Rolleicord 3.5 Triotar for £20 - worth it?

[umboody]

My local old camera shop has a Rolleicord that's seen better days for a snip at £20. It's a bit rusty in places and the slow speeds below 1/5 are a bit off. But mechanically it is smooth and there's nothing missing. Would it be a worthy investment at this price. I would like to get into medium format a bit more and it's an ideal camera to sling around because of it's negligible weight. If I don't get along with it, after cleaning it up, would I get a decent return on it?

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Wouldn't buy a rusty camera. Look at *bay for relatively cheap Rolleicords. Nice camera's to use are the nrs. V, Va and Vb from the fifties. They have the very sharp Xenar or Tessar as lens. Here's my trusted old V

 

[Mablo]

I would snap it up immediately.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Will you get twenty quid's worth of fun out of it? Compare it with food, drink, books, a movie ticket... Forget about the investment side of it. And (for my money) forget about piddling about on eBay.

Cheers,

R.

 

[umboody]

The guy there is always very fair. He sold me an Olympus XA for a fiver, but said I could bring it back for a refund if I could not get it to work. That's another one of my little projects at the moment. I think next week, I'll pop in and give it a go 🙂

 

[rxmd]

My local old camera shop has a Rolleicord that's seen better days for a snip at £20. It's a bit rusty in places and the slow speeds below 1/5 are a bit off. But mechanically it is smooth and there's nothing missing. Would it be a worthy investment at this price. I would like to get into medium format a bit more and it's an ideal camera to sling around because of it's negligible weight. If I don't get along with it, after cleaning it up, would I get a decent return on it?

Take a look at the taking lens if it's OK or if it has fungus. If it's OK, go ahead. Rolleicords are fun and for the equivalent of something like four Big Mac meals you can't go wrong.

And we need more local old camera shops like that. 🙂

 

[ZorkiKat]

I third (or fouth?) the suggestion to get it. Being a 'bit rusty' is no big deal. If, as rxmd says, the lens is clean, and there appears to be nothing wrong with it except a bit of laziness in the shutter, those 20 UKPs are worth paying for that Rolleicord.

Most Rolleicord of that age ( I would assume that you found a 1a or the next model?) will indeed have a lazy shutter, but will quickly snap back to life with a bit of lighter fluid and some exercise.

Triotars aren't bad lenses. Don't expect them to be like Tessar at f/4,5 but at f/8 or f/11, you'll be quite pleased. Just don't count on them to behave like Holga optics.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

If you can get a better one for the same kind of money....

 

[umboody]

From my recollection, the lens was nice and clear.

And we need more local old camera shops like that.

Indeed, my heart was actually racing when I stepped in and saw the kind of stuff he had in there. I was used to less than a dozen film cameras in a shop at most, all massively overpriced. This guy has loads of stuff he's priced very fairly. Worth a visit to anyone in the vicinity of Bridport, Dorset...