ROYFLEX III

Ever since the first Rolleiflex appeared in 1929 other makers worldwide have copied the design. Some built almost exact copies; others showed some effort was made to improve on the design, and a few made copies just that little bit different. Royer was a camera maker, actually called Société Industrielle de Technique Optique (SITO), and located in Fontenay-sous-Bois, an outer eastern suburb of Paris. René Royer founded the company in 1948 and they manufactured a variety of folding and reflex cameras up until 1965.

They produced a series of Royflex TLR cameras from 1953 and this one is the last model, a Royflex III, made from 1954 to 1958. They all came with SOM Berthiot lenses; the 7.5cm taking lenses that were at first f4.5 and later f3.5.

Most Rollei copies were made to the original design of cast metal bodies with leather-type covering and pressed metal hoods. The Royflex is heavy, solid and well made; even the back and top cover are cast metal with nice matching body covering. The Rollei front panel with lenses moves in and out for focusing, but the Royflex has geared rotating lenses with a distance scale engraved on the mount of the viewing lens.

Looking from the front the two side knobs adjust the aperture and shutter speed, the larger knob is for focusing. There are two flash sync terminals, one marked F and the other marked X. Underneath the front panel is a lever for firing the shutter which is cocked by the film wind crank. This lever can also be used for cocking the shutter so double exposures are possible. A cable release socket is mounted on the bottom front corner but there is a 25mm gap from it to the release lever (to leave space for cocking) so a conventional cable end will not be long enough. The film counter operates from a roller adjoining the supply spool that rotates as the film advances.