Rollei 35 RF ???

OT: Fuwen, I have just done some exploring of your website ... very much enjoyed the hi-fi pages, especially the article on the Beethoven violin concerto. I'm going to pick up some of the performances you referenced.
 
Trius said:
OT: Fuwen, I have just done some exploring of your website ... very much enjoyed the hi-fi pages, especially the article on the Beethoven violin concerto. I'm going to pick up some of the performances you referenced.
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:)

No photos, life is a mistake.
No music, life is also a mistake.

Let's enjoy life!
 
The Plunge...

The Plunge...

Well, I took the plunge and ordered the Rollei 35 RF with the Sonnar 40mm lens. If I'm lucky the kit will be here in a few days. I will give it good workout with a few rolls of BW400CN as a starter. Then with real B&W film souped in Rodinal. This should be a good point of departure. One thing that really bothers me is not having a lens hood. This is something I have to investigate since I'm a firm believer of using hoods at all times. If anyone knows of a hood that fits the Sonnar please chime in. Actually, I feel more excited about using the 40mm lens than the camera. I'm not going to jump the gun on this kit. I'm going to use it for a good week or three and then give a personal report. My only other RF cameras are a Leica IIIf and a Yashica Electro 35 GT. So those will be my reference.

Ruben, I hope you meant... camera porn !!!

Best,
George

OT: Trius - fuwen, If you guys really want to get down on the good foot and you're good at soldering then build this 6B5 (6N6) monoblock tube amp. It's my original design posted by Digital Dave after he built one. Just omit the tone controls as they are not necessary... in my opinion.

http://www.schmarder.com/radios/amplifiers/12ax7-6n6.htm
 
I am also a firm believer of lens hood. But my solution to the 40mm sonnar is kind of funny. U know the beauty of the lens is its small size and compactness. So at first I used a 39-46 step up ring (I think the lens is 39mm filter thread if I can remember correctly, I do not have access to the lens at this point of time), a 46mm UV filter, then a 46mm Heliopan metal lens hood. But the whole thing does not look nice.

What I am having now is a 39mm UV filter, the original hood (that comes with the 40mm lens but is not 39mm, but is bigger and threaded outside the lens 39mm thread), a 39-46 rigid step up ring from Heliopan the is threaded to the UV filter and at the same time rested against the original hood, and then a generic 46mm lens cap. Hmm sounds complicated.

I guess I could have lived with just the 39mm filter and the orignal hood and cap. But I felt that the filter now is very close to the edge of the original hood so another step up ring as a lens hood. Overall I prefer the look of this combination.
 
George: My soldering skills would leave you breathless ... in a bad way. But I will indeed have a look at that design. Thanks for the tip.
 
George- there is a dedicated hood for this lens- see below-

I use this lens on my 40 'cron and it is VERY nicely made. You might check for a corresponding CV hood as CV makes the lens barrel for this I believe.

The catalog says the camera is a Leica M mount.

I have a full pdf of the Rollei system if you have an interest- might take a while to send & recieve tho.
 

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sepiareverb said:
George- there is a dedicated hood for this lens- see below-

I use this lens on my 40 'cron and it is VERY nicely made. You might check for a corresponding CV hood as CV makes the lens barrel for this I believe.

The catalog says the camera is a Leica M mount.

I have a full pdf of the Rollei system if you have an interest- might take a while to send & recieve tho.
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Yes, the camera is M-mount while the lenses are LTM mount but with adapter included.
 
congrats, George, on your purchase. if that lens is anything like the sonnar on my 35se, you're in for a treat.

i'm also interested in how you find the framing - on my r2, 35mm framing seemed to fit the the nokton 40mm perfectly.
 
Hi All,

Well, I did get the Rollei 35 RF and 40mm lens from B&H and used it for two weeks. I'm sorry to report I sent it back. I was very disappointed with the quality and feel of the body. Especially the feel of the film advance. The action was very inconsistent throughout the wind. No way did I feel the body was worth $500. I expressed this to B&H when I requested an RMA and the person I spoke with agreed with me, no questions asked. I was issued a full refund within a week. The lens optical quality - sharpness was OK but the feel of the focus tab was not good. It did not have a good ergonomic feel or smoothness while focusing. Focusing was stiff and awkward. Also, the rolls of color negative film I shot had a weird "MINOR" cold color cast, greenish-blue, to the prints. It was not the processing as after the first two rolls I used a different lab. I even went so far as to shoot half a roll and then transfer the roll to my point and shoot Olympus Stylus Epic. The color prints from the last half Epic roll looked fairly normal. B&W negs looked very good and the exposure meter worked well. The 40mm focus and framing accuracy was very good too.

Another disappointing note. In the interim I called Rollei (located a few towns away) about buying a lens hood. Even with the Rollei part number they had no clue. I then located a dealer is Europe who claimed to have the hoods in stock. Two e-mails... no response.

I was hoping this thread would just die as I did not want to write this about the Rollei as other RFF members are more than satisfied with their cameras and lenses. However, for $1000, it was not the camera for me.

At this point in space and time I'll stick with my IIIf and be happy with it.

Best,
George
 
that's too bad, George. i think i know what you mean about the winder not being fluid, but i don't mind that at all. but it seems overall you just had a bad experience. it's good b&h gave no hassles. good luck in any further quests!
 
Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Rollei and lens, George. I've been happy with mine, but don't have the experience with Rangefinder's and lenses like you do, or others here.
 
Some ups and downs about the Rollei 35RF...If you're used to a Leica, you will be dissapointed with the Rollei. It's a good body, actually a very good body, but it's not a Leica. You're right, the film advance is not as smooth as a Leica, and it's not quite as sturdy as a Leica. When it first came on the market, it was expensive-I don't remember exactly, but somewhere around $2000 for the kit with the 40mm Sonnar. They also had plans for a 50mm Planar and a couple of other lenses as well. I think the 80mm actually did appear on the market for a time for around $1400. However, sales were slow and competition from the Voightlander gear, made in the same factory, and as rumor has it sharing many of the same parts, kept sales soft. As time went by, however, the price came down dramatically. Now the kit is just under $1000. When I decided to jump into the RF pool, I shopped and looked and researched pretty intensively, and decided on the Rollei over the CV for two reasons. One was the 2-year USA warrantee and the other was the German-made Zeiss glass. I have an old rolleiflex tlr with a 3.5 Tessar, and from what I hear, that was not their best lens. But the results I get with the Tessar are better than any other lens that I've used. So I wanted to stick with the Zeiss glass. I wonder if you got a bad sample for your lens. Mine gives me beautifully smooth contrast, clarity and color. When I bought the camera I also got a Ziess Biogon 25 f2.8. From the chromes that I've shot with both lenses, they are very much on par. I'll not go as far as trying to talk you into getting the Rollei back, as one man's pleasure is another man's poison, but I've had good luck with mine.

Bob
 
I believe that the camera and lenses are discontinued- I had a time finding the hood- ended up with one from ebay.
 
See if you can find a hood for the CV skopar 50-2.5
I've had both the sonnar 40 and the skopar and I think the hoods for each are the exact same part, only one has Rollei the other Voightlaender screened on it.

I loved that rollei lens, but found the 50 skopar more useful since it matched the native finder on leica screw bods.
 
Rhoyle said:
When I decided to jump into the RF pool, I shopped and looked and researched pretty intensively, and decided on the Rollei over the CV for two reasons. One was the 2-year USA warrantee and the other was the German-made Zeiss glass.
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isn't there a whole bunch of zeiss zm lenses that go on bessas and other rfs?
 
thefsb said:
isn't there a whole bunch of zeiss zm lenses that go on bessas and other rfs?
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Yeah, but not for the price of the Rollei lenses. When I bought the Rollei kit, there weren't any ZM lenses for another year & they hadn't even been announced yet, so I can relate to Rhoyle's choice.

In case it wasn't clear from Rhoyle's post, the Rollei body & the lens barrels were made in the Cosina factory, but the lens glass & lens assembly were done at the Rollei factory in Germany. The lens barrel for the 40/2.8 is pretty much the same as the CV 28/3.5 & 50/2.5, which means brass & the highest build quality in the CV line-up.
 
Sad that George has a bad experience with the 35RF. I am a Rollei supporter and a not so fussy user so I am so far very happy with my 35RF, only complaint is the rather loud shutter noise. Luckily Leica is too far away for me from the price point so I do not have comparison in that sense. But Rollei 35RF is a rebadged Bessa R2 so it is not and far away from Leica.

I have been using the body with my HFT 40mm Sonnar and a few of the ZM lenses, no big problem so far.

But one thing, Rollei service and marketing has never been impressive as far as Singapore is concern. But even worldwide their present marketing strategy to me is not good either.
 
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