Taking the Rollei on vacation

curmudgeon said:
I've never had a problem with the Rollei, but I do take the precaution of not having film in my film cameras in case they ask me to open them.
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Not only does TSA recognize them, but so many other international airport security agencies. That has never been a problem for me.

Once, way back when, the predecessor to TSA always wanted to see the inside of the camera but my TLR had film in it -- so I removed the hood and let them look at the mirror in the viewing chamber. They were perfetly satisfied.
 
graywolf said:
A TLR is not an action camera.

That said you can take action photos with one, you just need to have everything preset, so all you have to do at the precise moment is push the button. That does take some practice and forethought. I would call it "you" getting the photo, instead of the camera getting the photo.
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Yep. the more deliberate candids worked well:


94950009 by kafe-pic, on Flickr

and to a lesser extent extent even this:


94930006 by kafe-pic, on Flickr

That said, some shots presented themselves before I had time to prepare, and the results looked like this:


94910012 by kafe-pic, on Flickr

I still like the image at an emotional level, but I would have done a better job capturing it with the Contax G.

In any case, my missed shots were not all "action". Take the one of the three people against the yellow wall. The girl's eye ruin the shot. By the way, I have considered having a doctor surgically remove eyelids from my kids, but my wife dissuaded me. The poor shot was caused by my panic in trying to be quick capturing the moment and did not pay as much attention as I should have to the image forming on the groundglass.

I agree with both your statements: the camera has limitations (to take it to an extreme, it's not a Nikonos!) and that the photographer's skill can add to the limitations.

What I was hoping to do during this vacation was try to raise above my limits and expend the usefulness of my Rollei.

I left with a better understanding of what's possible if I push myself (focus more) and what's probably out of reach even from the best photographers using TLRs.
 
Froyd, you did a much bertter job than I did. I liked your pictures very much. If mine were that good I'd not be selling my Rolleis. You know, the old adage about this was "If it moves, shoot it with a 35. If it doesn't move, shoot it with a Rollei."
 
Vics said:
Froyd, you did a much bertter job than I did. I liked your pictures very much. If mine were that good I'd not be selling my Rolleis. You know, the old adage about this was "If it moves, shoot it with a 35. If it doesn't move, shoot it with a Rollei."
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eeek! do not sell your Rolleis! At least keep one. My first roll with the Rollei was the best I've ever taken. Subsequent ones were much worse (same happened with the M4 interestingly enough), and after that I started to improve to about 8 or so keeper (keepers by my standards, mind you) per roll. But I really had to put in the time to change my behavior as a photographer.
 
froyd said:
eeek! do not sell your Rolleis! At least keep one. My first roll with the Rollei was the best I've ever taken. Subsequent ones were much worse (same happened with the M4 interestingly enough), and after that I started to improve to about 8 or so keeper (keepers by my standards, mind you) per roll. But I really had to put in the time to change my behavior as a photographer.
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I just shipped the 3.5F out to NYC to one of our members here. If I don't get offers on the MX, I'll take it as a sign from God, and I'll keep it.
 
Vics said:
I just shipped the 3.5F out to NYC to one of our members here. If I don't get offers on the MX, I'll take it as a sign from God, and I'll keep it.
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Well, congrats on the sale! I looked through your Flickr 6x6 set and though it looked great, so hopefully you will still press the MX into service in the near future.
 
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