AGFA ANSCO: Clipper PD-16

Notes related to specific cameras
bill339
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AGFA ANSCO: Clipper PD-16

Postby bill339 » Sun Sep 30, 2018 12:09 am

The Agfa PD16 Clipper is one of the very first cameras produced by German company Agfa after its acquisition of the American company Ansco, thus forming Agfa-Ansco. Like the early offerings of many photographic company mergers, this camera was sold under both brands as the Agfa PD16 Clipper and the Ansco Clipper although it appears that they were all made in the very same American factory in Binghamton, NY. The Clipper uses 616 film, a now discontinued medium format film. Although it is not a conventional folding camera, the Clipper employs a lens that must first be expanded before use. To do so, simply grab the two extended posts on either side of the lens plate and pull outward until two metal tabs click into place and lock the lens into shooting position. The lens itself is very simple and is pre-focused to cover everything from six feet to infinity. The self-cocking shutter is triggered by the small silver-colored lever with a red plastic end attached next to the lens. The shutter has two speeds: 1/60 of a second and, if you pull out the small metal tab above the lens, bulb (shutter stays open as long as the shutter button is depressed). The camera was produced from 1936 to 1939 in Binghamton New York, USA. In the early versions there is no optical viewfinder but a flip-up viewfinder frame and they also had a film rewind knob in addition to the film advance knob on the opposite side.

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