Franka Solida II

[Mark Wood]

I picked up a Franka Solida II at the weekend. It's in lovely condition and seems to be working very well (including the self-timer!). As far as I know, they weren't particularly expensive in their day and it must have been a lower priced model as it has a Pronto 5-speed (if you include B) shutter but it has a useful, uncoupled rangefinder. It also has a double exposure prevention mechanism. The lens is a 75 mm / f3.5 Westar (made by Isco?) and I was wondering if anyone has any experience of its quality as I haven't had a chance to put a film through it yet? (I'm assuming it must be 3 element but I haven't found much information on it as yet.)

Any comments would be of interest!

 

[Ash]

mark, did you have any luck on that? I've seen a 45mm westar lens thats a little pricey but may be worth buying in 'leica m39' but I've not found any proof on the net that it will be correctly collimated to a leica

 

[raid]

Ash: The Solida IIb with rangefinder is highly viewed by people who sell folder cameras. I have one like it with the Schneider Radionar 80mm/2.9 lens Its value is about $150-$175.

Raid

 

[Ash]

raid. sounds expensive! I better start practicing with the Nettar515 before splashing out that much on another camera ! 😀

 

[ZeissFan]

The Radionar is a very average triplet. The Franka is a decent camera, although there is nothing special about it to warrant a price larger than $50.

 

[raid]

Mike: Juergen Kreckel has a brief write-up on his website on this model. He places it at the same level as the best folders.

Raid

 

[Laurence]

I've had several folders, including the Franka Solida with the so-called "inferior" Enna-Werk lens. It was a 3-element lens and opened up to only f:8 (!) as I recall. I don't think it was even single-coated. I was certainly not expecting much from it, especially in light of having owned the Isolette III with Solinar, and another newer model Solida with a Rodenstock Trinar (3-element).

Well, I was blown away. I took some shots with the Enna-Werk at f:11 and f:16, and the images were consistently sharp and colorful.

So...I am betting that, in those tighter apertures, you'll have a good result with your lens as well.

In the final analysis, it's just such a difference between the "real estate" of the 120 film over 35mm, and with the significant improvement in film emulsions over the years, that even a so-called lesser lens still provides some mind-numbing results.

I think you are going to have a great time with the extremely solid, and yes -- extremely basic -- Solida. Good stuff, and good fun.