Saraber Finetta 88

[Stephen]

Coming from Ebay, a Saraber Finetta 35mm interchangeable lens German compact camera, from the early 1950's.

Piet Saraber was a Dutch electrical and camera engineer who moved to Germany in the war, and ran the Finetta brand in Goslar, from 1947 to 1957, along with an ex Voigtlander designer.

A smaller camera maker, who appears to have made their own lenses, 43mm, 45mm and 70mm in a simple plain bayonet fit. No rangefinder was fitted to any model.

The Finetts lenses were quite good quality, the shutter more modest, but the body was very well made.

The Finetta 88 is all metal construction, mainly aluminium and steel. Earlier Finetta models used mixed bakelite and aluminium.

The Finetta 88 was available in black or grey finishes. Saraber also made a Finetta 99 model, with a clockwork film transport.

The Finetta 88 has an oddity that the Corfield Periflex shared, a sprocketless film transport design. It varies the spacing as the film progesses, and might cause issues with modern developing and printing shops with automated process lines.

Other makers did some extra lenses for Saraber, Som Bertiot and Telec in France did 90mm telephoto lenses, and Som Bertiot did a wide angle of 35mm, a retrofocus design, an example of which I already have. Extension tubes sets of three, were made for the camera for close-ups. Longer telephotos than about 135mm were not possible due to vignetting by the shutter, just like the Berning Robot.

The Finetta shutter is built into the body, completely behind the lens, a two blade simple leaf shutter.

Coming with an original leather case. The Finetta sold well secondhand, usually reliable, except for the 99's focal plane shutter. Not common in the UK, it was made during the post war restriction period, was sold by Hanimex, Australia, in the United States through out production. I don't think there was ever an official UK importer, or agent.

Stephen.

[vintageslrs]

Stephen

That sure is a cute little guy!

[Stephen]

Aug 14, 2013 18:29:35 GMT -5 vintageslrs said:

Stephen

That sure is a cute little guy!

Relatively short in length due to the lack of a sprocketed drive for the film, and a bit thinner due to the shorter focal length standard lens, and lack of a bulky front shutter housing, or big helical focus assembly.

The design came from a Voigtlander designer, who also later on, did the Bolsey (US) 35mm designs, similar in size and concept. The only smaller 35mm camera was the Rollei, developed from an Edixa idea, never made by Wirgin. About the same size was the Japanese Samoca series of smaller 35mm cameras.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Depth of Field table for Saraber Finetta 88 45mm F2.8 lens, interestingly it includes different hyperfocal distances for Colour film and Black and White film.



Chart for the Finetta 88 Extension ring set for close-ups, which are very rare items indeed.
Saraber made a rangefinder,(re-badged from another maker), and a bulb flash gun. Hoods and filters were made in Finetta branding. Leather cases were supplied as an extra. In markets where Hanimex sold the Saraber Finetta, the case was included.

I cannot trace the exact UK importer, but Wallace Heaton Ltd., certainly stocked the cameras in the 1950's till closure, and sold off stocks about 1960.(In WH Blue Book) They may have been the Finetta cameras importer.

Stephen.

[33dollars]

I got a couple of these. They were also rebadged for Hanimex as the Hanimex Hanimar

[Stephen]

Never seen a Hanimex Hanimar version, it looks in very good condition, this re-badging was early from Hanimex, who mainly concentrated on Japanese made items, as export to Australia was easier than direct to the States. They did several German made lines as well, and such items could be sold in the UK as well, despite the restrictions on direct importation from Germany.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

The Finetta 88 Camera arrived safely, and for once with Ebay, is as described in the listing, and is in full working order. The condition is rather good, only a couple of tiny marks on the base of the back. Interior virtually as new condition. The case is near new condition, bar the lens cover with very slight wrinkling.

I doubt the camera has been used that much, stored away.

The lens is clean and clear of fungus, no marks or scratches, the bayonet mount works, focus moves smoothly, and aperture adjusts. Who made the standard lenses remains a mystery, I was told many years ago they were British made, or French, but I suspect Saraber made them in house.

The shutter, built in the camera front plate, tests out OK, the speeds are correct, 1/250th to 25th + B, very quiet, the action of the shutter mechanism means more release pressure is needed as the speed increases, B is near silent, with 1/250 a distinct click. It may need a soft release nipple top added to the release as the stroke movement is long as well, and may cause a slight jerk, if not careful.

Saraber only used a two blade shutter design, more like early 1920's shutters, simple but reliable. It's limitation is the diameter, which limits other longer lenses and the maximum aperture possible. Berning's Robot had exactly the same problem, due to the same shutter position and size.

The Finetta 99, with focal plane shutter, and a clockwork drive, seems to have bankrupted the company, they vanished very quickly in 1960.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Ebay is weird (so what's new), I pay £16 for a decent Finetta 88, and a couple of days later one sells for £36, looks like similar condition, or perhaps a tad worse......there's no explaining the way the auctions go, you just have to be careful.
I have some in date Fuji colour negative to try out the Saraber camera with over the next few days. I have checked focus etc, and will try a single B/w neg to check it out better before the colour film is used.

I expect the colour film may throw the processor a bit, the spacing is not even with sprocketless cameras, and may interfere with making prints. I may just get it processed and scan it myself.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

It appears the Finetar 99 takes different mount lenses, I knew the early used different screw in lenses, so the Tele lens I have, will not fit the 88, and the extension tubes I have seen had screw mount, which must match early types of the Finetta body, the 88 being bayonet.
Still after a working 99 then.......and they do cost a lot more.
Stephen.

[Stephen]

A little research on the net, via Google translator, shows Piet Saraber to have been taken from Holland to Germany as forced wartime labour, but as he was an expert electrician, he got a better position. He married and stayed in Germany because of the business opportunities after the war.
He did manufacture the Finetta lenses "in house", building his own lens grinding equipment. After the collapse of Finetta, he worked for Minox in camera development.
The total Saraber Finetta camera production was greater than some sources say, it was over 100,000 units in seven years.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Shot of the Saraber Finetta 88 camera, the condition quite good, it must have been stored in the original leather case, it just needs a proper lens hood and a filter holder, Finetta used push on type I believe, although the lens has a filter thread, it is tiny! The lens is fully coated, and nice and clean. With the small filters it may take Bolex cine sizes.

The viewfinder has a shaded transparent grey edge that gives the centre matching the 85mm lens, and the whole view matches the 45mm standard lens.



Test shot with B/W at F8 1/250th, focus at infinity, checks out OK.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

A German site gives the information that early Saraber lenses were made by Dr Staeble, (Staeble-Werk), but then Peter Saraber built the equipment himself to grind the lenses used on the later models. They were unusual in making almost all parts in house, and the hot shoe on later models was Saraber's own invention, from his electrical engineering background.
It is also mentioned the use of Bakelite in the early models was his, but he was persuaded to change to all metal construction by his ex-Voightlander designer.
In nearly all cases of Bakelite being used, it seems the designers were from the Radio trade, or electricians, especially in the US, and France.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Another point, the lens mount is far enough back to make an adaptor for Micro 4/3 practical, they are not made commercially of course. I'll use the cheapest Micro adaptor for Pentax and add a metal tube and a copy of the Saraber Bayonet. From the film test it should be worthwhile doing it. It would result in a very compact 90mm F2.8 telephoto lens on the OM PM-1.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Finetta are like London buses, none come along, then several turn up at once! Ebay has had a lot recently and very much higher prices, and the 99 is simply expensive! I think they are more common than people used to say, being well built maybe surviving better. I tried a soft release, makes a great difference, so making a custom fit version in the lathe.
Stephen.

[Stephen]

Film in ready to use over holiday weekend, and it is raining cats and dogs outside! Typical August bank holiday weather though.......
Stephen.