The first of its kind is always interesting

[John Farrell]

This is an Agfa Selecta-m, the first 35mm camera with built in auto wind. It was designed by a company called Iloca, and was produced, in a modified form, by Agfa from 1962 - Agfa bought the assets of Iloca after the latter's bankrupcy.

The auto winding also winds the shutter - there is no manual wind. The camera has a moving parallax correcting mask in the viewfinder, and a coupled rangefinder. It has auto exposure, which can be switched to manual.

This example is in great cosmetic condition, but the winder does not work, and the selenium cell in the exposure meter is dead.

According to the manual, wind on between shots takes about 1.5 seconds. I have read that when winding, the camera's sound resembled a toilet flushing...

[gray1720]

THat's a new one on me, John, never heard of that before. Thank you for the introduction!

[spinno]

I did wonder about the rewind when I saw Selecta...

[John Farrell]

The rewind lever is on the bottom. It doubles as the release for the back, which is removeable. Next to the rewind is the battery compartment - it takes 2 x AA cells.

[gray1720]

Oct 11, 2024 7:13:49 GMT spinno said:

I did wonder about the rewind when I saw Selecta...

🤣

[John Farrell]

After a little tinkering, I was able to get the camera to advance 1 frame (I had the front cover off, exposing various switches). Further attempts, though, led to noises of distress from the camera, and a pair of hot AA cells, so I think that either the motor is shot, or there is excessive resistance in the various gear trains in the camera. The insides are quite complex.

[gray1720]

That's a shame, John. How deep do you think you can go with it, or have you reached your limit?

[John Farrell]

There is no service information to be found for this camera. I've reassembled it, so it looks pretty.