Franka Rolfix pre-war uncoated Rodenstock Trinar-Anastigmat

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Picked this beauty up in great condition for 6ukp. Everything works great, the lens glass is perfect, no haze, fungus or scratches, the shutter works at all speeds and they all seem pretty accurate to me. Can't wait to put a roll of Pan F 50 through this tomorrow.

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Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

very nice ! Hard to find in this condition, congrats!

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Yes, I haven't cleaned it at all, it came this clean, delighted with it as it was a total gamble, no description and just this slightly mysterious picture:

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

Looks to be in great usable shape - you may not need to do any collimation etc at all. These old triplets are often better than the fancier lenses, especially after all these years. Some of my favorites! Look forward to seeing the first results. Damn, these things are addictive Laughing

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Cheers Jussi, I would have liked a Tessar or Xenar in a Compur with 1/250 or 1/400 top speed, but this Franka should do well enough for BW shooting, I'll be using it on a tripod stopped down so I expect the lens should be pretty sharp in those conditions.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Looks excellent.

I have never seen a prewar one.
We get plenty of these in the US but they are nearly all early post-war imports, mainly with Schneider Radionars.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Yes, when searching on the net for info, most of the ones I saw were post-war with Radionars, those seem to be much more common.

I did find one identical to mine but with a Vario shutter and possibly a different lens on photo.net, from 1938:

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00Rd7N

He describes the lens as quite useable in the centre but with poor edges:

I think his camera has the Velostigmat lens which was a lower grade, cheaper option than the Rodenstock on mine.

Gives me hope I can get some nice shots from mine.

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

My first folder was a really beat up Franka with a velostigmat in a vario. One of my daughters had bought it at a yard sale, and then it drifted in the house till the other daughter found it and wanted to use it.

I have several pre-war folders, and it really seems to be hit or miss with them, can't always tell from the name on the camera or lens which one will be good and which one won't.

Here's a Franka-Freak (and I mean it in the best way possible Wink

)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7817210@N03/with/1079282358/

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I am delighted to report the camera works like a dream, shutter speeds seem accurate as the exposures look great.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Great news! I look forward scan results!

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Here's the first scan, not bad at all for a 74 year old camera.

Pan F 50 in Rodinal, came out with very little grain, contrast is a bit low as you woudl expect from an uncoated lens but sharpness looks good enough to me. 1/125sec at f9, camera balanced on a stone wall as it has a 3/8 screw thread and my tripods are all 1/4.

I'm quite proud of this as it's the first time I've shot a folding camera, only the second time I've shot a 120 camera and the first time I've developed a 120 film. First time I've scanned a 120 film too.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Same shot after some PP to fix the contrast and sharpening:

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Two more, with and without PP. This is Waberthwaite church, Cumbria, UK. I forget how old it is now but very old.

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

Nice freshman effort, what time/temp/dilution did you use?

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Cheers Katastrofo, I got so much pleasure from this process the results are almost secondary. I shall have to check my notes but I think it was 1:50 dilution, 11mins at 20C. Pan F 50 is listed on the back of the bottle and I just used what is said on there, agitated for 30 secs then 10 inversions every 2 mins. Washed under running tap for 5 mins, emptying water out of tank twice, then 35mins fix using my homebrew sodium thiosulphate solution.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Here I am shooting the Franka yesterday. That's a Konica FT-1 with 4/21 Hexanon round my neck.

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

That's a nice 'millstone' around your neck, especially with the 4/21 Hex! One of my fave homebrew devs is Thornton's 2-bath, this is
with the 1937 Skopar Voigtlander Bessa 6x9 with coupled RF (only way to go Wink

)

Ilford Delta 100, shot wide open at f3.5

4+4, 20C

1 liter batches will dev 15 rolls of either 120 or 36exp 35mm, cheap and easy to make. It loves tabular grain films like
Delta and TMAX.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

That's a stunning image and a camera I am most envious of!

Not heard of Thorntons, I am planning to pickup some of the Speedibrews recreations of old classics, such as their version of Microdol-X.

Sometime I might try making some of the new formulas of ascorbate developer people are making as improvements over caffeinol.

I'm just scanning the roll of FP4+ I shot in the FT1 that day, results are really good, I just adore the 4/21 Hexanon on film.

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

Looking forward to the FP4 and that Hex. I'm to the point now that I will mate the film to the developer
that I have the best results and quit screwing around. For CCM it's Acros or APX 100. Here's one using
CCM 15 mins, 21C, APX-100>200, using Canon A1, Viv Series 1 Kiron 70-210 zoom:

You can still get APX-100 over there? One of the Rollei films is the same formula, Retro 100(?)

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Yes, APX100 is still around, both as Agfa and as Rollei Retro 100.

I really like that shot, the blacks are great and the glossiness of the car really comes through.

Here's one of the first scans off the FP4 roll with the 4/21 Hexanon, I'm happy with it for an early attempt.

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

Nice, hate to see a Jag in such a state, but a decent scan fer shure. What
did you scan this with, did you suss out the probs to your 3200?

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Yes, there were a couple more jags in even worse state and at least 8 Morris Minors, really sad to see them completely overgrown and rotted away.

The scans are with my Epson 3200, it's problematic to use but with patience it will work.

Another one of the sad Jag:

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

Some fairly good detail in that scan, for a flatbed (all my scans for months now have been with the Epson 4490, both
color and BW). Looks like you picked one of the two days out of the year where you have sunlight. Wink

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

We've had a couple of weeks of good sunshine, highly unusual for April.

The shots were just before 6pm so the sun was low in the sky which made for contrasty shots.

As soon as I can afford I need another scanner, this one is annoying. Maybe I need to try vuescan or silverfast instead of the epson software which may be half the problem.

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

I hear there are driver issues when moving to a newer OS. Vuescan then becomes a great idea.