SEMFLEX the French Rollie ?

A simple but workmanlike TLR

I have to admit, I am not an expert on the Semflex range of TLR's, I have used the odd one years ago, but that's about it. So, whilst looking for the elusive Weltaflex TLR to review, I came across this example sat in a box that had various cameras in with price tags on them, from a time when I used to buy and sell cameras, which is quite a while ago!

I quite liked the look of this one, so decided to review it, as I had just rediscovered it! There does not seem to be much about them on the internet, mostly just word for word copies of what little is said on Camera wiki.org, which is very little, but lets see what we can find out ourselves...

So, to start with lets have a look at what we have in front of us, the shutter surround is marked 'SEM' above the taking lens and OREC below it. OREC is the name of the shutter, that was itself named after the town that the shutter was manufactured in. The shutter is speeded B, 10, 25, 50, 100, 150, and finally 250th of a second. The viewing lens is a 1:3.3 75mm SOM BERTHIOT PARIS anastigmat lens numbered 745872, while the taking lens is marked SOM BERTHIOT PARIS AND IS A 75mm f4.5 ANASTIGMAT, numbered 779097. Apertures range from 4.5, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, and finally 22.

It looks like my particular model is a version of the Standard T950 from the early 1950's but the history available is quite confusing and much of it in French of course. The serial number on most of the cameras I have looked at are on the outside of the camera, bottom right of the body as you look at it. On mine it is inside the camera, for reference the body number is 320294. It has features in between the T950 type 1 and type 2, so an educated guess would make it a late type 1 or an early type 2, but really I don't suppose it matters, what I want to know is were they capable of taking good quality pictures?

I must admit, I like the look of these early Semflex's, they are not particularly pretty or well finished like a Rollie or a Microcord, silver paint suffices instead of satin chrome or shiny black enamel, but it actually looks okay, they manage to pull it off, going for the more functional look!

I have had a bit of a play outside with it, it's not too bad to focus, it is reasonably bright and the critical focus magnifier seems to do it's job well. Of course there is always the option of the sports finder and a bit of guess work and relying on f16 and 22 for maximum depth of field !

But as old TLR's go, the image is not too bad, even for my eyes.

Actually, I can't wait to try this camera out and see what I can do with it. You know, it's just one of those cameras that you think, lets get a film in and try it.

So, that is my next job with it, give it a really good clean up and try a film through it, it looks fairly straight forward, red window at the back and away we go.

The Orec shutter seems really snappy, no hesitation, just fires away at all speeds, not bad, as when you think about it how many shutters would work smoothly after being sat in a box for over 20 years? Not many, but this Orec, a make of shutter I know very little about is as sweet as anything.

All in all, I really like the look of this camera, did it compete with the Rolliecord in the 1950's? I'm not sure, it was a bit before my time, but on the face of it it looks like it could.

I mean, lets go back in time, 1950ish lets say, and you are in the market for a new TLR, but you are not bursting with cash, the war finished only five years before and you are still not quite back on your feet, a Rollieflex or a Rolliecord were too expensive and there were very few about, you did not fancy a second-hand Rollie, you really wanted a new camera, so, what was your choice, a English Microcord, or a Semflex maybe, either would be a good option, there was not that much else to choose from really, so looking at it like that, they were reasonable and readily available and there is actually no wonder they sold quite a lot of them!

Looks like I have talked myself into needing a 120 film then !

Hope you enjoyed this quick post, I still have not found my Weltaflex, I wonder what will turn up next?

I'm rather glad now that I did not manage to sell this Semflex 25 years ago!

Take care,

Phil