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| Adicionar legendaFranka Bonafix (~1950) |
#414
History and technical features
Bonafix was the brand used by Franka for a long-running series of folding cameras for 120 rollfilm. These were lower-spec versions of the Rolfix cameras.
Source: camera-wiki.org
he Franka-Kamerawerk in Bayreuth was in its time the biggest camera factory in the Bavarian region of Oberfranken (Upper Frankonia). It was bought by Wirgin in 1962. From 1909 to 1966 it built inexpensive cameras. The most distinctive cameras of Franka are the 16mm cameras with built-in meter which were developed together with Wirgin, and the twin-format cameras with two viewfinders.
In 1909 Franz Vyskocil and his wife Leoni Vyskocil had a small factory and shop for cameras and photographic supply in Stuttgart. In the same year they moved to Bayreuth, where they reopened their business as Vysko-Fabrik Franz Vyskocil, St. Georgen und Bayreuth. In newspapers they announced their new mass fabrication of folding cameras. In 1910 their sponsor Weigand from Berneck entered the company, then named Weigand & Vyskocil. In 1912 the company was refounded as Frankonia-Kamerawerk. In 1913 the company was refounded with Weigand as its sole owner and camera salesman A. W. Schulze from Dresden as partner. In 1914 the company was named Hogaschwerk. Five months later it got its final name, Franka-Kamerawerk.
Until 1915 the company had been successfully producing plate cameras, among them one for a small format. In WWI this camera had been sold with slogans like "Mit Franka in den Krieg" (with Franka to war). The era of the Franka plate cameras lasted until 1930. The earliest cameras by Franka were made of metal. Two thirds of the camera production was made for export.
In 1915 Wolfgang Hirschmann entered the company as bookkeeper. In 1917 he replaced A. W. Schulze in the management. During the war and in the early 1920s the company had some nonphotographic products in its portfolio. In 1919 it moved from Bayreuth St. Georgen into an old liquor factory bulding in Bayreuth, and there the company stayed. The building had to be heightened in 1955. In 1941 Hirschmann's brother Hans and the longterm employee Georg Zettner became the managers. In 1959 Hans and Wolfgang Hirschmann together were owners of the company.
In 1930 the rollfilm era finally reached Franka. Many Franka rollfilm cameras were delivered with a separate frame which could be used optionally in the camera for shooting a smaller exposure format. In 1939 Franka constructed its first 35mm camera, the Kleinbildkamera, but began its production slowly after the war. In 1955 the next 35mm model was offered. It was the time when rollfilm camera production switched from 6×9 to 6×6 format cameras. Franka's last own camera development was very successful, the Frankamatic Lux, with a selenium meter coupled to shutter, aperture and an underexposure indicator in the viewfinder. The Franka 16 subminiature using 16mm film was conceived by Wirgin. Its further development and production was given to the Franka-Kamerawerk.
In 1958 the company had reached its peak with 154 employees and production of 650,000 cameras.
Many of its cameras were sold badged with brand names of mail order houses like Wenz and Klingel, department stores like Kaufhof and Sears or camera distributors like Birnbaum and Porst. Even Burke & James sold cameras by Franka (until 1941).
In November 1962 the company was bought by Henry Wirgin. Hans Hirschmann and Georg Zettner lost procurement but stayed in the company. Highlights of the last years of Franka were the cameras for 13×16mm exposure format, sold as Franka 16 and Edixa 16. In 1966 the factory's production was stopped. In 1967 the machines were moved to Wiesbaden where most of them weren't used anymore. Only the production of the Edixa 16 was continued there for a short while.
Source: camerapedia
A few months ago I picked up this Franka Werke camera for “next to nothing” (20 bucks or so) that appeared from the photos to be in near-mint condition. When it arrived, it looked like it had been stored in its original box since manufacture some 65 years ago. The metal body is covered with rough vinyl made to look like leather, and parts of it were peeling off. But the bellows, all of the metal parts, glass, appeared to be perfect. I couldn’t wait for an opportunity to try it out.
The Franka cameras were generally inexpensive cameras made in Bayreuth, Germany from 1909 to 1966. This particular camera is marked as a “Bonafix”, which was made for years, and there’s not a lot of information out there to identify when this one was made. I’m guessing it’s from 1952 or so.
The weird thing about this camera is that it has two little windows in the back where you can see which picture you’re on – one in the corner and one in the middle. So I thought this meant I could use the middle window and the pictures would automatically be half-frame – giving me 16 pictures on a roll rather than 8. The numbers in the middle of the film go from 1 to 16 and are spaced half as far apart.
So I happily went out and shot a roll of color film, and discovered that I was sadly mistaken. Apparently you need to do something on the inside of the camera to make this work – maybe some sort of adaptor or something. So all my pictures ended up overlapping.
So that was no good.
A couple of weeks later, I loaded up a roll of Kodak Professional Tri-X and decided to use the other film window and only take 8 pictures. This time the results were much better.
The picture above is an effigy of the type which is commonly hung at building construction sites. Its purpose is to ward off the “evil eye.” While we were in the village, we also discovered that there was a temple procession ongoing. A group of young men carrying some sort of decorated deity over their heads were going from house to house with several percussionists. At each home, people were waiting to anoint the procession’s feet with (what looked like) turmeric, and also engage in rituals such as smashing a coconut in the street. It’s all pretty unclear to us outsiders, but it makes for great photos.
Although I felt the pictures had come out pretty well, I had noticed while unloading the film that there seemed to be lots of dust on the inner lens. Later I would inspect more closely, and it turns out there is fungus growing on the inner glass surfaces of the 3 lens elements:
looks pretty bad on this picture, but you can only really see it when you put a light behind it and view at an indirect angle. I made this picture and enhanced the fungus to send to a friend to confirm this was the problem. Apparently it can be removed with some work, and it only “softens” pictures supposedly – doesn’t really show up otherwise. But it seems the spores can spread the fungus to other cameras – so I’ll need to take care of this when I can get my hands on some peroxide.
In any case, to sum up, this is a pretty good find I think. For a 1950s camera I’m quite satisfied with the results!
Source: tazmpictures.com
Specifications
Schneider Kreuznach Radionar 1:4,5/105 in Pronto-shutter
Folding Roll Film Camera
Made In Germany U.S. Zone.
105mm f4.5 Schneider Kreuznach Radionar Lens.
Aperture f4.5 - f32
Prontor Shutter Speeds B, 1/25 - 1/200 Sec.
Front Element Focus
Fold Out Sports Finder & Prism Viewfinder, Knob & Red Window Film Wind,
3 1/4" x 4 1/4" Images
On 120 Roll Film.
Source: propertyroom.com
Model
~1950's model. See here: camerapedia
Reference to "US zone"
Reference sites
camera-wiki.org
camerapedia
tazmpictures.com
Manual
English manual
Film
Pictures taken with this machine
Videos
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