Rollei 35TE metering.

[fidget]

I've been following threads on the Rollei 35 (T,S,TE,SE, etc) with great interest. I had a chance to grab a nice looking 35TE and have received it today.

No film through it yet, but it appears to be fine, aside from the behaviour of the metering. I don't mean the accuracy of the metering (which I will check tomorrow), but that I can get both red LEDs to light by turning the aperture to max. This position that the red LEDs come on changes as the film speed and shutter speed is changed, as if it is warning of out-of-range.

What does two red LEDs indicate?

Dave.

 

[fidget]

Thanks for the link Carlos M.
In this case, the meter appears to be indicating that the film speed/shutter speed/aperture combination is outside of the range of the system, regardless of what light is available. This is near 1/125, f4, iso400 or combinations giving the same EV(?) on this example.

Dave

 

[fidget]

The lens is extended properly. It's not related only to the position of any one control (iso,shutter,aperture) so I guess that it is meant to be like this.

What does yours do? Can you get the two LEDs on when adjusting the settings to a similar point?

Dave..

 

[fidget]

Out in the field the metering seems accurate enough, agreeing well with my Digisix.

Is it fair to say that this camera metering doesn't handle lower light situations?

Dave

 

[awilder]

Very fair to say the meter does not do well in low light. I believe "low light" sensitivity at ISO 100 is only about 7.5 EV (1/15 sec.,f/3.5 @ ISO 100). This is at least 3-4 stops less sensitive to japanese compacts from the 70's. Oddly, this poor sensitivity has remained unchanged from the original Rollei 35. I suspect the same is true with the new special order Rollei 35 costing thousands of euros. For great meter sensitivity, a better choice of scale focus camera might be a Minox 35 series, although it doesn't offer full manual exposue control or can only function with a battery.

 

[fidget]

Thanks for the response. I was concerned that it was faulty, but have now run a couple of films through it. The metering (in range) seems fine,although it has a small disagreement of around one stop at the lowest light levels compared to my Gossen. After looking at negs taken with each metering, the camera's metered scenes look better exposed.
The camera has produced some very nice images, I am very pleased with it.