ELOP Ucanett

The Ucanette roots go back to Jena, Germany, where Franz Robert Neubert, a Zeiss engineer, found himself in the wrong part of post-war Germany. Hoping for a better future, he set up his shop under the Neubert name and began production of two camera models: the Elca, a simple 35mm camera, and the Neuca, a Leica clone leaning towards the pre-war FED 1. Recognizing the future in the SLR models, he presented an all-new concept, SLR / viewfinder camera, the Neucaflex.

The section of Germany under Soviet control did not see private enterprises favourably, so as the borders were still open, he packed his shop and moved as far as possible north to the resort town of  Glucksburg, just above the naval base and industrial hub of Flensburg, just on the Danish border. I would guess he selected this location, knowing that Hans Buschhack, an ex naval engineer, established an optical lens shop, and was looking for a match with a camera maker.

In 1947, he joined forces with the glass maker and resumed production under ELOP, short for Elektro-Optische Werke, translated as  Electro-Optical works. Under this brand, they continued with the Elca, now called Elca I, and an improved model, the Elca II, and the Neucaflex, now named Ucaflex.

As with dozens of other German post-war aspiring camera makers, a combination of good intention, ambition, talent, and goodwill required deep pockets to be sustained. Due to the lack of funds, the company went under in 1950. Nubert packed his wares again and moved 10 km south to Flensburg, where he resumed production under the UCA name, Werkstatte fur Feinmechanik und Optik, or Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Optics. Flensburg’s claim to fame is that for eight days, it was the seat of the post-Hitler government and where Admiral Doenitz signed Germany’s surrender that ended WWII.  The Elca II was reborn as Ucanett, and I believe that the famed Ucaflex was continued under the Uniflex name, but I have no firm reference. The UCA incarnation did not last long, and AGFA bought the machinery in 1952 and shut it down.

To summarise, the models made by Neubert’s three incarnations were:

See more on the Elca / Elca I on CJ’s classic cameras.

The Ucanett description applies to two models, the Elca II and the Ucanete. The only difference is the Ucanett added a cold accessory shoe.

The Ucanett body is tiny, even compared to other small 35mm models of the time, like Finetta or Perlux or the later Rollei 35. It is a fully featured camera packed in a miniature body for its generation.

Made well before plastics ruled the industry, the body is made of cast metal with the back, top and bottom made of punched metal sheets, assumed aluminum. The body finishes and machined parts are well preserved, not a blemish.

• The top has a winder knob, a trigger button, a cold shoe, and a manual reset frame counter.
• No rewind button.
• Note that The Elca II did not have an accessory shoe.
• The back comes entirely out, locked via a notched tab, marked ‘A’ – auf/open and ‘Z’ zu/close. Note that the tab fully turns so that it can be positioned either way of the slot. The back is well-fitted, so it takes some finger gymnastics to remove it.
• Inside are two compartments, one for a feeding cartridge and the second for a takeoff cartridge. Self-loading cartridges are still available today.
• In the middle is a hollow of 24x24mm that frames the image.
• Although a pressure plate is mounted on the back cover, the image frame looks like it could bleed light in.
• A cog on the film path sets the right film length for each frame and stops to eliminate double shots.
• The viewer is clear but tiny, typical of other models of the time.
• The lens assemble is built around Prontor-S shutter, although due to supply chain constrains some other shuters are randomly found.
• A generous shutter speeds, B, 1-300.
• Shuter cocking is a lever above the lens barrel. The shutter can also be triggered via a small lever at 9 o’clock.
• The self-timer lever is at 5 o’clock.
• The focusing dial is on a generous travel helix, faintly marked. If turned past the .8M mark, the lens will come off.
• The aperture dial is at the front end.
• The Ucanett / Elca II was offered with two lens options, Elocar 4,5/30 and Elopan 5/30. Models made under UCA in Flensburg carried glass under Ucar and Ucapan names.

For the collector, the Ucanett or the Elca II are short-run models, and unique cameras, recommended for the shelf. The Neucaflex or the Neuca models carry a price tag in the thousands, rarely showing for sale.