Franka Super Frankanette

Yes, you read that right. Frankanette, with an 'N'. This camera seems to be a bit of a misfit. It looks just like all its Super Frankarette buddies, but they all make fun of its typo and don't let it into their clubhouse.

Seriously, I'm not sure how this camera came to be called Frankanette when it is absolutely identical to the Super Frankarette LR I. If you Google "Super Frankanette" the search engine says "are you sure you didn't mean Frankarette?" When you insist you spelt it right it turns up nothing. I have found a few references to the Frankanette online, and I mean a few. Mostly it's people like me on forums asking why the heck the camera was given a different name? Is it a typo? Was this model intended for a specific market? Is there some feature I've missed that distinguishes this camera from the Frankarette?

No idea is the answer. It gets weirder. I finally found a picture of another camera clearly labelled Frankanette, and it's almost a carbon copy of the Super Frankarette LR II, which looks very different.

Identity crisis aside,  I saw this camera for sale, which looked very sorry for itself (it clearly hadn't been loved for quite some time), and I saw it was selling for considerably less than its Super Frankarette counterparts. Given the total mystery surrounding its past, and the fact that it still contained a very old exposed roll of Ilford HP5 400 film, I decided to give it a loving home...and I'm rather glad I did.

So this camera was made c.1957 by Franka in West Germany. It shoots 35mm film and it's called "Super" because it is a coupled rangefinder.  It has a lovely coated 4-element 45mm f/2.8 Schneider Xenar lens. It also has an uncoupled Gossen lightmeter that gives readings in Exposure Values from 2 to 18, though sadly this one isn't working. There is also an ISO reminder that goes from 8-6400. The Prontor SVS shutter has speeds ranging from 1 second to 1/300. There is also a bulb setting and a delayed action self timer, labelled 'V'. This gives you 8 seconds to get into position before the shutter fires. Apertures stop down to f/22 and the lens will focus as close as 1 metre. The rangefinder patch is a nice bright diamond that is easy to distinguish, but the viewfinder is miniscule, comparable with the Balda Baldixette.

There is a cold shoe and PC flash socket, a frame counter and remote cable socket. If using a flash the lever must be set to X for electronic flash. M is the setting for flash bulbs. When focusing the whole lens assembly moves, rather than just the front element, which helps image quality. You go from 1 metre to infinity with a quarter turn, so focusing is very quick and slick. 

The aperture and shutter rings are coupled to offer easy adjustment of the same exposure value but this can be overridden by depressing a lever, which means you maintain full creative control of the exposure if desired. Otherwise, the coupled settings are there in case you need to adjust settings quickly.  Given that the slowest speed the shutter is capable of is 1 second, it may seem odd that the speed scale continues in green numbers from 4 seconds all the way to 60 seconds. These are aids for when the camera is in bulb mode. So, in low light, if the required settings are beyond the scope of the shutter, put the camera in bulb mode and take a reading off the green numbers against the desired aperture, say 6 seconds, and then depress the shutter release for 6 seconds (using a tripod of course).

That's a lot of camera for a tiny price!

The broken light meter isn't an issue as there are plenty of light meters available online. We have an Ikophot dating from roughly the same period and luckily this light meter gives readings in exposure values, so we can still make use of that feature on the camera. 

Now, as I mentioned it came with an old roll of exposed Ilford HP5 ASA 400 film. I had a look online for vintage Ilford film rolls to see when they used this branding. Looks like the eighties. I found someone selling film like this that expired in 1990. So I made a very rough guess that this film was shot 30-35 years ago. 

I developed the roll in HC110 (B) for 4 minutes at a cool temperature of around 11 degrees Celsius. This was to reduce grain and fogging. Sadly my efforts were in vain as I discovered that the camera back had been opened, exposing the film before it was rewound into the cannister. It looked like this had happened more than once. Maybe the camera had been played with. So there was nothing to be recovered, which was a pity. Not to worry though. After sitting unused for over 30 years, we have since cleaned and serviced the camera and it has already been out shooting again. 

A happy ending for a lovely camera.