Frena

Frena Box pattern hand camera in 1905 ad. image by Internet Archive Book Images (Image rights)

Frena cameras are a range of magazine cameras for sheet film, made by Beck from about 1893. They use special sheet film: the edge of the film is notched, and this is essential to the working of the sheet-changing mechanism.

In the original model, as in a falling-plate camera, each sheet is dropped to the bottom of the camera after exposure, by turning a handle on the side forward and back. Later models have a different changing mechanism, still relying on notched sheet film, and with exposed sheets being stored at the back of the camera.

The lens on most Frenas is an f/8 Beck Rapid Rectilinear. Some cheaper models have an f/11 achromat, and an f/6.3 Beck-Steinheil Orthostigmat lens was offered for some models. The lens has adjustable aperture on the better models, achieved by an aperture disc. Focusing is achieved by sets of add-on lenses, each offering a focus range.

The Frenas have sector shutters, like those on many box cameras, but with adjustable sector-width, giving a range of exposure times (from 1/5 to 1/40 second, in the example of the Presentation Frena No. 2).

A by-product of the film-changing mechanism is that the camera can be tilted slightly up, and the film then returned to the vertical using the changing handle (which has a built-in level); this gives the camera rear tilt.

Cameras

Beck Frena No.22 image by bratieres (Image rights)

• No. 1 (3¼x3¼ inch lantern-slide size); originally simply the Frena, and named the No. 1 after other sizes were added.
• No. 2 (3¼x4¼ inch: quarter plate)
• No. 22 (as the No. 2, but with an f/11 achromat instead of a Rapid Rectilinear.
• No. 3 (4x5 inch)
• No. 0 (2⅝x3½ inch: roughly sixth-plate)
• No. 00 (as the No. 0, but with an f/11 achromat)
• No. 10, FOP Frena ('Film Or Plate')
• Frena Max (quarter plate)

De-luxe Presentation models were made in some of the sizes. These are covered with light-brown leather, instead of the normal black, and have lacquered-brass fittings.

Links

• Examples sold at auction:
  • Frena (original model) serial no. 5506, sold by Fuller's Fine Art Auctions on 19 November, 2011 (listing is on the Live Auctioneers site).
  • Frena No. 0 serial no. 15648, sold at the 25th Westlicht Photographica Auction on 22 March 2014
  • Presentation No. 2 serial no. 11715, sold by Christies at sale 9665, Cameras, Magic Lanterns and Optical Toys on 16 November 2004.
  • Presentation camera, serial no. 11682 (described by the auctioneer as half-plate, but it appears identical to the two quarter-plate examples already cited), offered for sale at Westlicht Camera Auction 26, on 22 November 2014.
• Holland, Clive (1899): Holiday work with a 'Frena'. The Artist: An Illustrated Monthly Record of Arts, Crafts and Industries (American Edition), Volume 26, pp 18-22; a discussion of holiday photography with hand-cameras, praising the Frena as a good amateur camera. Available to view or download in several formats, at the Internet Archive.