The Agfa Isola I is a viewfinder camera for medium format film. It was built by Agfa Camera Werk AG from 1957 to 1963.
This camera has a fixed focal length of 72.5 mm, which can be limiting in certain situations, but also has the advantage of providing sharper images than zoom lenses. The maximum aperture of the lens is f/11, which means that it is not particularly fast and can cause problems in low light.
Like many old cameras, the Agfa Isola I does not have an autofocus function. Instead, focus has to be adjusted manually, which can be a bit of a challenge for beginners, but gives experienced photographers more control and flexibility. The closest focusing distance of this lens is 150 cm, which is a bit far for some macro shots, but can still produce beautiful results for landscape or portrait photography.
Exposure is not measured by the 120 camera. A bulb mode is available for long exposures. In this mode, the shutter is released as long as the shutter-release button is pressed. An external flash can be used with the PC flash socket. A flash can be attached to the hot shoe.
The Agfa Isola I has a cable release and a tripod thread. No batteries are necessary for taking pictures.
Films for the Agfa Isola I
The Agfa Isola I uses 120 film. Films are still being produced for this type of film format. One way to get color images is the Lomography Color Negative 100 120* and the Ilford FP4 Plus* for black-and-white photos.
The images of the Agfa Isola I are exposed on the film in 6x6 format. In this format, approximately twelve photos fit on a roll of film.
You can only buy the medium format camera when it is needed. Depending on its condition, the costs for the medium format camera vary. The new price at that time was around 30 DM-Mark. Today the value is around 10 to 25 Euro.
