Foca Universel RC "408" Test Film
For testing on film my newly arrived exceptional French 35mm camera FOCA Universel RC (see below for details about this rare and fascinating camera), I went for photowalk in my district, Lyon, France. The weather was very sunny and the outside temperature warm (32°C).
Testing a new collection camera is always is great moment. We know the camera only from its blank manipulations but the real judge is the test film on the field, the camera exposed to outside elements in real photography operations. Some possible problems as light leaks or slight unpairing of the shutter curtains, will be only detected on film.
I used the camera with its ever-ready bag and I removed the front part for operation. In particular, I previously checked very carefully the exact condition of the thin leather neck strap. Old leather may crack and it would a shame and a nightmare to drop such camera. The OPLAR standard lens 1/:2.8 f=5cm was equipped with a yellow filter FOCA x2.5. The OPLAR lens fro the FOCA’s only accept push-on filter (42.5mm in this specific case). A vintage Genaco cylindric stainless-steel shade hood conceived for a 5cm focal length was also used all along the session.
The test film was a 36-exposure Fomapan 100. Expositions were determined for 50 ISO to compensate the absorption of the yellow filter. Metering was achieved using a Minolta Autometer III lightmeter fitted with a 10° finder for selective metering privileging the shadow areas.
Film side mark
July 5, 2025
69001 Lyon
France
After completion at view #39, the film was rewound normally and processed using 350 mL of Adox Adonal developer (identical to the original Agfa Rodinal in its formula of 1891) prepared at the dilution 1+50 for 9 min at 20°C.
Digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) fitted to a Minolta Auto Bellows III with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm. The diffuse light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.
The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version available of Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 14.4) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as printer files with a frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.
As a result, the test film shows that this FOCA Universel RC is in perfect conditions and could be used normally with confidence.
About the camera and its history :
Among the French 35mm camera produced by « Optique & Précision de Levallois S.A. » from 1945 to the middle of the 60’s, the FOCA Universel « RC » is likely the most captivating ever produced in France at that time.
The camera was the last development of the FOCA, sometime called the « French Leica » because the optical and mechanical precision matched and even surpassed the original thread-mount Leica. Far before the first Leica M (the M3 in 1954) O.P.L. developed a bayonet-mount FOCA in 1948 called the FOCA « Universel ». Seeing the incredible viewer and range finder of the Leica M that is likely the most sophisticated system even engineered, O.P.L. released lately a great improvement of the FOCA with a novel collimated, parallax auto-corrected, of a fully original and different design of the Leitz system.
The FOCA Universel RC It is a rare camera that only appears for time to time on the collector market, being only produced to a bit more than 2000 overall units in the years 1962 and 1963, just before O.P.L. decided to quit the camera production and returned to other instrumental optical production. O.P.L. soon merged with SOM Berthiot and today can be found still in the industrial filiation of SAFRAN group, the French leader company for designing and producing system for aerospace appliances. The plant where the FOCA's were produced still exists in an almost original form in Châteaudun, Eure-et-Loir, France.
I got my first FOCA URC unit two years ago (Sept. 2023, flic.kr/s/aHBqjAV6Dg) that is a standing and emotional piece of my small camera collection.
I got this one from an apparently ignored auction on the French eBay. We were only two biders in the last 5s and I won the auction not far away to the initial price. The camera was fully revised, with new shutter curtains, a new delayed shutter release mechanism. The serial number indicated a year-1962 production starting with 1.000.000, closed to my first FOCA URC. The camera works in every functions like on its Day-1! The camera came with a late version 1962 of the OPLAR 1:2.8 f=5cm standard collapsible lens of excellent quality, the FOCA UCR dedicated ever-ready leather bag with the original leather neck strap in good condition.
The original O.P.L. camera warranty and a registration postal card fortunately followed the life of the camera, indicating that this beautiful FOCA Universel RC was sold to its first owner on August 9, 1963 by the official FOCA dealer « ROYAL-PHOTO, Photo-Ciné-Magnétohone », 42, rue Vignon, Paris 9ème arrondissement, France, today a Weill fashion shop at the same address. The address of the owner also still exists with the original Parisian building in place, Boulevard Poniatwski, next to the Métro station « Porte de Charenton », Paris 12ème arrondissement.
The shown original FOCAL Universel RC user manual is the one that came with my other FOCA URC camera.
These information pushed me to question what were the news in France on this Friday, August 9, 1963… France was mainly on vacation, by an exceptional wet and fresh weather that wasted many French citizens holidays. The whole national radio information bulletin is still available online here :
www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/audio/phd94020557/inter-actua...
Inter actualités de 7:15 PM du 9 août 1963
Inter actualités de 7:15 PM - 09.08.1963 - 29:58 - audio
Ina.fr (English translated)
- Headlines - Jean-Pierre ELKABBACH: The Marseille and Bordeaux sailors' strike ended this morning, but nothing has been resolved in Le Havre. Many heads of state and government sent messages of condolence to President Kennedy for the death of his third child shortly after birth. Other headlines in the newspaper (2'20"). - André Brière: It does not appear for the moment that work will resume in Le Havre. Mr. Pisani would agree to the distillation of 2 million hectoliters of wine, which is clogging up the market, but a subsidy would be required. Discontent is growing among winegrowers in the south, whom the population accuses of various acts of sabotage in the Narbonne region. Complaints from winegrowers in the southwest. Farmers scattered 5 tons of potatoes yesterday in the streets of Douai (3'30"). - Jacques Behingue: Secretary of State Dean Rusk will return to Washington from Moscow on Monday. He will give a presentation to senators on the Moscow Treaty. This morning, Dean Rusk was received by Mr. Khrushchev on the shores of the Black Sea in Cagra. This evening, Mr. Dean Rusk will host a dinner in Moscow at the US Embassy. Tomorrow, he will be in Bonn, received by Mr. Adenauer. The Moscow Treaty was signed by 11 new countries, with Japan set to sign next Wednesday. North Vietnam has refused to sign. Mr. MAC MILLAN declared that underground tests, which are not prohibited, are not of great importance because nuclear weapons can only be modified following atmospheric tests (4'40"). - Gérard TAVERA: Two years after Bizerte, France and Tunisia signed an agreement this morning that includes two chapters: the first concerns the 30,000 Tunisian workers living in France, the second concerns economic cooperation. This agreement resolves the economic problems concerning Bizerte. After an African trip, Mr. BEN BELLA returns to Algiers. In Accra, Mr. BEN BELLA declared that the next session of the UN would be an African session. Yesterday, AIT AHMED violently criticized the FLN party and the constitutional project. All French newspapers reproducing Mr. AIT AHMED's Declaration were seized this morning upon their arrival in Algiers. Since July 16, in Morocco, leaders of the UNFP are detained in rather precarious conditions following the "plot" against the monarchy (2'25"). - André Brière: before the State Security Court, opening of the trial of the station commander, among those who are bringing a civil action is Mr. Jean OUDINOT, former director of RTF in Algiers (1'05"). - Victor VRAMANT: the body of Doctor WARD was cremated this morning, only members of Doctor WARD's family attended the funeral ceremony. The weather in France and Europe. It is raining everywhere in France except on the Côte d'Azur. Road accidents (2'). - Jean-Pierre ELKABBACH: Gaston GELIS, former director of "Paris-journal" died in a road accident in Seine et Marne (1'). - Victor VRAMANT: a major drug trafficker was arrested at Orly. In Italy, following the arrest of a repeat offender, a 22-year-old American woman was arrested for drug trafficking (1'30"). - Jacques CHABOT: Charles TRENET has not yet been released; he would be released tomorrow morning after payment of bail (25%).
WEATHER:
SOURCE: www.meteo-paris.com/chronique/annee/1963
June 14, 1963: a particularly cool day - it was no more than 12°C in Rouen, 13°C in Paris, St. Quentin, Lille, Le Havre, and Caen.
August 1963 was autumnal because it was very cool and very wet. On August 3, 1963, torrential rains caused catastrophic flooding and the death of eight people in the Lyon region. On August 4, 1963, 400 houses were also flooded between St. Jean de Luz and Le Boucau (Pyrénées Atlantiques). On August 17 and 18, 1963, it was no more than 10°C. and 15°C in the northern half - many summer visitors leave early - it's snowing in the mountains and the harvest is very difficult.
Historical landmarks of the year 1963
August 28, 1963: Martin Luther King leads the march on Washington. October 11, 1963: Jean Cocteau and Edith Piaf die within hours of each other. November 22, 1963: President J.F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. The yé-yé movement is in vogue - the debut of Françoise Hardy and the politically engaged singer, Jean Ferrat.
Foca Universel RC "408" Test Film
For testing on film my newly arrived exceptional French 35mm camera FOCA Universel RC (see below for details about this rare and fascinating camera), I went for photowalk in my district, Lyon, France. The weather was very sunny and the outside temperature warm (32°C).
Testing a new collection camera is always is great moment. We know the camera only from its blank manipulations but the real judge is the test film on the field, the camera exposed to outside elements in real photography operations. Some possible problems as light leaks or slight unpairing of the shutter curtains, will be only detected on film.
I used the camera with its ever-ready bag and I removed the front part for operation. In particular, I previously checked very carefully the exact condition of the thin leather neck strap. Old leather may crack and it would a shame and a nightmare to drop such camera. The OPLAR standard lens 1/:2.8 f=5cm was equipped with a yellow filter FOCA x2.5. The OPLAR lens fro the FOCA’s only accept push-on filter (42.5mm in this specific case). A vintage Genaco cylindric stainless-steel shade hood conceived for a 5cm focal length was also used all along the session.
The test film was a 36-exposure Fomapan 100. Expositions were determined for 50 ISO to compensate the absorption of the yellow filter. Metering was achieved using a Minolta Autometer III lightmeter fitted with a 10° finder for selective metering privileging the shadow areas.
Film side mark
July 5, 2025
69001 Lyon
France
After completion at view #39, the film was rewound normally and processed using 350 mL of Adox Adonal developer (identical to the original Agfa Rodinal in its formula of 1891) prepared at the dilution 1+50 for 9 min at 20°C.
Digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) fitted to a Minolta Auto Bellows III with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm. The diffuse light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.
The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version available of Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 14.4) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as printer files with a frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.
As a result, the test film shows that this FOCA Universel RC is in perfect conditions and could be used normally with confidence.
About the camera and its history :
Among the French 35mm camera produced by « Optique & Précision de Levallois S.A. » from 1945 to the middle of the 60’s, the FOCA Universel « RC » is likely the most captivating ever produced in France at that time.
The camera was the last development of the FOCA, sometime called the « French Leica » because the optical and mechanical precision matched and even surpassed the original thread-mount Leica. Far before the first Leica M (the M3 in 1954) O.P.L. developed a bayonet-mount FOCA in 1948 called the FOCA « Universel ». Seeing the incredible viewer and range finder of the Leica M that is likely the most sophisticated system even engineered, O.P.L. released lately a great improvement of the FOCA with a novel collimated, parallax auto-corrected, of a fully original and different design of the Leitz system.
The FOCA Universel RC It is a rare camera that only appears for time to time on the collector market, being only produced to a bit more than 2000 overall units in the years 1962 and 1963, just before O.P.L. decided to quit the camera production and returned to other instrumental optical production. O.P.L. soon merged with SOM Berthiot and today can be found still in the industrial filiation of SAFRAN group, the French leader company for designing and producing system for aerospace appliances. The plant where the FOCA's were produced still exists in an almost original form in Châteaudun, Eure-et-Loir, France.
I got my first FOCA URC unit two years ago (Sept. 2023, flic.kr/s/aHBqjAV6Dg) that is a standing and emotional piece of my small camera collection.
I got this one from an apparently ignored auction on the French eBay. We were only two biders in the last 5s and I won the auction not far away to the initial price. The camera was fully revised, with new shutter curtains, a new delayed shutter release mechanism. The serial number indicated a year-1962 production starting with 1.000.000, closed to my first FOCA URC. The camera works in every functions like on its Day-1! The camera came with a late version 1962 of the OPLAR 1:2.8 f=5cm standard collapsible lens of excellent quality, the FOCA UCR dedicated ever-ready leather bag with the original leather neck strap in good condition.
The original O.P.L. camera warranty and a registration postal card fortunately followed the life of the camera, indicating that this beautiful FOCA Universel RC was sold to its first owner on August 9, 1963 by the official FOCA dealer « ROYAL-PHOTO, Photo-Ciné-Magnétohone », 42, rue Vignon, Paris 9ème arrondissement, France, today a Weill fashion shop at the same address. The address of the owner also still exists with the original Parisian building in place, Boulevard Poniatwski, next to the Métro station « Porte de Charenton », Paris 12ème arrondissement.
The shown original FOCAL Universel RC user manual is the one that came with my other FOCA URC camera.
These information pushed me to question what were the news in France on this Friday, August 9, 1963… France was mainly on vacation, by an exceptional wet and fresh weather that wasted many French citizens holidays. The whole national radio information bulletin is still available online here :
www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/audio/phd94020557/inter-actua...
Inter actualités de 7:15 PM du 9 août 1963
Inter actualités de 7:15 PM - 09.08.1963 - 29:58 - audio
Ina.fr (English translated)
- Headlines - Jean-Pierre ELKABBACH: The Marseille and Bordeaux sailors' strike ended this morning, but nothing has been resolved in Le Havre. Many heads of state and government sent messages of condolence to President Kennedy for the death of his third child shortly after birth. Other headlines in the newspaper (2'20"). - André Brière: It does not appear for the moment that work will resume in Le Havre. Mr. Pisani would agree to the distillation of 2 million hectoliters of wine, which is clogging up the market, but a subsidy would be required. Discontent is growing among winegrowers in the south, whom the population accuses of various acts of sabotage in the Narbonne region. Complaints from winegrowers in the southwest. Farmers scattered 5 tons of potatoes yesterday in the streets of Douai (3'30"). - Jacques Behingue: Secretary of State Dean Rusk will return to Washington from Moscow on Monday. He will give a presentation to senators on the Moscow Treaty. This morning, Dean Rusk was received by Mr. Khrushchev on the shores of the Black Sea in Cagra. This evening, Mr. Dean Rusk will host a dinner in Moscow at the US Embassy. Tomorrow, he will be in Bonn, received by Mr. Adenauer. The Moscow Treaty was signed by 11 new countries, with Japan set to sign next Wednesday. North Vietnam has refused to sign. Mr. MAC MILLAN declared that underground tests, which are not prohibited, are not of great importance because nuclear weapons can only be modified following atmospheric tests (4'40"). - Gérard TAVERA: Two years after Bizerte, France and Tunisia signed an agreement this morning that includes two chapters: the first concerns the 30,000 Tunisian workers living in France, the second concerns economic cooperation. This agreement resolves the economic problems concerning Bizerte. After an African trip, Mr. BEN BELLA returns to Algiers. In Accra, Mr. BEN BELLA declared that the next session of the UN would be an African session. Yesterday, AIT AHMED violently criticized the FLN party and the constitutional project. All French newspapers reproducing Mr. AIT AHMED's Declaration were seized this morning upon their arrival in Algiers. Since July 16, in Morocco, leaders of the UNFP are detained in rather precarious conditions following the "plot" against the monarchy (2'25"). - André Brière: before the State Security Court, opening of the trial of the station commander, among those who are bringing a civil action is Mr. Jean OUDINOT, former director of RTF in Algiers (1'05"). - Victor VRAMANT: the body of Doctor WARD was cremated this morning, only members of Doctor WARD's family attended the funeral ceremony. The weather in France and Europe. It is raining everywhere in France except on the Côte d'Azur. Road accidents (2'). - Jean-Pierre ELKABBACH: Gaston GELIS, former director of "Paris-journal" died in a road accident in Seine et Marne (1'). - Victor VRAMANT: a major drug trafficker was arrested at Orly. In Italy, following the arrest of a repeat offender, a 22-year-old American woman was arrested for drug trafficking (1'30"). - Jacques CHABOT: Charles TRENET has not yet been released; he would be released tomorrow morning after payment of bail (25%).
WEATHER:
SOURCE: www.meteo-paris.com/chronique/annee/1963
June 14, 1963: a particularly cool day - it was no more than 12°C in Rouen, 13°C in Paris, St. Quentin, Lille, Le Havre, and Caen.
August 1963 was autumnal because it was very cool and very wet. On August 3, 1963, torrential rains caused catastrophic flooding and the death of eight people in the Lyon region. On August 4, 1963, 400 houses were also flooded between St. Jean de Luz and Le Boucau (Pyrénées Atlantiques). On August 17 and 18, 1963, it was no more than 10°C. and 15°C in the northern half - many summer visitors leave early - it's snowing in the mountains and the harvest is very difficult.
Historical landmarks of the year 1963
August 28, 1963: Martin Luther King leads the march on Washington. October 11, 1963: Jean Cocteau and Edith Piaf die within hours of each other. November 22, 1963: President J.F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. The yé-yé movement is in vogue - the debut of Françoise Hardy and the politically engaged singer, Jean Ferrat.