Stroke of Luck(Rollei 35S)

[MikeyGaGa]

Greetings,Scholars

Visited my local thrift store,hoping to pick up some old 331/3 LPs for $0.50 each and spotted a Nikon AF and a ROLLEI 35S with 40/2.8 Sonnar. Paid $16.00 for the pair.

Both seem to work;However the meter on the Rollei doesnt respond(yes,I put a new 625 battery in). Strange that the meter doesnt seem to have a switch.

Please reply with answers-Whats it worth?
how does the meter work?
Can anyone repair the meter for a reasonable fee?

Mikey GaGa

 

[FrankS]

Great find, congratulations! I once paid $250Cdn for a mint black 35SE.
The meter is activated by extending the lens I think (or else it is activated by pressing the shutter button 1/2 way) The meter on my 35TE is calibrated for Mercury batteries which can no longer be bought, so I just use it as a meterless camera.

 

[KEH]

On the Rollei 35S there is no switch for the meter. You turn the meter off by putting the camera in the fitted leather case. The ultimate in minimalism?

Cheers,
Kirk

 

[RichC]

Actually, the meter's always live - so when not in use, keep the camera in the dark to prolong battery life (a mercury or silver cell will last months and months - mine's still live after a year, but I rarely use it).

The meter's basic but reasonably accurate (well, mine is!). There are a few options now that mercury batteries aren't available (lots of info on the web). The best solution (and the most expensive) is to use an adapter that takes a silver cell and adjusts the voltage to match a mercury cell: http://www.rolleicamera.com/sales-batt-adapt.htm.

The meter is simple in construction, and there's not much that can go wrong with it - if it's not working, the culprit is usually a bit of corrosion, or one of the two wires has become detached. Any old-fashioned camera repairers should be able to sort it out.

The 35S is the most desirable Rollei 35 from a user's perspective, as it has the best quality lens - not that any of the others are slouches: they're all very good cameras.

Good find!

What's it worth? Fully working and in excellent cosmetic condition $300 plus, but owing to their reputation, even a scruffy one in working condition (bar the meter) would command $100 plus.

 

[MikeyGaGa]

Thanks,Gents

i look forward to using it meter or no.

Mikey GaGa

 

[Wayneb123]

Last year I found a Rollei 35 german made with a Tessar 40mm 3.5 for
$15.95 but it was a saturday so it was 30% off. I asked them are you sure you want to sell it this cheap? They said yes and if I bought it i could not return it because it was being sold as is. It works perfect not a mark on it and it even had
a hard case. I have found that my local pawn shops that used to charge way too much for cameras now can't sell them anymore and have lowered their prices for most cameras to trift store prices.

 

[nksyoon]

The meter on my 35TE is calibrated for Mercury batteries which can no longer be bought, so I just use it as a meterless camera.

There are a couple of sellers on the auction site selling silver replacement batteries - they look like standard silver cells stacked in a custom wrap. I have a Rollei 35SE
and bought item 7520048836 from seller mdbattery.

What I've read about the Rollei is that the circuits are sophisticated enough to compensate for the different voltage.