Gearing up for the Crappy Commie Camera Party (Part IV): The Pentacon Electra 2, An Automatic Camera For SL Film
Anyone who has read this blog will know that I’ve really tumbled down the Rapid film system rabbit hole. It all started late in 2024, when I picked up a couple of Agfa’s Iso-Rapid IF cameras and the Welta Penti II (the ‘Golden Wonder’) for the Frugal Film Project. Since then, I’ve added several more Rapid film cameras to my collection, from a 1940s Agfa Karat — the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system — to 1960s Rapid cameras like the Voigtländer Vitoret Rapid D.
The 1940s Agfa Karat, the original Rapid film system.Although the Rapid film system was developed by the West German film company Agfa, in response to the launch of Kodak’s instamatic film system, East German camera companies soon developed their own version of Rapid film, known as the SL, or Schnell Lade (‘Speed Loading’) system. Eastern Bloc SL cameras used exactly the same format canisters as the Agfa Rapid system, the films are interchangeable, except that the SL canisters were made of plastic, not metal, like in the West.
The 1960s Smena SL. The Eastern Bloc copy of Agfa’s Rapid film cameras.I already have two SL format cameras, my beloved Smena SL, with its classic Triplet T-43 4/40 lens, and the ‘Golden Wonder’, which I think of as a Rapid camera but it was actually made in East Germany, and I had this ‘need’ for a couple more. I started my search with the SL System page on Wikipedia, which quite handily gives a list of SL format cameras at the bottom. I mentally crossed off the Smena SL and the Penti II, and started searching down the list on eBay.
In the end, I settled on a Pentacon Electra 2, an aperture priority automatic camera from the late 1960s, from a German seller. In the eBay post it was described as, ‘fully functional condition with age-appropriate signs of wear’, but what really convinced me to go with this model was a YouTube video about the camera which featured a close-up of the lens and its wonderful 60s style pictograms for the focusing distance markers.
The Pentacon Electra 2 is a camera that screams the 60s, from the amazing pictograms mentioned above to its Eastern Bloc brick-like shape — almost utilitarian. What is unusual about this camera is that it’s an automatic camera. Well, aperture priority — you set the exposure, sunny, hazy, or cloudy — and the camera sets the shutter speed. It’s powered by two AA batteries, and the CdS sensor is situated behind a little round window above the lens.
Being an SL format camera, there’s no rewind knob, and the top of the camera is plain apart from a hot shoe and a little window for the film counter. The camera actually came with a flash, but that flash is anything but portable. It’s huge, for one thing, and instead of taking batteries the flash is powered by a mains lead! On the bottom of the camera is a thread for a tripod and a cover for the battery compartment. Handily, the cover has a guide to the aperture settings and conditions.
On the front, to the right of the lens, is a little toggle switch that you can set the ISO of the film. There are two options, ISO 50 or 100. To the left of the lens is another toggle switch to set how the camera functions. This can be set to three options: Automatic (actually aperture priority), flash sync (1/125s), or flash sync for bulbs (1/30s). Below this toggle switch is the shutter lever.
Focus distance is presented in metres and feet around the lens. There are also those wonderful pictograms for distances for portraits, groups and landscapes. The aperture can be set to f2.8, f4.8, f8, and f13.5 with a lever on the bottom of the lens. You can see these as little icons through a window on the top of the lens for ‘tripod’ (fully open), cloudy, hazy and sunny conditions. If you turn the lens upside-down the lens has the f-numbers printed out. They are also on the battery cover.
On the back of the Electra is a wind-on knob with a large arrow showing the direction of travel of the film. This is important since the direction is right to left, instead of the customary left to right. When the film is wound on, the shutter is cocked with a satisfying ‘click’
I was keen to try out the Pentacon Electra 2, and loaded it with a roll of Harman Phoenix film that I have laying around (nowadays I always have some Phoenix, or Harman Red, decanted into Rapid canisters for the Frugal Film Project). Besides, it’s the Crappy Commie Camera Party, and I want to use the Pentacon for this, too. In my rush to get out, I was half way through the roll before I remembered that the box speed of Phoenix is actually ISO 100, so the film was underexposed by 1 stop. However, I came across a YouTube video where someone exposed Phoenix at ISO 100, so I’m hoping that I might have got away with it.
The results came out great! I needn’t have worried about rating the film at ISO 100 instead of the box speed of ISO 200. There were some light leaks, but I’m increasingly convinced that these are because of the lab loading these into the developing machine rather than leaks within the camera or SL canister. Instead of transferring the film to a 35mm cassette, this film was loaded straight from the SL canister, and there were still light leaks. On the frames thatdid not show light leaks, the exposure was spot on, and I reckon these are the best results I have had from Harman Phoenix.
I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
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