Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Agfa Parat

Agfa · Fixed lens · 18×24 mm on 35mm film · 1963

Also known as: Agfa Parat I · Agfa Parat-I · Agfa Paramat · Agfa Optima Parat · Agfa Optima-Parat

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Parat I (1963) Half-frame 1963 — No figure published
Paramat (1963) Half-frame 1963 — No figure published
Optima-Parat (1963–64) Half-frame 1963 — No figure published
  1. Three cameras with two lenses. The Parat I and Paramat carry the triplet Color-Apotar; the Optima-Parat carries the four-element Color-Solinar in a Compur shutter. By the optical-design rule the Optima-Parat could be its own page; it is here because Agfa sold the three as one Parat line in the same body across the same years, and because splitting a three-camera line in two would leave each half with one source.
  2. Dates differ by a year: Photo Thinking gives the Optima-Parat as 1964, Johnny Martyr and Mike Eckman as 1963 with the rest of the line. Agfa's own dating was not found.
  3. The Optima-Parat has no manual fallback for a dead meter in Jim Grey's account and 'manual exposure is also possible' in Photo Thinking's; the two may be describing different settings on the same camera, and the entry records both.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • An Optima-sized body for a half frame, which every reviewer notices: Agfa built it on the full-frame Optima chassis
  • The coin slot for setting film speed on the Optima-Parat: 'stick a coin in the slot ... and let the selenium meter do the rest' (Jim Grey)

Parat I (1963):

  • Color-Apotar 30mm f/2.8, a three-element triplet, in an Agfa Paratic leaf shutter
  • All manual: no meter at all — one of the few half-frames without any automatic mode (Mike Eckman)
  • Front-mounted shutter-speed slider close to the release; about $39.95

Paramat (1963):

  • Selenium automatic exposure on the Apotar body; about $79.95 (Mike Eckman)

Optima-Parat (1963–64):

  • Color-Solinar 30mm f/2.8, four elements, Tessar-type, in a Compur shutter from 1/30 to 1/500 and B
  • Selenium automatic exposure with a red-to-green indicator, and manual exposure available; ASA to 250 (Photo Thinking)
  • Polished aluminium covering with brushed satin panels — the 'half-frame jewel'

Specifications

Format
18×24 mm on 35mm film · 72 exposures
Finder
Direct-vision optical finder; a red/green exposure indicator on the automatic models · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Leaf: Agfa Paratic (Parat I, Paramat), Compur (Optima-Parat) · 1/30 – 1/500 and B on the Optima-Parat
Film advance
Lever
Meter
None on the Parat I; selenium automatic on the Paramat and Optima-Parat, the latter with manual override
Country
Germany

Where sources disagree

Optima-Parat introduction
  • 1963, with the Parat I and Paramat (Mike Eckman, Johnny Martyr)
  • 1964 (Photo Thinking)

Better supported: Unresolved

One year, no Agfa document.

What reviewers say

History

Agfa answered the Japanese half-frames in 1963 with three cameras built on the chassis of its full-frame Optima, which is why every reviewer remarks on the size. The Parat I is the plain one: a Color-Apotar 30mm f/2.8 triplet in a Paratic shutter, no meter, a speed slider on the front, about forty dollars. The Paramat put a selenium automatic exposure system on the same body for twice the money. The Optima-Parat — 1963 or 1964, the sources split — is the jewel: a four-element Color-Solinar 30mm f/2.8 in a Compur shutter running to 1/500, selenium automation with a red-to-green indicator, manual exposure to hand, and an aluminium body in brushed satin and polish.

The reviewing is unusually warm. Photo Thinking calls the Optima-Parat extremely addictive and its results some of the best from the format; Johnny Martyr’s is a rave; Jim Grey finds the Solinar exceptionally sharp for an 18×24 negative and the coin-slot film-speed dial charming. The reservations are the class’s: an ASA 250 ceiling, wandering frame spacing, an averaging meter that gives up on backlight, and — the one that decides which Parat to buy today — a selenium cell whose death ends the camera. Mike Eckman’s point about the Parat I is that, having no meter, it has nothing to die.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the Agfa Parat
Agfa Parat I — Color-Apotar, no meter — Echtner, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Sample photo taken with the Agfa Parat
Agfa Paramat — the selenium cell above the Apotar — Alfred from Germany, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Agfa Parat
Agfa Optima-Parat — Color-Solinar in a Compur — Pixelillo, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Agfa Parat? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $35 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-06 (middle half $7–$35). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Related: Fujica Half · Minolta Repo

Sources (5)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.