The Agfa Synchro Box was a simple yet reliable box camera produced by Agfa in 1951. It was a successor to Agfa’s earlier box cameras, designed primarily for amateur photographers who wanted an easy-to-use and affordable camera.

Built with a metal body covered in black leatherette*, the Synchro Box featured a single-element meniscus lens with a fixed aperture of f/11. It supported two shutter speeds: instantaneous (around 1/30s) and bulb (for long exposures). A key feature that set it apart from its predecessors was its built-in synchronization for flash, hence the name “Synchro.” This made it particularly useful for indoor and low-light photography.

The camera used 120 roll film, capturing 6×9 cm negatives, which provided decent image quality for enlargements. It was equipped with a simple viewfinder, and focusing was fixed, making it ideal for snapshots.

The Agfa Synchro Box remained popular throughout the 1950s due to its affordability, durability, and ease of use. Today, it is a sought-after collectible among vintage camera enthusiasts.

*Leatherette is a synthetic material designed to look and feel like leather. It is made from fabric or paper coated with plastic, usually polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PU). Leatherette is commonly used in camera bodies, book covers, car seats, and furniture because it is cheaper, more durable, and easier to maintain than real leather.

Characteristics

• It’s a 6×9 camera using 120 film 
• 120 format you get 8 frames on each film
• It has an aperture of f11 or f16 depending on which position to set the selector, and the aperture selector has a third position, also an f11 but adds a yellow filter to the equation
• It has a very simple shutter that is cocked and released in one movement of the shutter release button
• Shutter settings, 1/30th of a second or Bulb.
• There is a socket for a cable release, which is very helpful when your fastest shutter i 1/30
• Tripod threads
• There are two “view finders” one for each framing mode.
• A single-element meniscus lens is a simple optical lens with one convex side and one concave side.
• The focal length of the lens is 105mm which corresponds roughly to a 50mm on a full frame/24×36 camera
• Since the lens has a fixed aperture of f/11, the depth of field is relatively large, ensuring that subjects from about 2-3 meters to infinity remain in focus without manual adjustments.

Gicky stuff:

To calculate the 35mm equivalent focal length of the Agfa Synchro Box lens, we use the formula:

Equivalent Focal Length

Given values:

• Agfa Synchro Box frame size: 6×9 cm (60mm × 90mm)
• Standard 35mm film frame size: 24mm × 36mm
• Synchro Box focal length: ~105mm

Step 1: Calculate the diagonals

The 35mm equivalent focal length of the Agfa Synchro Box lens is approximately 42mm, meaning its field of view is similar to a standard wide-angle lens on a 35mm camera.

Photo’s from the trip: