"FOCA" French RF

<p>Another <strong>"Look inside":</strong></p>

<p>This wild French made rangefinder camera "FOCA", incorporates a "Quad barrel" <strong>string</strong> shutter design.<br /> (Years later Olympus OM cameras used a similar system)<br /> Even stranger is the middle "Wind the shutter speed dial" <strong>transport</strong> system. Unlike the Contax II & III, this one winds from the midddle of the camera. (Not the far right like the Contax's)</p>

<p>Surprisingly, the fit and finish of these "Leica thread mount" era copies, is quite good.</p>

<p>Too bad among other things, it's interchangeable lenses weren't the popular Leica thread mount. (Smaller than LTM)<br /> Well, no matter how clever, sometimes a company simply chooses wrong...</p>

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<p>Oplar screw mount interchangeable lens in it's body focus helical.</p><div></div>

<p>Back door with it's highly polished pressure plate.<br>

Note the cool French camera shop sticker...</p><div></div>

<p>Interesting stuff, Gus. I did not realize that the thread mount cannot take Leica lenses. Collectors' only camera. </p>

<p><em><strong>Alex !</strong></em> Good to hear from you.<br>

I trust you're recording the Japanese reaction "on the street" to the horrible events of 3-11-2011...</p>

<p>The repair unit in this thread is camera model<strong> <a href="http://www.leitzmuseum.org/CameraMakes/Foca/FOCA47B-1.html">FOCA PF2B Ver. 2 </a></strong> <<< click</p>

<p>Interesting that the 1938 designed camera could not get into production until after the war (it's lens looks a bit like my 1930's Elmar 50) and that the company was previously known for precision military rangefinders and guns. Maybe the French wouldn't buy Mercedes and Leicas in the direct aftermath of the war, so a local product was saleable. Thanks for the anatomical view, Gus, very interesting (and also the shutter link to the later Olympus). </p>

<p>It would seem that it would have been so much easier for FOCA to replicate the Leica for their camera. However, unlike Japanese, British, and Russian Leica copies, the French came up with their own unique camera design, seemingly respecting Leica copyrights while other countries ignored them.</p>

<p>Foca cameras were made by OPL, founded by Armand de Gramont, Duke of Guiche, Duke of Gramont, and Prince of Bidache. A short biography is here: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_de_Gramont_%281879-1962%29. Use Google Translate if you don't read French. Remarkable man.</p>

<p>Not all of the nobility was idle.</p>

<p>The noted French photographer Willy Ronis used FOCA</p>

<p>Martin Tai beat me on this one. I was just about to mention Willy Ronis as a user of the Foca.<br>

There was a major exhibition of Ronis' work at the Paris city hall, a few years ago. They had his Foca system on exhibit in a window. According to the info displayed then, Ronis worked with three camera systems throughout his career : 1. a rolleiflex; 2. A Foca with several lenses; 3. a pentax slr, one of the older ones, with thread mount.<br>

OPL means "Optique et Précisions de Levallois". Levallois is a neighborhood just west of Paris which, in the old days, was home to many businesses related to mechanics in general (automobile, optics, etc). I just happen to live not far from it (which does not give me the skills and talent of either Armand de gramont or Willy Ronis :-)<br>

@Arthur Plumpton : I remember hearing some years ago an interview of Raymond Depardon, where he explained how everyone lusted over the Leicas but couldn't afford them. More than anti german feelings, I guess price was the main barrier to purchasing a Leica, even back then. Also, I would assume that the production of Leica was quite severely disrupted immediatly after WWII.<br>

@Dan Fromm : as you certainly know, idle nobility in France was pretty harshly disposed of after the 1789 revolution… Those who survived might have felt an urge to become productive and socially useful. ;-)</p>

 

<p>Pierre, you may be right that the events of 1789 and later eliminated many nobles, but I'm not sure that the survivors and replacements were all hard workers. There's a tradition of playboys ...</p>

<p>The de Gramont clan was full of remarkable people. I wonder how they produced so many, also how their children avoided the, um, seductions that I suspect they were exposed to. Impossible, though, for an American reared in the second half of the 20th century to imagine the milieu in which Armand de Gramont grew up and flourished, it is too distant in every way possible. I've seen Jean Renoir's La Grand Illusion and La Règle du jeu. The worlds Renoir portrayed are completely alien, also far from de Gramont's. Friend of Proust, son-in-law of a model for the Duchesse de Guermantes. Such as I can't begin to imagine ...</p>

<p>The FOCA with it's new skin (Leatherette custom cut & replaced) and ready to take pictures again...</p><div></div>

<p>This is an old thread ... wonder why I missed it but now I stumbled across it.<br>

First, there are two basic types of Focas: the thread-mount Focas and the bayonet-mount Focas (Foca Universel).<br>

The thread mount Focas use a 38mm thread. This is totally incompatible with anything on the world. Also, the lenses are not truly coupled to the rangefinder except for the 50mm lens. The 50mm lens does not have a focussing mount but is focussed from the camera body. Wide and tele lenses have a focussing mount, but you have to measure the distance first by using the focussing ring for the 50mm lens on the body, set it back to inf and set the distance measured on the lens.<br>

Not all thread-mount Focas have the winding knob near the center of the top plate. There was a later version with an advance lever. Also, it does not matter too much whether you wind such a camera with a knob linked to the shutter winding shaft (as on the Foca) or the film take-up shaft (Leica et al.), both components are linked internally via gears.<br>

The Foca Universel was a much more advanced design, all lenses were rangefinder coupled and much easier to use. Most of the Foca Universel had an advance lever, some come with a winding knob as most of the thread-mount Focas. The Foca Universel comes close to the M Leicas except for the bright line frames (these could be found on the Foca Universel RC but only 2000 of these were made).<br>

France had a flourishing camera industry before WWII and they still flourished after WWII. Let's remember that custom charges still existed on the border between Germany and France, that's why Leitz choose to have some of their Leicas assembled in the Saar region which was occupied by France to increase their french sales figures. Almost every kind of camera was available from french manufacturers in the 50s and early 60s.</p>

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