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The dust and dislocation of World War II had hardly settled when Agilux, Ltd., a subsidiary of Aereonautical & General Instruments, Ltd, (AGI) of Purley Way, Croyden, Surrey, England, embarked upon the audacious project of designing a world-class 2-1/4x2-1/4 SLR. They unveiled the Agiflex I in 1947, a focal-plane shutter SLR that, like the prewar Korelle Reflex from Germany, was shaped like an oversized 35mm SLR, but had a waist-level viewing hood with flip-up magnifier and a built-in direct-vision sportsfinder, as found on many twin-lens reflexes. The nicely made camera incorporated such modern features as lever wind, automatic film stop, and an instant-return mirror, but shutter speeds only ranged from 1/25-1/500 sec plus B, and there was no flash sync or automatic diaphragm—you had to stop the lens down manually before shooting.
The Agiflex I slowly evolved into the Agiflex II as improvements were phased in (a fact that drives collectors nuts in trying to identify their cameras!), but the full-fledged model II added slow speeds down to 2 sec. via a separate slow-speed dial, flash sync, and a wider bayonet mount to accommodate, among other things, two additional tele lenses. This brings us to the piece de resistance of Agiflexes, and the subject of this column, the Agiflex III of 1954, the most desirable and collectible model. Restyled to look more contemporary, the III was a tad better finished than its predecessors, had a single-stroke wind lever, FP and X sync, a new, improved viewfinder with brighter focusing screen, and a new 80mm f/2.8 pre-set Agilux Anastigmat normal lens (in place of the previous 80mm f/3.5), but alas, no more instant-return mirror, Let’s take a closer look at this fascinating beast that is literally festooned with quaint little British quirks.
The late-model Agiflex III shown here is a robust, hefty, all-metal SLR beautifully finished in satin chrome with genuine leather covering. Like all Agiflexes, it provides a 2-1/4 x 2-1/4-inch format on 120 roll film. Atop the camera on the left is an aesthetically contoured single-stoke wind lever with a small cutout in the front section for the frame counter, which you must set to one after manually positioning the first frame—it’s automatic after that. Atop the right-hand end there are separate shutter-speed dials for setting fast (1/25-1/500sec plus T) and slow (2-1/10 sec) speeds. To obtain slow speeds, you first set the fast-speed dial to T—just like the Korelle Reflex. On the right side of the mirror box is an elegant, striated shutter-release tab, and right below it a positively charming trapezoidal spring-loaded door that protects the coaxial FP and X flash-sync terminals. On the left side of the mirror box are two distinctive little levers—the top one for releasing the removable waist-level finder unit complete with screen, the bottom one for setting the mechanical self-timer. On the front, just below the lens, is a threaded cable-release socket and a tiny button for releasing the bayonet-mount lens. Press the button and rotate the lens 1/8-turn counter-clockwise, and you can lift the lens off-revealing a truly cavernous 2-1/4-inch-diameter bayonet mount with three assymetrically placed mounting slots that mate with spring-loaded tabs on the lenses.
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