The Agfa Jsolette or Soldatenkamera
- Kamera Ostalgie
- Oct 10
- 7 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
I suppose the German wartime camera that is most well known today are the Leica 111 / 111C types with various military markings engraved on them. Some genuine, some not! But for the ordinary German soldiers in WW2, the Agfa Jsolette was said to be the post popular, and it got the name of Soldatenkamera attached to it.
I suppose it makes sense, black, compact, foldable, easy to put in a soldiers uniform pocket and of course it was new and readily available. The cost in RM was between 58,00 and 66,00 depending on lens and shutter.
It was also a quite striking camera at the time of introduction which seems to be in very late 1937. Initially the name was called Jsorette, but was changed to Jsolette part way through production. Sources differ as to exactly when production ceased, some saying late 1940, others 1942.
However I have also heard from my sources in Germany that directly after the war ended some 'Pre war' style Jsolettes were produced in late 1945 early 1946. These can be identified by a metal re-wind knob instead of the usual black. This version does not seem to be logged in any articles on line I have read, or in books and I have fairly looked into it, but yes there is a post war version of the pre-war model! If you get my drift.
There is another twist to the tail! Some, or maybe most of these have a top made of Hydronalium painted black to look like the prewar black Trolite top plates ! Oh nothing is ever simple when you look into camera history! Trolite was a German equivalent to Bakelite. In Germany it was spelt Trolit, in English, Trolite. What is Trolit or Trolite if you prefer, well it is a type of cellulose nitrate plastic produced at the RWS company Rheinisch-Westfallisch Sprengstoff-Fabriken in Germany.
Technically its composition is different to Bakelite, though it is a similar looking finished material, so maybe we should just call it Trolite to be accurate! So Trolite it is.
I know what you are thinking now, you're thinking what then is the replacement top plate material, this Hydronalium then? Well, & I had to look this up, it is a type of aluminium magnesium alloy material, originating in Germany in the 1930's.
Which was then in Agfa's case painted over with black enamel to make it look like Trolite!
There, you would not get this amount of detail in any other camera blog! All I need to do now is get my hands on a few of these 1945-1946 Jsolettes to confirm the stories!!!
Now just to make everything complete, or maybe confuse the issue even more, how about the American version of the Jsolette? Ansco produced quite a few versions of the Jsolette called the B2 Speedex with various lens and shutter combinations. Okay it might be pushing it a little, but to me they are clearly built around the pre-war Jsolette, just look at the style and position of the neck strap lugs if you have any doubts! Anyway it might be better left for another post and post is the problem, getting one to the U.K. the cost of shipping from America is stopping me buying one to compare!
I would love to get my hands on one of these to compare them! Anyway, I'm digressing again, but I hope you agree that they are interesting!
Right, back to the German versions and lets have a look at the lens and shutter of the Agfa Jsolette I have in front of me now.
The shutter is a well speeded Compur shutter with speeds of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 300th of a second plus T and B. so a really good shutter though it could do with a clean and service today. The lens on this example is the Agfa Apotar 4.5 of 8.5cm in length. Focus is done by the front ring and ranges from 1 meter to infinity.
On the focus scale 3 metres and 10 meters are marked in red along with f8 on the aperture ring. The focus scale on this example is almost seized up and looks slightly out of square with the rest of the camera. It seems this is a common problem today with these pre-war Jsolettes, the cause of it seems to be that the grease dries out over time, causing the focus to seize up solid eventually. So we won't be putting a film through this example any time soon.
Looking at the camera from the back we see the little lever with which to change format from 6x6 to 4.5x6. This alters the viewfinder to the selected format and there are two masks under the spool recesses which you just flick out to change to 6x4.5.
The camera body number is on an unusual location, engraved into the spool holder as seen above. I have as yet not worked out what these numbers represent, but there are quite a few different number / letter codes. I'm sort of thinking on the lines they are production batches or time periods, but as yet I can find out very little about them. If you understand them please let me know.
The Agfa camera museum in Germany have one with numbers 6A 315/6A 3195 made in 1938 and 7Q 1571 from 1939/40.
The more you search for information on these cameras, the more confusing everything becomes, like this example below.
Compur Rapid with Solinar 8.5cm 4.5 lens!
Wow, what a spec this one has. I did not know until today that this version existed! The Solinar lens was extremely sharp, this must have been some camera in its day. The Compur-Rapid having a top speed of 500th of a second.
Most that are seen, are with Gauthier Shutters like the one above, this one coupled with a 8.5cm Jgestar 6.3 lens.
Or this one with Gautheir shutter with top speed of 175, and a 8.5cm Agfa Apotar of 4.5.
The variations seem endless. Anyway lets continue our look at the version in front of me.
The viewfinder in the Trolite top plate is nice and clear compared to some folders in the 1930's. The little lever shows the 6x6 image when pushed to the left and the smaller 6x4.5 image when moved over to the right.
On the left side of the top plate we have the large knob for winding on the film in the direction of the arrow. The silver button opens the camera door allowing the lens and bellows to pop out automatically.
On the right side of the Top plate is the shutter release. The Trolite has just chipped away slightly here. You often see some damage to the Trolite top.
The film winding knob lifts up to enable the film to be removed with ease..
On the covering of the door we have the Agfa diamond and the name Jsolette underneath it. No mistaking the make or model.
So that is about it the German 'Soldatenkamera' of WW2, the first of the Agfa Isolettes that continued in various forms through the 1950's.
The good thing about the pre-war Jsolettes is that the bellows are made of leather not that horrible shiny cloth plastic combination that most of the later ones were fitted with, that are now all split and holed, so you have a chance of them still being light tight today.
If you get the chance, check one out!
Take care,
Phil
1.11.2025 Quick update
Just a quick update here from the team at Kamera Ostalgie.
We have managed to get our hands on another version of the Jsolette to do a more detailed comparison. At great expense and fighting off loads of stiff competition from other wartime Jsolette collectors, Kamera Ostalgie gives you this....
...which is a Jsolette with body number T 6G 1072. It has an Agfa Jgestar 6.3 lens of 8.5cm in a simple 4 speed shutter comprising T, B, 125, 100, 50, and 25th of a second.
There are a few differences to my other example, the focus scale is in feet as opposed to metres and on the back is stamped Made In Germany in the black covering.
Another is the different sized tripod bushes as seen below.
There is nothing much different here apart from the white letter D on the door, I'm not sure what the significance of that is.
I would love to know what these body numbers mean, if they are indeed body numbers. I think you can date the camera by these letters / numbers but I can't work out just what they mean. I have looked all over for the answer, but as yet it has eluded me !
Okay, that is all for our little update, I hope you found it interesting. Oh I had better come clean then, there was no stiff competition for this wonderful war time Jsolette, from bands of eager early Jsolette collectors, in fact nobody else bothered to bid !
All I need to do now is have them repaired and get some film through them, see what they can do.
Phil
