Agfa PB 20 Readyset, from 1939.

5 days ago by Tanis Nikana to c/photography

As my mom ages, I’m coming into possession of more and more photography hand-me-downs. This is a PB 20 Readyset by a company called Agfa, and it’s a hand-held portable camera complete with a bellows.

I don’t know too much about it yet, but it bears a striking resemblance to the Camera Obscura from Fatal Frame, which makes my wife real happy, as she’s enamored with that series.

I will likely never shoot with this, because I’m not sure the film is being made, but it’s such a cool piece of kit. It’s so well-built.

Thanks for seeing this amazing camera!

jqubed 8 points 5 days ago

Agfa still exists today, although the consumer film business was spun off into a separate company called AgfaPhoto but they just license the name to other manufacturers. It was mostly successful in Europe. I’ve never heard of this 620 film it uses; looks like you can use 120 film if you respool it onto the 620 spools, or there may be a Chinese company still making 620 film. But it would take some extra effort to acquire or modify film to work with this camera. It’s a beautiful piece, though!

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scrion 9 points 5 days ago

I found it quite funny to read "some company called Agfa", when Agfa was one of the giants of the photography world. Even today, their revenue exceeds a billion, and at its peak, the three big major companies manufacturing film were Kodak, Fuji and (you guessed it) Agfa.

Today, even AgfaPhoto is no longer a thing and Agfa doesn't make consumer goods any longer, it's all B2B.

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tanisnikana 2 points 5 days ago

I should have been more thorough in my research, rather than rushing to show Lemmy, my bad.

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scrion 8 points 5 days ago

Nah, not at all. It was just an odd / funny moment for me personally, having shot a lot of Agfa film when it was still a thing.

I appreciate your content and actually hope you'll think about shooting something on that old Agfa again.

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ByteJunk 4 points 5 days ago

AliExpress has it at like $15 for 5 rolls, don't know if it's any good but I mean, for $15 just give it a shot.

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hildegarde 5 points 5 days ago

Apparently that camera uses 620 film which is basically 120 film, but on a smaller spool. Many films are made today in 120. You can respool 120 film yourself, or buy from sellers who respool themselves. The film is still available if you really want it.

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cr1cket 4 points 5 days ago

You can also just file/cut a 120 spool down until it fits. Did that a few times, works fine and is less hassle than respooling.

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voxthefox 3 points 5 days ago

My late father in law had a few of these when we were clearing out his estate. Interesting little machines but we could find literally no one interested in taking them, after trying 3-4 camera places they ended up going to the landfill because we had so many other things to sort through (hoarder)

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