Focaflex

[Stephen]

On Ebay at the moment,(24 Oct), on 170928973649 Ebay UK, a very unusual reflex camera, the French Focaflex from the early 1960's. (No connection with the Ebay sale in any way).

It used a very unique SLR viewfinder, mirror and prism, to achieve a bright viewfinder with centre focusing as usual for an SLR.

The mirror is reversed to the usual way around, and reflects the light downwards on to the focusing screen in the base of the camera. The screen is above a mirror which reflects the view up wards through the main mirror which was half silvered. The light then goes through a small reversing prism and out via the eyepiece.



The focusing centre of the screen was viewed direct, no mirror underneath, and you compared the view outside the area, which was an unfocused direct view, with the microprism centre circle area.

The idea seems complex, but had a low part count, and combined with a leaf shutter made the Focaflex about as quiet for an SLR as possible.

The oddity was the non focusing viewfinder, needed to keep it bright with the half silvered mirror, and a secondary shutter that had to close over the mirror during exposure and a further shutter to close the viewfinder.
despite al the moving parts it worked quite well.

As usual though it was a leaf shutter, and this restricted lens etc, and increased the lens prices, quite why Euro makers like Zeiss persisted with leaf shutters was a mystery, apart from being dead quiet.

There was only a very limited choice of lens, and the line ended about 1962. They are well built and the design must rate as unique, it is definitely different.

A bit too expensive to bid on this one, but at least it shows what to look out for..........

Stephen.

[melek]

I just saw this thread.

A few years back I picked up a Focaflex Automatic, which is the Focaflex with an autoexposure system tied to a selenium meter. The camera also has full manual exposure.

I'll post some photos of the camera. Somewhat large and sturdy.

This is a fixed-lens model.

I had a Foca thing for a while, so I have a Foca Sport II, the Focafex Automatic and two Foca rangefinders.

[Stephen]

I put in up as a curiosity, the amazing design of the reflex viewer always intrigued me, it is so different to anything else. I do not have a Foca reflex, but do have a rangefinder model, which is undergoing a service at the moment, as it was bought years ago in a bad state.
I very much doubt I can afford a Focaflex now, they command very high prices indeed, and are not even common in France. As usual with the French, they liked to do things their own way, even when not really practical or affordable. .....Anybody got a Savoy......
Stephen.

[melek]

I have a Royerflex or Royaflex SLR, but it's in some boxes at some friends' house (temporary storage), while I relocate.

I'll retrieve it over the holidays. It was part of my French camera thing. I think that I stopped after getting the Focaflex. I can't recall what I paid for the Focaflex, but I think it was less than $200.

I'll get the little SLR back next week. It's an odd thing. Very heavy. Left-hand wind, as I recall.

[melek]

Here's my Focaflex Automatic.

As you can see, it doesn't look like an SLR at all, as it lacks the SLR pentaprism hump. I didn't realize that it has such a unique viewing system.

It has a very clean minimalist design. I find it to be attractive and very usable.

The camera is simple to operate. It uses a trap-needle autoexposure that you activate with the button with your left hand. It's on the front of the camera, at the 2 o'clock position on the lens.

The nameplate swings up to reveal the selenium meter cell.

The rewind crank is revealed by using a fingernail to pull up on the crank, which normally is recessed into the top deck.

The back is removed to load film. The shutter release is the small domed button that iss slightly recessed.

I've used a Oplar-Color on a Foca Sport II and was impressed with its sharpness. Aperture range is 2.8-22, while shutter speeds (leaf shutter) run from 1 second to 1/250 plus B. ASA range is 8 to 400. There is no DIN scale.

The lens is marked in meters, and the lens is 5cm rather than 50mm, which became how focal lengths generally were marked postwar.

The viewfinder is a bit dark. It has a central split area surrounded by what I think is a ground glass screen. I don't think it's a fresnel screen.

At the bottom of the viewfinder is a semi-circular aperture scale with a meter needle. The needle only moves when you press the black button on the front of the camera.

I'll load it with some film and shoot a roll.

[melek]

I should also add that there is no rapid-return mirror. The viewfinder goes dark and stays dark when taking a photo. Overall, a nice camera with a clean design.

[Stephen]

The reason it is darker than an ordinary reflex is that you look through the half silvered mirror, downwards, on to a mirror that contains the focusing target, the split screen, the rest of the view is a direct reflected view. The light reflected upwards has to go through the upside down mirror again on it's way to the viewfinder.

The mirror was needed to maximise the light reflected upwards to the view finder. In a way, in the Focaflex, you are looking at an optical illusion, it is not a fully focusing image at all, only the central split focuses as usual.

This arrangement is completely unique to still reflex cameras, but was used in movie camera systems, the mirror remaining up during exposure, whereas with Foca the mirror falls down flat during exposure.

I suspect Foca's designers got the idea from Technicolor camera's of the 1940's.

Mitchell had a viewfinder with the focus arranged below the lens by reflection. It was done to use the early zoom lenses which needed through the lens viewing. The cameramen disliked it as the view was too dark, and it got dropped.

With the iris shutter and no instant return, the mechanism was very quiet, it was one of it's appeals to the user. Foca balanced the weight of the mirror to the blind that covers the viewfinder etc., making it quite smooth for the complexity.

Stephen.