Agfa Super Silette LK of 1959/1960
- Kamera Ostalgie
- Nov 11, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 26, 2025
Whilst rumaging around in the darkness of the loft for another Agfa folding camera to do a post on, I came across what I thought was another Agfa Optima by the look of the case. So I thought, oh well, might as well have a look at it and brought it down into the daylight. I was convinced that it was another Optima, I mean look at the case, it is pure Optima!
But no, I was wrong, wide off the mark in fact! What I had in my hands was Agfa Super Silette LK of 1959/1960 according to the Agfa Museum and it's very informative website which I will link here. Super Silette LK - Museum of Agfa Cameras
Well you may ask, why bother doing a post on an Agfa Silette, they made millions of them, and yes, you are quite right there were a lot of them, even this Super Silette which is less common, they managed to churn out 50000 of them! However when you look on line, there is very little information on the run of the mill 35mm Agfa cameras of the 1955-65 period, so lets redress the imbalance and put something out there, I mean I have so many millions of followers, this little post should do the trick
So what is super about the Super Silette? For a start this Bavarian bit of kit has a coupled rangefinder and a light meter built in, which is pretty good for 1959 when you think about it. Even Leica M's were only using add on meters that were an expensive extra, and they only came out in 1954, so thinking about it having a coupled built in light meter and rangefinder in 1959 for 199 DM was a pretty good going. The Agfa boys were really on the ball. In 1959 this was a serious bit of photographic kit. The 45mm 2.8 Color Apotar is a decent piece of glass, the Pronto LK shutter was no slouch either, the fact that you can buy them relatively cheaply today reflects on present day film users lack of knowledge rather that the Super Silettes lack of specification and quality. Controversial ? Yes, maybe, but very true!
And what a Rangefinder this camera has! No whishy washy image that you can't see like what were fitted on many rangefinder cameras of the time, no, here was a clear bright image with a centre spot in the shape of the Agfa logo in bright green! This is a really clear and easy rangefinder to use, whatever the light! You would be hard pressed to find a better one in 1959! I struggle focussing some cameras now, wearing glasses and focussing can with some cameras, be a bit of a pain, but with the Super Silette, it is a piece of cake. And this, from a camera built two years before I was born. No wonder Agfa found homes for over 50000 of them.
So lets have a closer look at the Super Silette. This particular example carries the body number JX 2474. The lens is a Agfa Color Apotar of 45mm 2.8. The shutter is a Pronto-LK with speeds of, B, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, and 500th of a second.
I like the light meter indicator window, it's clear, simple easy to see, and it does not jump about like a mad thing like the red and green flashing lights in many later cameras, no this is clear and dead easy. The Agfa team got it spot on for me with this one.
The Agfa logo sits proudly in the far window space, the dust ? Well I could not work this out, this is the third attempt to take this photograph, I have cleaned the dust off the camera time and time again, but by the time I get set up to take the pictures, its back ! Why ? It took me a while to figure it out, but it is the lining of the case that is ending up on the camera, the more you dust it the worse it transfers onto the body !
Just in case we forget, Agfa were a film producing company, they always jog your memory with a nice little reminder to use their own films! Here they are promoting their Agfa Isopan IF 17. Isopan was one of their popular films of the time, the 17 bit being the film speed in DIN which is roughly 40 ASA. So a nice slow fine grain black and white film. There is a review and a test film here which is quite interesting.
It has a long production run this Isopan IF 17, from 1939 to 1979 ! I have never used it sadly, but it must have been popular with that production run.
Earlier in the post I mentioned that by the look of the case I had unearthed another Optima not a Silette, so lets have another look at them together.
Even the cases were very much alike ! The Super Silette LK having Agfa case code 6118 whilst the Optima II has case 6112.
I have had to push this post forward a week, it was intended for next weeks slot, with the Optima test film for mid week this week. However yesterday I was going to the film lab, so took out the exposed film from the Optima. I re-wound the film, felt the resistance go, have a few more winds just for luck and opened the back, the film was still sat there, it had not fully re-wound! I shut the camera back rapidly, but that was it, this weeks post gone ! Gutted, I have never had that happen before! So change of plan, I've quickly put this one together.
Now the re-wind system is exactly the same on the Optima and the Super Silette LK. You flick the little round lever, the re-wind knob pops up, press the re-wind button on the base plate and re-wind following the direction of the arrow! All sounds simple and straightforward.
Anyway be careful if you intend to use one of these cameras, when winding back the film. The re-wind knob is rather vague, there is quite a lot of wobble in the shaft which does not give you a lot of feel, if you know what I mean. I have tried them all, they are all similar. The next film I use, I'm going to open the back in the dark.........just to be sure!
Don't be put off though, both the Super Silette LK and the various Optimas are lovely cameras to use. Just be careful when re-winding the film!
Lets just hope it all goes smoother when I try out the Super Silette and the original Optima!
As I mentioned before, more information can be found here on the Agfa Silette LK if want to dig a little further! So why not check it out?
I hope you liked this post and I can tempt you in to trying and collecting Agfa Cameras of the 1955-65 era. They are very reasonable to purchase at the moment, so if you are doing film photography, or collecting vintage cameras on a very tight budget like myself, then why not consider Agfa cameras, they will be great fun and it won't break the bank! Take care, Phil.
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