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"Film d'essai" (test film) of my newly-arrived FOCA Universel "R", a French range-finder 35mm camera of the 50's.
The camera was loaded with a Fomapan Creative 200 36-exposure film. It was exposed for 160 ISO (that appears to be the real sensitivity of the film given the technical data provided by FOMA) using an Autometer III Minolta light meter fitted with a 10° finder. The Oplarex lens was equipped with a Foca AUV push-on 42mm protective filter and a generic cylindrical shade hood.
April 12, 2023
69008 Lyon
France
After exposure, the film was revealed using Tetenal Ultrafin Liquid developper at dilution 1+20 and 20°C for 7min30. 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 Vivio Y76 color pictures.
About the camera :
The Foca Universel "R" is the late series (circa 1956-1962) of the Foca Universel 35mm range-finder camera appeared in 1950 and produced until 1956. The Universel model of FOCa was fitted with a bayonet mount instead of the 36mm screw mount of other Foca PF (PF standing for "Petit Format"). Foca camera's were constructed in France by the company "Optique & Precision de Levallois" (OPL) in the OPL factory of Chateaudun (Eure) starting from 1947. This factory still exists under the name of SAFRAN a French company producing aerospace devices and systems. This exemplary of Foca Universel R was likely manufactured in 1959 or 1960.
The camera is equipped with the collapsible OPLAREX lens 1:1.9 f=5cm with the OPL bayonet mount.
Model: Alexis Miller
Lighting: Bare Alien Bee 800 outside the building to to camera right shooting through vertical slats, natural light through a large door to camera right and behind the camera. That same door light reflecting off of a concrete floor.
Rush Hour
Today
Victoria Station
London UK
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restoration work at the Australian War Memorial, London. The wall contains 102000 names, so its a long job
Red,Green and Blue on a 700c rim, They will work with a remote control but not below 5 degrees centigrade
There were 11 Eagles in the canyon today! Some were to far away to get good shots with the equipment I have but they are starting to show up.
Roger Waller inspects the fire of 14A during one of its trial runs during conversion to oil firing.
Facing short-term concerns around the suitability of steam locomotives through to Gembrook during the summer months and a future where coal becomes both economically and environmentally impractical, Puffing Billy Railway made the decision to convert 14A to light-oil firing, based on a proposal made by Roger Waller of DLM AG. Read more about the conversion on the Puffing Billy Workshop blog - puffingbilly.com.au/news/workshop-blog/would-you-rather/
I'm back with my SONY camera! I've been playing around with Timelapses lately, but here are some shots for the time being. These are the stunning-looking Sennheiser Momentum Headphones.
only one year old.
look at the way she already is holding the brush.
she is going to be an artist of some media.
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.
Decorating objects used in the photo series :
-Commemorative Pin's of the Company Lumière* 1895-2025. Found a Institut Lumière, Lyon, France. The Lumière Company was lately the official distributor of FOCA camera's within a network of Lumière affiliated photo stores in France.
° The Lumière Company, Lyon, France, previously known as the Antoine Lumière and Sons Company, then the Antoine Lumière and Sons Photographic Plates and Papers Company, is a former major French industrial company in photography and cinematography founded in 1885 and managed successively by Antoine Lumière, his sons Auguste and Louis Lumière (the Lumière brothers), his grandson Henri Lumière, and subsequently, his heirs.
-Storage box from Sostrene Grene store, Lyon, France.
July 3, 2025
69004 Lyon
France
Germanic Precision | Ricardo S. Román
"My first customer was a lunatic. My second one had a death wish".
Karl Benz
The United States Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team practices a new routine on the drill pad Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. The drill team developed their new routine at Keesler AFB and will be conducting practice and performances through mid-March. (U.S. Air Force photo/Kemberly Groue)
This what the crew of PYTHON do along the navigable stretches of the Chesterfield Canal. PYTHON is a workboat with a metal hull and deep body. She is ideal for carrying all the rubbish and trimmed branches which are then sent to recycling. I was priviledged to be invited to take photos and notes for a project.