It is "auta" because when you push the button on top, the front pops open and the lens and bellows automatically slide into position so you can photograph.
It has a Vario shutter that supports shutter speeds of "T", "B", 1/25, 1/50 and 1/100 seconds. It has aperture settings of f/4.5 to f/22. The Rodenstock-Trinar lens may be focused from 4 feet to infinity. Note the demarcation on the lens: "1:4.5 f=10,5cm". This indicates that the lens was made before WWII since after the war lenses were measured in mm. The back of the camera has an interesting feature.
Internally the camera has two format masks which when present allow the user to shoot 4.5x6cm negatives. When removed, the negatives are 6x9cm. When the masks are present, to take a photograph the user advances the roll of 120 film until the appropriate number appears in the first window. After that shot is taken, the user advances the film until the same number reaches the second window. It is possible for users to advance the film too far or not far enough. This can have interesting effects. I used these effects in my final project. The Wirgin Auta has a viewfinder on top, but no rangefinder. In order to know how far away an object is, I built a rangefinder card. It is about 2x3 inches.
The numbers on the card match the focal distances on the lens. To use this card, I close my right eye and open my left eye, align the left edge of the card with the object I want to photograph, then close my left eye and open my right one. The object will now appear over the correct distance. I will post several photographs made with the Wirgin Auta.
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