Rollei 35s
Bought this used and really liked it simplicity, compactness, and excellent photographic capabilities.
| Rollei started the compact 35 race in 1966 with its best selling Rollei 35. Though not too earth shattering by today's standards, the Rollei 35 was truly revolutionary for its time when it was the smallest full frame 35 in the world. Never before had such quality construction with a sharp lens been combined in such a small package. The Rollei 35 family turned out to be fabulously successful, with over two million sold in its various guises. |  |
| All shared the same high quality, strange quirky camera design. Variations existed mostly in terms of lenses, metering systems, and special commemorative finishes. Lens choices were non-interchangeable: the superb 40/2.8 Zeiss Sonnar, the excellent 40//3.5 Zeiss Tessar, and the passable low cost 40/3.5 Zeiss Triotar. Most Rollei 35's were chrome finish, though black was an option with most models. |  |
| Special collector's models were available in gold or silver, and even platinum. Initially production was in Germany, with Zeiss lenses. After several years, production was switched to Singapore with lenses made by Rollei under license from Zeiss. Collectors place a premium on the German made cameras, though the later Sonnar cameras are certainly better shooters. |  |
 | Shutter speeds, f/stops, and focus distance are easily seen in a top view.
| Shutter speeds 1/2 second to 1/500th, plus B for Tessar and Sonnar lenses camera, 1/30th to 1/500 for Triotar lensed cameras.
| Bright Albada finder with NO automatic parallax compensation
| Scale focusing, no rangefinder in this camera.
| Collapsible lens. Shutter must be advance to collapse lens. When you pull it out, remember to lock the lens in place by twisting it.
| F/stops and Shutter speeds separately set on front mounted dials
| Left hand advance lever
| Removable back for film loading
| Incredibly inconvenient bottom mounted hot shoe, but no PC connection. Mount a flash unit and you are faced with the classical Rollei 35 question: Is it better to have your flash upside down, or your camera? If you haven't figured this one out yet, try it
and you soon will. The solution is forget about using a flash with the Rollei 35's unless you truly enjoy inflicting pain on yourself.
| A film pressure plate which opens up during loading and then folds back over the film, keeping the film very flat for the sharpest image the lens was capable of.
| Not so convenient bottom mounted film counter
| Not so convenient bottom mounted large easy to grasp rewind lever
| No so easy to find 30.5 mm filters | |
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| Rollei 35's (Sonnar and Tessar lensed models) amount to the Volkswagens of the camera world. People loved their construction quality and lens performance so much, they overlooked a very strange and often inconvenient camera design. If you
want a fast operating compact 35, none of the Rollei 35 models qualify. On the other hand, if you want a superbly made metal compact camera with a great lens, this just might be your cup of tea.
To the Rollei 35's credit, I doubt there is a better built full frame 35 camera as small.
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