Rolleiflex SL 26

[KoNickon]

During a closet clearout for a long-overdue painting project, I've been finding a number of forgotten treasures, including one of these little fellows. (I found it Friday, then misplaced it; kept looking for it and finally let St. Anthony of Padua take over. Found it just now.) Anyway -- seems to be in great shape, though the meter is dead, sadly. When I first found it I swore I had some 126 film, and sure enough I found a number of long-expired (like well over 20 years past expiry) Kodacolor cartridges.

A few questions: 1) Anyone have any experience with this camera? I'll get ahold of a manual, but it seems pretty straightforward. 2) I know the film is long out of date -- and it wasn't kept frozen -- but I would love to see what the camera can do. What are the chances I will get any sort of image? (I don't even know if my local lab can process it.) 3) Is 126 being made anywhere now?

It takes Rollei Bay I filters, which is cool since I have a couple of polarizers. Much easier to use on an SLR than a TLR.

I also found a Kodak Instamatic 500, made by the Retina folks in Stuttgart. Shutter is sluggish, so not usable without work. Otherwise seems good, and build quality is on the same level as the Rollei.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

I had one of these back in the seventies, with both lenses. A delightful camera, capable of superb results, though the front-cell accessory lenses were slow and large (much like a Kodak Retina Reflex). I have some Kodachromes from it still, and if there were still a decent selection of 126 films available, I would gladly own and use one again.
I would suggest you not waste your time with expired Kodacolor. There is a company called CamerHack that make an adapter to use 35mm in a 126 camera, and I think there may still be some small suppliers of B&W in 126 that's fresh; Google is your friend. Sort of. But the whole expired film thing is too treacherous to deal with, in my opinion.
These cameras date from an interesting time when Kodak was telling us that the Instamatic cartridge would supersede 35mm, and some near-professional grade cameras (like the Rollei) were being produced that seemed to support the trend. Ultimately, the inherent problems with film flatness and lens-to-film variation squelched the trend, but it didn't stop Kodak from introducing 110, APS, etc. etc., each touted as newest and best. I think Kodak lost its way as a company, but that's a whole other thread...
Of course, I confess to being young and gullible when I purchased the SL 26, and I soon realized that "serious" photography would continue to mean 35mm. I eventually traded the Rollei for a Leica. Nevertheless, I have fond memories of its squat, chunky look and the way it sat so nicely in my hands. I hope you can enjoy yours!

 

[KoNickon]

Thanks! I'll check out what film sources there may be -- I like the idea of 35mm in a 126 camera. Oh, and I found the 80/4 Pro-Tessar also, so I'm all set! I have shot 7 frames of the first roll; could be a total waste but we shall see.

I discovered after I wrote the initial post that the shutter assembly was loose on the camera. Major downer. But I found three loose screws inside the mirror box and once they were tightened, all was well. The camera's focus was also off, but tightening these screws cured it. How they got loose is hard to fathom.