The French Connection
![Angelic Visions [please read the explanation!]](http://c0170361.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1285599_197913_acf6620757_m.jpg)
By Dirk HR Spennemann
11 Dec 2008
The French Connection
The French made some interesting and some rather weird cameras, among them a wide range of pseudo TLRs. As the name says, a pseudo TLR is a not a true twin-lens-reflex (such as the Rolleiflex of the Yashicaflex) but a camera which merely imitates the double lens optics of the more expensive TLRs. This camera design, which sports a very large brilliant viewfinder instead of a second lens, was en vogue in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Unlike the tiny waist-level contraptions of the old folding cameras, the brilliant viewfinder of these pseudoTLR, however, are very large and very bright. But at the end of the day they are just a dual lens and mirror design that projects, with the usual parallax errors, a left-to-right inverted mirror image of what the actual lens sees.
I recently acquired an an Olbia 6x6 pseudo TLR. I collect cameras with shutters made by the (then) French manufacturer Gitzo (who are nowadays an Italy-based renowned for their tripods and off-centre ball heads). While I use a Nikon D300 for my normal photography, I enjoy trying out these old cameras. Thuis is the only way to properly to experience what it must have been like taking pictures with them. So I was quite keen to take my new acquisition for a spin.
The Olbia was built in 1947. It has a bakelite body with a metal back and metal viewfinder assembly which can be collapsed on the top. It comes with a Trylor 75mm f4.5 lens by H Roussel, set in a Gitzo shutter, which allows for the shutter speeds 200, 150, 100, 50, 25, and B. Focussing is by means of a tiny lever that turns the front element. In addition to distances, there are markings for 'portrait,' 'group' and 'landscape.' My camera is an export model, so it has a golden-brown, English-language faceplate.
The Olbia is a comparatively small camera, measuring about 3 inches square and 4 inches tall. It takes 620 film which is no longer made. This a bit of a pain, but there is a convenient work around that allows to modify 120 film. A roll of 120 film gives you 12 images of 6x6 (cm) size.
The Olbia started its life as the Omega Eikon in 1946. Soon after, it seems, the company became Olbia. It appears that not much effort was put into retooling the assembly as my camera has an Olbia name plate riveted onto the viewfinder lid--and you can still see the Omega name on the inside.
So what is it like to use such a camera? Well...it's manual. And manual all the way. I started photography as a kid with a cheap Agfa Isorapid rangefinder camera and then used an Olympus OM-1. So manually setting focus, exposure and shutter speed are not a problem. But with the Olbia all is manual. The shutter has to be cocked with one lever, before it can be released with another. And the film advance is, of course also manual. The film is advanced by turning a knob, which is independent of cocking the shutter--among more recent manual cameras film advance and shutter cocking are coupled. So a certain amount of discipline has to be maintained to avoid inadvertent double exposures, even though they can have their appeal.
Given the negative size of 6x6, the image quality is quite good for smaller- to mid-sized enlargements. Then the quality of the lens comes into play. After all, the Olbia was bottom to mid market camera, and that shows.
The mirror-imaged viewfinder of course takes getting used to, especially when shooting hand-held from the waist. Today, people are so used to cameras held at eye level that many stop and stare when they see you take photos at waist level. Because the brilliant viewfinder of these pseudo TLR works both ways, however, it is possible to create some artistic images of the camera, where a subject appears in the viewfinder optics, as illustrated by the image of the angel on the face of the camera.
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