jmarcdive posted a photo:
"Film d’essai" (test film) of my new FOCA camera model-4 (year 1955). The camera was loaded with a Fomapan Classic 100 36-exposure film. The film was exposed for 64 ISO with the FOTOR pale green x1.5 filter for views 0 to 19 and for 50 ISO with a FOCA yellow filter x2.5 for the rest of the film using an Autometer III Minolta light meter fitted with a 10° finder. The OPLAR lens lens was also equipped with a a generic cylindrical shade hood.
September 30, 2023
69001 Lyon
France
After exposure, the film was revealed using Adox Adonal developper at dilution 1+50 at 20°C for 9min The film was then digitized using a Sony A7 body fitted to a Minolta Slide Duplicator installed on a Minolta Auto Bellows III with a lens Minolta Bellow Macro Rokkor 50mm f/3.5. The RAW files obtained were processed without intermediate files in LR and edited to the final jpeg pictures.
All views of the film are presented in the dedicated album either in the printed framed versions and unframed full-size jpeg
——
This FOCA camera is in an exceptional state of conservation and looks exited from a sort of time capsule since 70 years!
I was not so very optimistic about the real state of this camera because of the scars description of the seller, but I finally won the bid for tiny price on September 26, 2023 and the camera arrived to me a few days later.
According to the serial number this PF2B should be a model-4 from year 1955 (model-4 spans the years1954-1957). The shutter is a type-3 that equipped the version 16 to 17 in 1956. Curiously, the camera has also the type-6 rewind large button only appeared in 1957 on the model-5 of PF2B’s. Maybe a latter upgrade required by the customer or prosed by the after-market service?
The camera was kept clearly in original box with the serial number hand written on the right side. The OPLAR normal lens 1:2.8 f=5cm is a model-3 version-4 from 1955 with the "ECD/9" diaphragm graduation 2.8…3.5…9….18.
In the box Botton was the user manual, a Kodachrome brochure in French and several cashier ticket from the seller "PHOTO BANGARD", 29, Quai du Fossé, Mulhouse, France, also identified in the inner side of the camera back with a sticker.The cashier ticket are probably to related to the camera since the amounts in French Francs does not correspond to any price list of that time.
In addition the camera has a leather ever-ready bag in excellent condition. When I first detailed the camera, I soon appeared that it almost pristine with very little sign of use. All functions works flawlessly and the shutter curtains are as new. The view finder and range finder are very clear and contrasted as the day 1. The lens is also very nice with the coating in quite good condition.
The camera was so nice and easy to clean that I could test it with a film the day after the receipt.
About the FOCA PF2B camera’s and the normal lens OPLAR:
The Foca type PF2B (PF for "Petit Format") was constructed in France by the company "Optique & Precision de Levallois" (OPL) starting from 1947. It was manufactured in the Chateaudun OPL factory, route de Jallans, France. The factory, constructed in 1938, is still at the same place under the name of SAFRAN now producing precision devices for aerospace appliances.
The camera is equipped with the collapsible 36mm screw-mount OPLAR lens (a modified Tessar formula with an additional fifth rear element) 1:2.8 f=5cm. The focal shutter of the PF2B has timing of 1/1000, 1/500, 1/200, 1/100, 1/50 and 1/25s plus the B pose. A slow exposure device below 1/25s could be installed by the aftermarket service and was installed basically for the FOCA PF3 type.