Look at this gorgeous camera, a proper camera. It was made by Apparate & Kamerabau in Germany between 1954 and 1957. I got it at a camera fair where someone was selling their father’s collection after he had passed. We chatted for a while and she said she didn’t know anything about the cameras, but she just wanted them to go to people who would take care of them. I ended up buying two from her table, this is the first one I have gotten around to trying. I had never seen one of these before or even heard of it, so of course I was interested.

When I first picked it up, everything seemed to move as it should. The advance lever moved, the shutter clicked open and shut at the right times, even the speeds seemed ok. Then I loaded a film and encountered an issue. The film would move forward on advance, but then return to the previous position in time with the lever. Basically, the film just rocked forwards and backwards along with the winder. Umph.

There is a switch on the winder which puts the camera in rewind mode once the film is finished. I wondered if that was faulty and stuck in the rewind position. The advance lever has one screw on top of it which I took off, that was it, access gained. On the underside of the winder I discovered some old lubrication material which had become a solid mess. I scraped some of that off and added a bit clockwork oil, then put it back together. The lever now glided back smoothly, independent of the spool. It was working as it should and film moved forward, but not backwards. A simple fix.

While researching the camera I found out the lens was detachable. I was surprised as I thought it was more like a Vito B with a fixed lens. Following the instructions, I took off the lens by unscrewing the section near the speed selector. The shutter blades were right there, so I also took off the mount for better access.

This meant I could give the blades a quick clean and blow dry. The back of the blades were also easy to access through the inside of the camera, so I did the same thing there.

After all that, I loaded a roll of Wonderpan 400 and set the film counter, you have to do that manually. My example has to be kept on the M or X setting as the V for the self-timer does not work. I have read this on a few posts, so it seems to be a common issue. I haven’t tried the M flash setting yet, maybe on my next film.

I took the set up and my father to Bury Market, then used the remaining film with some friends at the Yorksire Sculpture Park. I loved Bury market, a proper market as my dad calls it. The people there were so friendly. A few wanted to talk about the camera or film photography, one man asked for his photo to be taken. They just struck up conversations as I waited for my father to finish his shopping. We bought a ‘mucky mouth’ pie, the first time I have tried it, or even seen one. There are a lot of ‘firsts’ in this post. You would think I would have taken a photo of the pie, but I didn’t. I will go back and buy another at some point.

Here are my results.

I loved using this camera and will definitely be using it again. It has a nice weight to it making it easy to hold. It lacks a rangefinder, but at f16 it has a very wide depth of field as indicated on the lens scale. The top speed is 1/300th which is fine for an old camera. The viewfinder is amazing. It isn’t the biggest, but it has very clear markings for 3 different focal lengths, just in case you get hold of other lenses.

They are not the most expensive of cameras and the price seems to vary depending on which country you are in. In fact, the lenses seem to be more expensive than the bodies. So if you do buy one, make sure it has a lens attached. I don’t think I will save up for another lens due to the lack of a rangefinder. Those Aka Relles that are for sale, nearly all have brassing on the front plate. The plating is very thin and wears off over time with regular use, it is no reflection on the state of the camera.

You can read more about AKA cameras here.