I just could not resist!

jchfriis

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I’m visiting a small town and try to walk past the local camera store, to no avail. There in the window is a glass cage with a bunch of old film cameras. Of course I have to enter and ask the shop owner if it is just for show or for sale. It’s all for sale except for the Leica M3 he says. I point to a Rolleiflex and ask if I can have a look. Of course he says and hands it over. The moment I start handling it I’m in love: the simplicity of the design, the beautiful craftsmanship and engineering wins me over. So like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything but temptations. I handed over my c card and bought it in spite of the voice in my head that said you don’t need another camera. Who “needs” another camera anyway. I already have a Yashicamat 124G that I bought new and I’m pretty sure that I won’t make better pictures with the Rollei than with the Yashica.
The best part is it came with all these extras in the original packaging and a 6 months warranty. Anyway I'm pretty happy with the purchase.

50144735488_99b3af0d15_k.jpg
[/url]Rolleiflex T by J. Christian Hedegaard-Friis, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
Your very lovely new Rollei is a T - an amateur model produced by the manufacturers from the late 1950s to satisfy a demand for a cheaper 'flex with somewhat fewer bells and whistles, yet manufactured to the same high standards the makers had put into all their magnificent cameras from day one.

Yours is the black version and looks to be an early to mid 1960s model. It also appears to be in especially good condition, going by the appearance of the camera and the lens hood and also the almost pristine 'never ready' case.

That it was designed for the amateur markets is one of the great hidden secrets of this Rollei model - most Ts found nowadays on the used market are likely to have been much less bashed about than the bigger (and often much more expensive) pro models, and if used with reasonable care will likely go on shooting and producing fine images for many years.

With rising film prices and economy in mind, F&H (the makers) came up with several new innovations as accessories that they knew would appeal to the amateurs. The 16 exposure kit is one - also a 35mm film insert kit, both of which can easily be found on Ebay or in secondhand photo shops and greatly enhance the usability of the camera.

The accessories you got with your T look to me to be worth nearly as much as the camera itself. Its original owner was a dedicated black-and-white shooter and made sure to have all the toys to improve his images - the yellow, orange and green filters and the polarizer are two signs that he/she was fond of being in the outdoors and taking landscapes. The Rolleigrid (a plastic screen fitted on top of the camera's inbuilt viewing screen to improve illumination in the corners) is especially useful but quite difficult to find nowadays. I bought one in the 1980s and somehow lost it but I still have the original fitted case for it, a small work of art in itself, as are most Rollei accessories of the mid 1950s to 1970 when these TLRs were in their heyday. There are three Rollei close-up lenses and you may well want the other two to enhance your macro work. All can also easily be found online and are usually not too expensive given the high quality they produce.

I own two Ts bought on the used market in Australia in the 1990s. They along with my Rolleicord Vb, a cheaper model very similar to the T in most ways, are my favorites to play with even given the ridiculously high prices for 120 roll film in Australia, which is the main reason I've tended to drift away from TLR (and also 35mm to a lesser extent) photography since the mid 2000s.

Beware of Rollei-itis which may soon have you owning other Rollei models and an endless variety of quality accessories for them. They are prime examples of the high manufacturing standards Germany once put into its camera industry, and Rollei GAS can be fatal to one's bank balance and credit cards.

All that said, go out now with your T and a pocket full of films and filters, use it well, and enjoy.

(Added later) On re-examining your photo, your T is the later model - I believe it was known as the Version 2 or some such name - going by the lever and button on the front sides, which would date it to 1965-1970. An improved model, well worth having. Mine are the older Version 1 models and yes, just as good as yours I'm sure - but I'm envious.

Out of curiosity, may I ask, does the meter work? An added plus if yes, but those were mostly unreliable even when new, seemingly designed to cover the exposure latitude of fast black-and-white and color negative films. A hand meter will serve you best - here comes a GAS attack!
 
I’m visiting a small town and try to walk past the local camera store, to no avail. There in the window is a glass cage with a bunch of old film cameras. Of course I have to enter and ask the shop owner if it is just for show or for sale. It’s all for sale except for the Leica M3 he says. I point to a Rolleiflex and ask if I can have a look. Of course he says and hands it over. The moment I start handling it I’m in love: the simplicity of the design, the beautiful craftsmanship and engineering wins me over. So like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything but temptations. I handed over my c card and bought it in spite of the voice in my head that said you don’t need another camera. Who “needs” another camera anyway. I already have a Yashicamat 124G that I bought new and I’m pretty sure that I won’t make better pictures with the Rollei than with the Yashica.
The best part is it came with all these extras in the original packaging and a 6 months warranty. Anyway I'm pretty happy with the purchase.

50144735488_99b3af0d15_k.jpg
[/url]Rolleiflex T by J. Christian Hedegaard-Friis, on Flickr[/IMG]

You'd have to be made of stone to resist that. Beautiful. Use it long & in good health...BTW....those aren't "extras" they're necessities 😉
My one Rollei is a '58 T, i bought as an interim while looking for a 2.8F..... 10 years later i haven't changed it. I love the character of the Tessar. Harry Fleenor went over it thoroughly & added a Maxwell screen for me. It's been all over the world & has been supremely reliable
 
Fantastic kit - congratulations!

Ozmoose - thank you for providing information about this model.
 
Thank you guys for all that information. The meter does indeed work. How accurate I don't know, but I'm heading out today and will try to compare it to my Sekonic L-398, so that GAS was taken care of years ago 🙂

The serial number indicates it is a T 2 or T 3 depending on the source, and was produced between 1966 and 1970.

The previous owner must indeed have been very careful with his/her property as it is in pristine condition, especially for a camera that is 50 years old or more.
 
The odds are that the lens will be 'better' than the YashicaMat. The T had a reformulated Tessar lens that does have a little something extra than older Tessar designs like the Yashinor.

And as you'll find, even a 'lower range' Rollei is simply built better than a YashicaMat. The T is simpler inside than the Rolleiflex Automats and letter cameras, but it is still built to a higher standard than Yashicas.

Enjoy.
 
Juicy bits are missing: how much did your temptation cost?

Ah, the juicy bit: It set me back 700 dollars. I don’t think I will loose any money if I decide to sell it one day, but I didn’t buy it as an investment, just as I’ve never bought a painting or a photograph as an investment. The great thing about this buy is that maybe I can make something that I will want to hang on my wall and the camera itself is a thing of beauty!
 
I have a VB 'Cord but never handled a 'Flex. Tempted 🙂

I also have a Vb. The Schneider Xenar lens (similar in construction and glass to the Zeiss Tessar) has a quite unique look in the mid tones that I like. As for the camera, it's a bit more fiddly than the Rolleiflex T to use, but is capable of just as good results. So win-win all around.

Ah, the juicy bit: It set me back 700 dollars. I don’t think I will loose any money if I decide to sell it one day,

You won't lose anything - not that I imagine you would ever want to sell it, but needs must, so who knows? I paid A$500 and A$650 for my two in the 1990s, in Australian dollars, so at 80 Ozzy cents to the US$, I got a good deal. But then all those accessories you gained along with your T would have added up to at least a couple of hundred extra, at least over here, so it was a particularly good deal for you. The Rolleipol alone is often sold for up to A$150 on Ebay nowadays, and bayonet I lens hoods float about at anywhere from A$75 for crappy examples to A$150 for near-mid ones. Plus the lens hood case I see hanging from the strap of your almost pristine camera case...

Mate, you did super well on the deal, and you can be forgiven for boasting a little, just as I do about my A$95 Rolleicord Vb find, and of course the gentleman who posted his beaut $40 Rollei...
 
Congratulations on this buy. Enjoy using this fine camera.
I have been using a 2.8D for 30 years now, and without an problems except after a trip by plane. The mirror moved a little and all photos were OOF. I sold a 2.8F and the so-called 2.8E to keep the basic 2.8D. I also use an Automat model. These are great cameras. With a tripod, you will get extra sharp photos.
 
Wow, congratulations, my first Rolleiflex was also a T inherited from my father. I liked it so much I needed another, so purchased a 2.8E. I think I’m good now, but you never know, right?
 
This thread had me getting my Automat out. It has film in it. Hope it is the Ektar from which there’s a wrapper in the bag. In fact the light meter I keep with it is set to ISO 100.
 
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