I have nothing better to do at the moment, so brace yourself for a core dump. I'm at risk of going overboard on TLRs, so I'm not very objective -- I'm a sucker for them all, whether good, better or best. Thus my two zlotys regarding your criteria:
Bay 1: Agreed that this size is most available for choice of accessories and thus economy. Bay II and beyond is Rolleiflex territory and not for most folks who work for a living (pro photographers excepted). But if you are afflicted with the Rollei bug (I'm resisting but losing ground in this battle), then economy goes by the wayside. OK, back to Bay I.
Ergonomics: I much prefer right hand focus, as used in the Rolleicord III, IV and V and Yashica D. (I also love how light these cameras are.) Works better for me than having my hands pushing in opposite directions during camera handling, which is the problem with left-hand focus/right-hand film advance and shutter release. Even better, consider levered helical focus, ala Autocord, Diacord and Ricohmatic 225, and Flexaret (I have yet to come by one myself; Czech-made so I'm guessing more commonly seen in your part of the world). Best lever focus versions are the Ricohs, which have dual teeter-totter style levers on either side of the camera, so you can focus either left, right or both handed. The Ricoh levers are made of stainless steel, whereas the Autocord single focus lever is notoriously fragile, made of compressed sugar and prone to breakage either by colliding with the open camera back, or due to simple material fatigue, exacerbated by a focus helical stiffened or frozen by dried-up lubricants. All remediable, however, by a good camera tech or if you have good hands and more mechanical courage than I. And I work on restoring Swiss watches in my spare time. Not.
Oleson screen: I only know that he does them for Autocords, Yashicas, and the older Rolleicords and Automats. I don't think he can do the late models with detachable finders, which require larger screens (Rick told me that cutting down a Mamiya 6x7 SLR screen is OK -- one of them (RB?) is big enough to work). Personally, I like the original screens in Japanese cameras so long as they are fresnel equipped; of the Autocords I've come by, only the very earliest model didn't come with a fresnel and thus needed a modern bright screen. The Yashica Mat screens are quite bright. I think screen replacement is a matter of preference, not a given, depending on whether you value edge brightness over ease of focus. The old, coarse screens pop in and out of focus more positively, so if you can live with a little gloom, I say don't change them. But the older Stygian Rolleicords and Automats cry out for a screen upgrade, and the Oleson screen I installed in a Rolleicord V works a treat.
Crank-winding: Yes, nice, along with auto-shutter charging. But the speed of use trade-off of crank-winding may be offset by the handling issues that arise (for me at least) from the left hand focus that usually comes with it. There's also a wonderful odd-duck made by Kowa, the Kalloflex, which features a crank wind lever that is co-axial with the focus knob, along with a shutter release that falls beneath my left thumb. Sweet!
Optics: Ricohmatic 225 Rikenon +1, Autocord Rokkor +2, Yashinons a crap shoot due I guess to individual variation, but the late model coatings are better. I find the Rokkors to be right up there with good Zeiss Tessars and Xenars.
Overall build quality and robustness: Rolleiflex. Also impressive but thin on the ground is the Kalloflex, a picture-taking anvil.
Other things that matter to me: light baffles in film chamber. Autocords, Diacords, Ricohmatics and of the Yashica Mats only the last model, 124G, have them; later model Rolleiflex Automat MXs and later have them; later Rolleicords (at least my V) have them. The Autocord and the Ricohmatic 225 both feed film from top to bottom, which is better for film flatness. All the Autocords have fine shutters. If you get a Yashica Mat, always set synch to X and never use the self-timer. I prefer non-linked EV shutter speeds. Weight counts. I prefer the non-metered versions of any given model, although the coupled meters are handy for broad daylight if they work, if you have a proper battery solution, and until they inevitably fail, when they serve as a reminder of dharmic impermanence. Other than that, they are great.
Cameras i'd like to try: MPP Microcord, Microflex; Flexaret; Voigtlander Superb (for a Masochistic indulgence); Rolleiflex 3.5E3. Not many of these are Bay I. Non-Bay I camera I've tried and didn't get on with: Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex Ia, an ergonomic and mechanical nightmare. Zeiss never quite got the user-friendly handling thing down.
If money is no object, if glass is the pre-eminent criterion, and if you willing to grow a third hand to deal with sub-optimal Rolleiflex ergonomics: 3.5 Zeiss Planars or JSK Xenotars, either of them in the later six-glass versions. They're tops! Bay II, alas. The 2.8 versions may be as good or even better, but weight counts in more ways than one, and with Rollei you pay by the gram.
Executive summary: my personal candidates -- admittedly subjective trade-offs -- for the best-sorted, best zing-for-the-zloty configurations of all of the above considerations:
(1) Minolta Autocord I, meterless. Worth the trouble to seek out. Best to swap out the proprietary strap lugs with replacement universal lugs (can be cannibalized from older Autocords).
(2) Rolleiflex Automat MX-EVS with Tessar and de-linkable EV settings. As someone else here said, the epitome of the Bauhaus Rollei, nothing missing, nothing extra, pure form-follows-function. Easy to find, cheap (for Rollei) and abundant.
(3) All the rest. Maybe someone will post on the myriad other makes of TLR not mentioned.
Good luck and keep us in the loop,
Piotr.
