Focaflex Rollei RPX100 - a photo on Flickriver

My photowalk of October 3, 2024 in Lyon, France, with my French SLR camera Focaflex (see camera details below).

I used a Rollei RPX 100 36-exposure negative film. The film is based on the formula of former Agfa APX100. Though made in UK, it has however nothing related to Kentmere Pan 100. The developing times are rather differents. Rollei RPX 100 is a regular panchromatic film coated on a traditional cellulose tri-acetate base. It was exposed for 100 ISO using an Autometer III Minolta lightmeter fitted with a 10° finder for selective measurements privileging the shadow areas.

Outdoor, the lens was fitted with a 42mm push-on yellow filter and indoor or in low-light condition with a FOCA AUV filter. The Genaco cylindrical steel shade-hood was used systematically.

October 3, 2024
69005 Lyon
France

After exposure, the film was revealed using Adox Adonal developper at the 1+25 dilution for 9min at 20°C . The film was then digitalized 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 accompanied by some documentary smartphone Vivo Y76 color pictures.

About the camera: this French SLR Focaflex was manufactured likely in 1960 by Optique & Précision de Levallois (OPL), France, in its factory of Châteaudun, Eure.

The Focaflex was released in 1958 and sold to the public from 1959 to 1964 in three different versions (Focaflex Automatic and Focaflex II) , the year where OPL stopped its camera activities. The Focaflex is equipped with a fixed lens OPLAR-COLOR (4 lenses, Tessar type) 1:2.8 f=5 cm with a central shutter. The obvserved image through the lens is not obtained by the use of a regular pentaprism but a simple prism and the use of a 45° semi-transparent mirror and the a second mirror located it the bottom of the camera. This complex solution for a SLR was likely chosen as a sort of demonstrator of the OPL company capability to design very complex camera's...

The Focaflex became "famous" in a sense after the Gérard Oury's movie "Le Corniaud" with André Bourvil and Louis de Funés (1965) where Antoine Maréchal used hardly the Focaflex for his Italy tour and the Cadillac car.

This camera came with its everready case, a shade hood with +1 diopter (possibly of the Genaco brand), and a Foca AUV 42 mm filter, the three accessories in a small leather box (non Foca).

For a description a the optical scheme used in the Focaflex see www.foca-collection.fr/index.html

Taken on: October 3, 2024

Tags:

Lyon

France

Focaflex

FOCA

OPL

Optique

Précision

Levallois

French

SLR

OPLAR

normal

lens

1:2.8

f=5cm

Rollei

RPX

100

film

photography

Adox

Adonal

developer

1+25

Sony

digitizing

Minolta

Auto

Bellows

Slide

Duplicator

Macro

Rokkor

50mm « less

Sets appears in: • Focaflex Rollei RPX100

Camera: vivo V2124, f/0.95, 1/17 sec, 4mm, ISO 3653 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	vivo V2124
Aperture:	f/0.95
Exposure Time:	0.059 sec (1/17)
Focal Length:	4mm
ISO:	3653
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Light Source:	D65
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.3 (Macintosh)
Show full info

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