Rolleiflex MF SLRs - who's a fan?

[GarageBoy]

Well, in my dad's closet, I found 3 SLX mount 80mm Planars - tried looking on ebay for a body - but selection is limited

Who used these? Any thoughts?

 

[robry]

1975, I bought 1 used SL35 body with 35mm and 85mm lenses, 35/2,8 was Zeiss and 85/2 Rollei as I recall it. Great setup, served me well for many years, then both lenses developed problems with aperture and focus mecanisms. A few years later all of it was stolen anyway...
Camera better than it´s reputation and the lenses were very very nice.
The photographer was the limitation in this case as it is often...

 

[john_s]

I'm a fan of the SL66 which is a mechanical camera (and some later models had built-in meters but they're not so common and tend to be expensive). There were far fewer SLX cameras made and, as much as I love many things Rollei, their move to electronics was not particularly successful. See, for example:

http://photo.net/medium-format-photography-forum/0001dV

There are later SLRs than the SLX but I don't know how compatible the lenses are with them: possibly not at all.

I have a couple of SL66SE with a later model meter and I know if the meter fails the camera will still work mechanically. However the later cameras that are fully battery powered would be very problematical to repair.

I wonder why your dad had three identical lenses. Had he been a dealer? Have you looked hard at home for a body? Or three bodies?

I suggest that you might be better off selling the lenses rather than embarking on a journey that could very easily turn out to be a disappointing repair epic. I wish that I was wrong on this. I have two Rollei items from that era that are unrepairable (a 35S and a meter prism for the SL66)

 

[mike rosenlof]

http://www.grafikogfoto.dk/photographical/rollei_slx.html

The text there implies that the SLX lenses are compatible with the 6000 series Rollei bodies. Call that a "maybe", but maybe there's a body for you.

I have no experience with these cameras, just telling what I found... good luck!!