is developed using the C-41 process. This type of development is offered by most photo labs. In addition, most suppliers also directly offer the creation of prints or the digitization of the negatives.

The black and white film must be processed in a true black and white developer. This includes Rodinal, D-77 or XTOL, for example. This type of development is also offered by most professional service providers. In most cases, black and white development is somewhat more expensive.