Jörg Krüger
Agfa Silette-LK
Agfa Silette-LK with 2.8/45 Color-Apotar in Pronto-LK-shutter
Advertising from the German "Photo Magazin", July 1958
Introduced in 1958, the Silette-LK is the little sister of the Silette-SL from 1957. Both feature the new coupled exposure meter with exposure value setting. The main difference is the lens/shutter combination: the SL has a 2.8/50 Color-Solinar (4 elements) in a Prontor-SVS shutter, the LK has the simpler Color-Apotar (3 elements) in a Pronto-LK shutter. But the LK benefits from being the newer camera, so it has an Albada viewfinder with a bright frame and parallax marks, the SL sports a simple Newton viewer. As you can see, the LK cost DM 199, the price for the SL was DM 249.
It should be one of the last Silettes with the film advance lever on top, on later models the lever is integrated into the body. The SL/LK have also some improvements over the former model, the Silette-L (with uncoupled exposure meter). The finish of the housing around the lens is now the same like the one on the top, the earlier one wasn't that shiny and became ugly very quickly. The advance lever got a new shape and can be operated much better. The coupling of the f-stop ring and shutter speed ring (exposure value setting) is much more comfortable, just press the two black buttons together and turn the f-stop ring. Actually it is the best operation of an exposure value setting I know so far, on the Silette-L you have to tilt one ring, which is a fiddly issue.
Trouble with my copy? Yes, the meter coupling jammed, but it was just a matter of cleaning. I had to remove the meter, respectively the coil instrument. Therefor it's better to remove the viewfinder before: the top of the viewer box is just clipped on, in the box you'll find two screws. Under the coil instrument is an L-shaped spring, it can vanish into the carpet if you just lift the coil instrument.
The slow shutter speeds were too slow, and the Pronto shutter has an escapement only for the 1/15 and 1/30. The disassembly wasn't that easy like I thought: before you can remove the shutter speed ring completely, you'll have to unscrew the knurled end of the self-timer lever and the ribbon with the shutter speeds on it. Furthermore the ring is coupled with the exposure value setting with a tab.
The self-timer doesn't work at all, but the meter with its Selenium cell does and it is in top condition.
Agfa Silette-LK
Agfa Silette-LK with 2.8/45 Color-Apotar in Pronto-LK-shutter
Advertising from the German "Photo Magazin", July 1958
Introduced in 1958, the Silette-LK is the little sister of the Silette-SL from 1957. Both feature the new coupled exposure meter with exposure value setting. The main difference is the lens/shutter combination: the SL has a 2.8/50 Color-Solinar (4 elements) in a Prontor-SVS shutter, the LK has the simpler Color-Apotar (3 elements) in a Pronto-LK shutter. But the LK benefits from being the newer camera, so it has an Albada viewfinder with a bright frame and parallax marks, the SL sports a simple Newton viewer. As you can see, the LK cost DM 199, the price for the SL was DM 249.
It should be one of the last Silettes with the film advance lever on top, on later models the lever is integrated into the body. The SL/LK have also some improvements over the former model, the Silette-L (with uncoupled exposure meter). The finish of the housing around the lens is now the same like the one on the top, the earlier one wasn't that shiny and became ugly very quickly. The advance lever got a new shape and can be operated much better. The coupling of the f-stop ring and shutter speed ring (exposure value setting) is much more comfortable, just press the two black buttons together and turn the f-stop ring. Actually it is the best operation of an exposure value setting I know so far, on the Silette-L you have to tilt one ring, which is a fiddly issue.
Trouble with my copy? Yes, the meter coupling jammed, but it was just a matter of cleaning. I had to remove the meter, respectively the coil instrument. Therefor it's better to remove the viewfinder before: the top of the viewer box is just clipped on, in the box you'll find two screws. Under the coil instrument is an L-shaped spring, it can vanish into the carpet if you just lift the coil instrument.
The slow shutter speeds were too slow, and the Pronto shutter has an escapement only for the 1/15 and 1/30. The disassembly wasn't that easy like I thought: before you can remove the shutter speed ring completely, you'll have to unscrew the knurled end of the self-timer lever and the ribbon with the shutter speeds on it. Furthermore the ring is coupled with the exposure value setting with a tab.
The self-timer doesn't work at all, but the meter with its Selenium cell does and it is in top condition.