Franka Solida IIIL

[!Karen]

I spotted this Franka in an auction which will take place tomorrow. It looks beautiful and I am always looking for good folder camera's.

I am going to attend this auction and want to bid on it but I can't find much pricing reference on this.

Found a bunch of other types sold on ebay and prices seem to vary a lot between versions.

Any idea on the value of this particular one?

[nurkov]

http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Franka-Werke/Solida-III-L.html

[philslizzy]

if its clean, working well and no holes, I'd say absolute maximum £35 realistically £25.

Cameras for collectors and users are different.

For use it must be in tip-top condition with a clean lens and working on all speeds. There's no point taking a shabby one needing attention as it is a low value camera and not worth paying for a CLA. So a good one is worth paying more for.

For a collector, it is good to be in a nice cosmetic condition - non working £10-£15, shabby mostly working (slow speeds inaccurate) £15-£20.

Collectiblend, and McKeowns are two good price guides, Collectiblend uses past auction prices as a guide, not taking into account the condition.

McKeowns uses past auction prices but assumes they are in good working condition, unless stated, for a normal lll with no meter or rangefinder. [after checking just now] they suggest $30 - $50 about what I suggested.

[!Karen]

Thank you for your replies.
Turned out I did not need to get anywhere near my max bid.
I bought the whole lot (it came together with a bunch of other camera's and accessories) for 5€, no other photographers in the room

But next issue, I can't find a manual for it. Not too picky when it comes to language, english, german, french,... Anyone have one ?

Butkus has one for the I and II but some features are not present in those.

[luisalegria]

Not much need for a manual with this.
Or looking at it another way, pretty much any 120 film folder manual will do. Look for an Agfa Isolette II or III manual, or a Zeiss Nettar - Butkus has both.
There isnt a coupled rangefinder and the lightmeter is also uncoupled, and most likely non operational anyway.
So all thats required is to cock the shutter and set speed, aperture and range on the various dials in front. German folders are extremely similar.

What sets this one apart from many others is its rather large aperture triplet lens. Bokeh time in Meyer Trioplan country ! Maybe. If you can get it focused accurately. Since focus is by guess f/2.8 for near subjects will be a gamble.

What to worry about -
#1 - Shutter doesn't work. Its a Prontor and these generally aren't so hard to deal with, but YMMV.
#2 - Fog on the lens. Since this is almost certainly a front cell focus triplet its probably there between the first and second element. That means disassembly of the font cell, which means resetting infinity once you get it back together.
#3 - There is a shutter button on the body. The linkage with the shutter lever on the shutter is often wonky.

[philslizzy]

Great bargain, and all the other stuff too!

[uddhava]

Congratulations! Great buy!

[!Karen]

Luisalegria, thank you so much for the info!

Ok, so after a quick test run and inspection:

- shutter is wonky on the slower speeds, works good up until 1/30. Any slower it gets unreliable: The arm that cocks the shutter and the shutter lever on the lens that fires the shutter don't always return, leaving the shutter wide open until you push the levers back into place yourself. I have zero experience fixing shutters though unfortunately. But I'll google a bit and if it seems do-able I might just give it a shot. If I mess up it just goes in the display cabinet!
- lens is crystal clear and in top condition.
- lightmeter: the needle reacts to changing light conditions but probably not accurate I guess. Idk how it works. Not an issue, I always use a separate one.
- i have a rangefinder thingie to pop into the hotshoe to help me set distance a bit better
- there is this button on the lens that links the shutter and the aperture, if you change one of the two the other automatically follows to compensate. Handy feature I have not come across yet on my other folders.
- The camera is in beautiful cosmetic condition, leather is still beautiful

I will post some images of the camera in the equipment forum tomorrow

In the box there was also an Exa IIb, a beautiful vintage tripod, a gossen sixtomat lightmeter and a boxed polaroid 1000 land camera. So 5 nice pieces to add to the collection. The rest of the junk, some super 8 camera, an agfa camera and some canon eos camera i'll try to sell for the 5€ I spent.

[Lloydy]

That was a good score......

[luisalegria]

Prontors respond well to lighter fluid.
Compurs not so much.
You will need to get the front and back cells off to do this properly, which could be a problem as you will need to reset infinity on the front cell.
There isn't much need for speeds under 1/30 though, for handheld use, so that may not be such a bad limitation.

It may respond well enough if you just exercise the shutter - cock it and run it @100 times.
Interesting linkage feature. This was fairly common on cameras of the time. All the Zeiss Contaflex were like that I believe.
There may be an 'EV" scale on there too if thats the case. The meter may read in EV.
Easy way to test the meter - point to a sunny scene like a medium colored wall in direct sunlight (gray, green, etc.).
It should read f/16 at 1/100 or around there. If it does its more or less usable.

[!Karen]

I have been operating the shutter and it does get better!

And this is how the lightmeter looks like, really don't understand how to read it.
There is a scale from 1 to 7 on the meter and also one on the ring around the asa ring. I guess I need to match the ring to what the needle reads, with one of the three arrows (the one that has L written underneath??) Then there's 2 arrows remaining and a scale from 2 to 18

[nurkov]

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/solida/solida_6x6_i_ii.htm

maybe this can help a bit

[!Karen]

none of those have lightmeters

I posted images of the camera now
http://forum.mflenses.com/franka-solida-iiil-t68175.html

the scale from 2 to 18 also returns on a ring on the shutter

getting closer to solving this puzzle

[luisalegria]

This is one of those funky lightmeters that reads in EV values.

There are several scales because the readings work in different modes.
This one is much like the Contaflex lightmeter.

Two at least of these modes are for bright or low light.
You switch modes by moving the flap in front of the meter cell. When its down theres just that small hole for the light. When its up theres a much larger area. Down is for bright/sunny conditions, up is for dark/cloudy/indoors

You first turn the inner scale with the windows to match your film speed - ASA=ISO
As you turn the outer ring there should be some sort of indicator that should match the position of the needle.
Then you read off the number to which the arrows on top are pointing. I guess "L" is for the low light mode and the other is for the bright mode.
There is probably a matching EV scale on the shutter where these can be translated into aperture and speed.

[!Karen]

thanks for the additional info
i already found it weird the needle went quickly beyond 7 when I took the camera outside, even in the shade.
i'm trying again tomorrow with the flap in front of the cell

i will have a search online for the contaflex, maybe that will shed some light on how to read this meter properly

and indeed there is a scale on the shutter as well