Shooting with a Rollei 35S

[fredus]

Hi there,

I've just finished my first roll with my Rollei 35S ... I'm pretty impressed with the lens ! the 40mm f/2.8 .. sharp sharp sharp ... I need to get used to scale focusing ... Any tip to evaluate distance ??

Here is one shot taken with the camera ...

Fred

 

[sf]

is the 35s a scale focuser? Or does it focus with a coupler? Curious because I like the size and the lenses on those cameras.

 

[physiognomy]

Hey Fred,

Nice shot! I really like the little Rollei 35's... If they weren't so expensive I think I'd have one of each... I agree that the f/2.8 lens is VERY sharp! I have the 35SE and haven't really had too much trouble with focusing (when I've remembered to actually do it!) ... I must admit that I rarely take shots with the focal point much closer than 5 or 6 feet. I do think it is a good idea when scale focusing to make use of the depth of field scale... I always make sure I have a reasonable margin of error around my guesses... When I started using this camera I stepped/paced out a couple of known distances and tried to visualize them when shooting. This is pretty easy since anything past 20 feet or so and the lens focuses to infinity. Most of the time I have been pretty right, but I guess some luck and practice comes into it.

Cheers!

Peter

Hi there,

I've just finished my first roll with my Rollei 35S ... I'm pretty impressed with the lens ! the 40mm f/2.8 .. sharp sharp sharp ... I need to get used to scale focusing ... Any tip to evaluate distance ??

Here is one shot taken with the camera ...

Fred

 

[physiognomy]

is the 35s a scale focuser? Or does it focus with a coupler? Curious because I like the size and the lenses on those cameras.

All the Rollei 35's are scale focus (except the XF35 and that one doesn't count)... Rollei did make a prototype with coupled rangefinder, but it never went into production. Pitty... even if they made the camera a little bigger it would have been a great improvement to an already excellent camera (they are really only the size of a pack of tar sticks!)...

Peter

 

[richard_l]

I have a Rollei 35 S as well as the original Rollei 35 (Tessar), and it is a little embarassing that I use them more often than my three Leica M cameras. The optical quality of these 40mm lenses is at least as good as the Leica 40mm Summicron-C or Minolta M-Rokkor.

For focussing it helps a lot to use the DOF scale. I often use hyperfocus: set the f-stop; then set infnity on the focus ring opposite the f-stop on the DOF scale. (The far distance will be infinity, and the near distance can read off the focus ring opposite the other f-stop mark.) For close distances I sometimes just pace it off.

To increase sharpness, use a monopod. It balances perfectly on my rig: I use a Tracks Sherlock hiking staff with a Bogen/Manfrotto 3229 quick release monopod head.