Rolleiflex X type 1 with Mecila 150 rol film back Rare item !!

Rolleiflex X type 1 with  Zeiss Opton 75mm Tessar with very rare magazine for 150 exposures by Mecila. This magazine was developed and produced in the early 50s by Paul Lachaize in Lyon. Later it was manufactured by Flash-Phot Paris. Mécila was the brand of a handful of cameras and also accessories designed by Paul Lachaize of Lyon, France, in the 1950s and 60s. Lachaize himself lived and worked in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, a suburban area west of the centre of Lyon. Cameras and other products were made by Jean Berlier in Cours Tolstoi, Villeurbanne, east of the city centre. Berlier’s name appears on, for example, aluminium spool-cases with the Mécila brand, and it seems likely he was a partner in the company. Other items carry only the Tassin address. The later Mécilux was advertised by both ‘Mécifrance – S.I.M.A.P.’ and by ‘MECIMAP’; it seems likely that the latter reflects a merger or joint venture between ‘Mécifrance’ and SIMAP. Mécifrance was presumably a later name of Mécila.

The MECIMAP factory was destroyed by fire in 1961.Mécila’s best-known product is the Mag 150 film magazine for Rolleiflex and other TLR cameras. The “Mag 150” was developed in 1952 by Paul Lachaize (France) for some different types of cameras including the Rolleiflex and the Rolleicord. It was thus possible to pass from 12 images to 150 images in the format 6 X 6 cm on film 6,17 cm in width and 10 meters in length. There were also several models with a few variants. Here it is the Mecila Mag 150.