Agfa Box 54 camera

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This post will be looking at another Agfa camera, but unlike the previous three, this camera is a simpler box camera. This is the Agfa Box 54.

 I went over the history of the Agfa company in my Agfa Clack post, so I will get directly into the camera at hand.

Agfa made many different box cameras starting in 1930-1957 (Spickmann). According to Before Digital (2022), Agfa manufactured box cameras to boost their film sales. For box cameras are inexpensive to make, they could be sold cheaply and in some cases, users were told to only use a specific type of film sold by the camera company. In this case it is Agfa’s B-2 film.

Agfa B2 film. Image Source:
https://www.collection-appareils.fr/agfa/images/B2.JPG

In other words: “…like how modern-day printer manufacturers quite often make cheap printers in order to then sell the ink…” (Before Digital 2022).

And according to Camera-wiki, the sales of the 120 film, helped Agfa recuperate their loses when it came to selling the box cameras at a cheap rate. One thing that could have driven Agfa to focus on box cameras was WWII. As mentioned in my Agfa Clack post, Agfa was involved in the war effort, and thus could have been incentivised to make cheap cameras that were easy to use. One piece of evidence that could support this comes from IWM (2025), that mentions the Agfa box cameras were “…Popular amateur camera used by German Forces during the Second World War…”

One thing I also found interesting, is that according to camerassinfronteras.com, this camera, the Box 54, is the first box camera made by Agfa. It was also sold alongside the Box 64 (or the Box Spezial). But the 54 is known as the “simpler” of the two and was made in 1930-1933 (Camera-wiki).  

Agfa Box 64 (Box Spezial). Image Source:
http://vieilalbum.com/Box64spezialUS.htm

The cameras were released because of the 1929 economic crash that lead to Agfa having to reduce costs in camera production, thus “…already begun this strategy shortly before with its ‘Billy’ series of inexpensive folding cameras (‘Billy’ was the subliminal way of saying ‘cheap’ - billig - in German), and they continued to produce box cameras. Thus, in September 1930, after an initial launch with another box camera in England, they announced their first ‘Box Camera,’…” (camerassinfronteras.com). See my Agfa Billy Record post for more information.

The cameras proved to be successful, selling 44000 units when released during Christmas time, and then selling another 160000 more the next year. Agfa’s sales grew even more when they introduced the Box 44 to replace the 54 and 64, which was stopped in 1933 when they released the newer variations, called the Box 54 “Box I” (camerassinfronteras.com). After that Agfa released a few more cameras, such as the Agfa Synchro box 600 (Spickmann) and the Agfa Box 94 “B-2” (camerassinfronteras.com).

Agfa Box 54 "Box I". Image Source:
https://www.udospickmann.de/agfa-boxkamera

Agfa Synchro Box 600. Image Source:
https://farm1.static.flickr.com/245/452675926_f96760fd66.jpg

Agfa Box 94 "B-2". Image Source:
https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/images/AGFA-Box-94-(Box-B2).jpg

Now, time to have a closer look at the camera at hand, the Agfa Box 54. As mentioned this camera is the first one of the series and was made in 1930-1933. The camera is made from aluminium, although they would later be made from cardboard to reduce costs (camerassinfronteras.com). The camera has a weight of 500g (Trigeos Collectables 2024) and has the size of 4 x 3 x 5.3 inches.

The name Box 54 doesn’t have a clear reason to why it was called that. According to Original Werbeanzeige von 1931 (2025), this is its camera number, “Box No.54”. But then we have camerassinfronteras.com, that points out: “Agfa used more or less consecutive numbering for its pre-war box cameras (04/14/24/34/41/44/45/50/54/64/84/94). This numbering, however, was not in any chronological order. So, the first were the 54 and 64, with the 04 (Agfa Box B-2) dating from 1937. I don't know the reasons for this ordering.”

But there is the possibility that the name could come from the price it was sold as. Because according to Camera-wiki the Box 44 was sold for 4 marks, which was a part of the camera’s advertising campaign:

“In 1932, the German company Agfa had a new idea for an advertising campaign. German coins had a printed letter stating the place of minting. He asked customers to collect four coins of 1 marked with the letters ‘A’, ‘G’, ‘F’ and ‘A’...” (Foticos Collection 2025). So with that in mind maybe there is something connected to the 54s name and its original selling price of 13.05 RM (camerassinfronteras.com)?

Agfa Box 44. Image Source:
https://fk-secondhand.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/110944_agfa_box_44_01.jpg

Now time to have a closer look. Starting with the front.

The lens-

What actually is in front is the “protective glass to prevent dust and dirt from entering the camera's interior” (camerassinfronteras.com). Instead, like the Brownie No.2, the lens is inside or behind the shutter. But unlike the Brownie No.2 the lens isn’t even attached to the main body, but to the film holder/carrier.

Then above that is the viewfinders, or brilliant finders, also known as Watson-type viewfinders (Camera-wiki), which is similar to the Brownie Model 1, but unlike the Model 1 this camera has to be viewed at an angle instead of directly above it (Camera-wiki).

Brilliant finder vs. a Watson-type finder.
Image Source:
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3617/3477365042_152f5c5d59.jpg

But the placement of the finders are similar to the Model 1, in that the left side is for portraits and the right is for landscapes.

These viewfinders are also made from “…polished metal mirrors (not glass) used to reflect the image through the viewfinders. The image obtained in the viewfinders is sufficient (as long as their elements are clean), suffering, as always with this type of viewfinder, from the problem of seeing images reversed from left to right, which requires some practice to properly focus. The lack of parallax correction or parallax markings in the viewfinders can play tricks on us when shooting at close range, where the image captured on the negative will be smaller (which will very likely 'crop' heads and feet) than what is seen through the viewfinders…” (camerassinfronteras.com).  

Now for the side-

The Watson viewfinder that frames the subject in the landscape mode is located here.

Then next to that is the film key or advance knob, and unlike the other box cameras on this blog, it is near the top instead of the bottom. This key also locks and releases the film carrier from the main body.

 

Underneath viewfinder, is the shutter speed lever setting, which like most box cameras only has only switches between “I” that has a speed of 1/30s (camerassinfronteras.com) and “B” that leaves the shutter open for as long as the user wants.

Then under that is the shutter lever, which like the Brownie No.2, is like a two-way switch. Meaning that when the user releases the shutter, by pressing down, the lever doesn’t jump back to its original position (like the Beau Brownie), but instead stays in that position. And if the user wants to take another picture, they will have to press the lever upwards.

This has both one advantage and one disadvantage. The advantage is that if the camera is set to the B shutter setting, then the user doesn’t have to hold down the shutter button to keep the shutter open. The disadvantage is that the user would have to constantly change their thumb and hand position between shots.

There is also a shield or rail that “…is supposed to protect users from possible injuries caused by rubbing against the camera's protruding levers…” (camerassinfronteras.com). 

Now on top-

Here is something I am very excited about, and that is the strap! So far all the other box cameras had the strap missing, but this one still has it. Although broken, it is still pretty cool to see the original strap with the camera, instead of just two empty studs.

Then on the front of the top is the portrait viewfinder. Then next to that is the f/stop lever.

This lever is just like the Brownie Beau and the No.2, in that it is attached to a plate that has holes punched in it, making it a Multihole aperture, just like the Sinpo PQ-3, the Agfa Clack and the Solar DX-3.

But also, unlike the Beau and the No.2, this camera actually has the f/stop sizes pressed onto the metal lever. These f/stop settings are 12.5, 16 and 22.

 

Then bottom of the top of the camera is the film compartment cover latch, similar to the Brownie Model 1.

Then on the bottom and the other side of the camera are the two tripod sockets, similar the Beau Brownie. The socket on the side is so that the camera can be positioned to take pictures in landscape mode and bottom is for portraits.

Then there is the back-

Here is the film compartment cover, which has a red film counter window.

The cover is released by lifting up the latch and pulling back.

In the film compartment is the film carrier/holder, that still (like the Agfa Clack) has some film in it.

Agfa Box 54 with empty film holder/carrier.
Image Source:
https://www.camarassinfronteras.com/agfa_box_54/agfa_box_54_32.jpg

On this film carrier is the lens, which is a simple single meniscus lens (see my Instamatic pocket 10 post), that has a focal length of 10.5 cm, and a fixed focus range of 2m to infinity (camerassinfronteras.com).

 

The holder/carrier is easy to load. It is similar to the other box cameras in this blog, except the film is loaded from the bottom, because the winding/film key is at the top. The camera 6 x 9 cm images and can take up to 8 exposures (camerassinfronteras.com). 

The film this camera uses is 120 film, but more specifically it was advertised to be used with Agfa’s B-2 film, or Isochrom film, which was Agfa’s in house 120 film.

 

To lean how film works please see my Kodak 200 Colorplus post.

And that is it. The Box 54 is simple and easy to use and was even marketed as such: “From a catalog from 1930-34: ‘The simple beginner's camera. Made entirely of metal. 3 focusing options: long, close, and portrait. Solid construction. 2 large diamond viewfinders, simple film tray, leather handle, description, and instructions. Good optics. 6 x 9 cm…’” (German Camera Museum 2025).

The thing I really like is the simple look and design accompanied by the Agfa name on the front. Emphasising that the Agfa name is all it takes to tell people that this camera is quality worth every penny.

What do you think? Should Agfa have added more decorations to the camera like the Beau Brownie to set itself apart from the other box cameras that were also just covered in leatherette like the Brownie No.2? Or do you think, like me, that the orange Agfa logo is enough to set it apart? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for making it to the end and as always, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did researching it. 

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List of sources:

Before Digital. 2022. Agfa Box 44. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aUZSzLqbQ4

Camerassinfronteras.com. Agfa Box No. 54 - "Box I". https://www.camarassinfronteras.com/agfa_box_54/agfa_box_54.html

Camera-wiki. Agfa Box I. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Agfa_Box_I#cite_ref-McK_2-0

Camera-wiki. Viewfinder. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Viewfinder#Watson_finder

Foticos Collection. Box 120 Agfa camera 44 in original box. https://foticoscollection.com/en/item/box-120-agfa-camera-44-in-original-box/188#:~:text=Info:,again%20with%20a%20box%20Agfa.

German Camera Museum. 2025. Agfa Box 54 “Box 1”. https://kameramuseum.de/objekte/agfa-box-54-box-1/

IWM. 2025. Agfa box camera. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30004936

OrangeMushroom. 2025. AGFA: Box 54 (Box I). https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/AGFA/Box-54-(Box-I).html

Original Werbeanzeige von 1931. 2025. AGFA BOX N.54 1931. https://biblio.ie/book/agfa-box-n54-original-werbeanzeige-1931/d/1383502964?srsltid=AfmBOoqWTFQ1fEItPtAFuZOf4qOOhdy0sraEj1etg5Za6wNidXxxKVqw

Spickmann, U. Agfa box camera. https://www.udospickmann.de/agfa-boxkamera

Trigeos Collectables. 2024. AGFA Box 54 (Box I) 1930-1935 + Case in rough shape, made in Munich, Germany. https://www.ebay.com/itm/133811029632?autorefresh=true