Can you put the Rolleiflex tele lenses in a 2.8 camera?

campy51 · Dec 16, 2019

There is someone selling the viewing and taking elements from a Rolleiflex tele and wonder if they could be put in a regular 2.8 series camera or are the shutters size different? I have a 2.8C and a 2.8E and wonder if it would be possible to turn one into a tele. I know the front plate will also have to be replaced.

Sirius Glass · Dec 16, 2019

Keep the lenses in their own cameras! If you want to swap lens on MF cameras, buy one of the slrs or a Mamiya TLR.

edit in Italics

ic-racer · Dec 16, 2019

Can you put the Rolleiflex tele lenses in a 2.8 camera?

This is what you would need.

summicron1 · Dec 16, 2019

I"m no expert or even a technician, but logic tells me that the answer is no, you can't -- Rollei cameras were handmade and specifically designed to be what they were -- the design of a tele-rollei body would be very different from a regular automat or 2.8F or whatever you have in mind. I would think the linkages, focus gears and a lot else would be different.

I short -- you want tele, go buy a tele rollei -- someone has one here for around $2500 that looks really nice.

Luckless · Dec 16, 2019

Manual cameras are little more than fancy light tight boxes fit between the film and a lens with a shutter somewhere in the mix.

Ultimately it comes down to yes you can... but the real question is whether or not you should.

What features and functions do you expect out of your combination, and what are you planning to use for a donor body on this project? And what are your technical skills for a project like this?

If you have a working lens without a working body, a serviceable body without a functional lens, and the skills to merge them to the functional point you're after, then why not? If you're missing one of those three things then your project is in a rather questionable state...

[You may be better off looking for a Rolleiflex Tele, or maybe a Mamiya TLR if you're not interested in dropping as much cash.]

campy51 · Dec 16, 2019

I already have 2 working 2.8 cameras. I am thinking if I could convert one for say under $500 then it might be worth it. I could then sell my good lenses and face place to offset the cost and end up with 2 very different cameras instead of 2 of the same. I do plan on selling one of them even if I don't convert one.

Dan Fromm · Dec 16, 2019

OP, have you looked at a Tele-Rollei? I ask because the pictures I've seen of them show much longer tubes holding the lenses in front of the focusing panel. Reproducing those tubes at the precision required doesn't look easy.

But don't take my word for it, ask a photographer's machinist such as one of the Dau brothers at skgrimes.

Luckless · Dec 16, 2019

I would not advise taking apart a working camera for this kind of project. [Especially not cameras with the brand premium of a Rollei.]

It is one thing to combine two non-working parts into a possibly working Franken-Camera, but another to do so with an already working rig.

Maybe sell the lesser of your two current cameras, and use that to fund the hunt for an already working Tele-Rollei or a suitable parts body looking for a lens.

Kino · Dec 16, 2019

campy51 said:
There is someone selling the viewing and taking elements from a Rolleiflex tele and wonder if they could be put in a regular 2.8 series camera or are the shutters size different? I have a 2.8C and a 2.8E and wonder if it would be possible to turn one into a tele. I know the front plate will also have to be replaced.

I predict an unhappy outcome! I wouldn't attempt it, but that's just me...

campy51 · Dec 16, 2019

I might be wrong but if you have the lenses and the front of the camera that's from a tele why wouldn't it work if the shutter is the same. I have never seen one so I don't know if it is an entirely different box, but here is what I saw that got me thinking. Of course I wouldn't do it at the prices he is asking but he has a limited buyers market so he may be willing to deal.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rolleiflex...-1-4-Heidosmat-1-4-Original-part/293379207332
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rolleiflex-Tele-Rollei-Front-Panel-ORIGINAL-Part/303404574917

Paul Howell · Dec 16, 2019

For $500 you can get a Mamiya C220 and a 135mm lens set, then add the 250mm if you want to go longer or the 105mm if you want to go shorter.

Dan Fromm · Dec 16, 2019

Paul Howell said:
For $500 you can get a Mamiya C220 and a 135mm lens set, then add the 250mm if you want to go longer or the 105mm if you want to go shorter.

But Paul, the OP isn't a trained economist so doesn't know that sunk costs should be ignored. He has two Rolleis, wants to go on having two Rolleis. Your solution is better than his even though you didn't recommend that he sell both Rolleis and use the proceeds to go Mamiya.

This discussion is a nice example of an OP who has an idea, be it good, bad or indifferent, and is seeking ratification.

campy51 · Dec 16, 2019

This is just a thought I had after seeing both items for sale and just for discussion want to know if it's possible or even practical.

Dan Daniel · Dec 16, 2019

campy51 said:
This is just a thought I had after seeing both items for sale and just for discussion want to know if it's possible or even practical.

No, it isn't. Look at the extension of the edge along the body on a Tele-Rollei body. They added maybe 5mm, the rim with a leatherette covering. There must also be other ways that they make up the 55mm focal length difference, maybe mounting the shutter behind the center of the lens? The focus rails need to be a different orientation, as does the lens board and its attachment to the focus rails.

And then just for fun, they use a bellows for the taking lens light trap. But it isn't the same as the 2.8C bellows; it has a different travel distance so is a different basic size.

About the best you could hope for is that you would get focus at infinity and maybe in to 100 yards on a standard 80mm body. No way to extend the lens for much closer focusing. And this assumes that other things would work like the shutter and aperture dials. If hacking lenses was in any way reasonable on Rolleiflexes, people would have done it long ago. There were many users, many professionals and with either skills or access to skills to make the kind of changes you are talking about. Yet I've never heard of it.

That Sonnar is a great lens. You want to use it, buy a Tele-Rollei. Or a 6x9 technical camera, a #0 shutter, lens board, and 6x6 graflex back.

abruzzi · Dec 16, 2019

There is a reason the Mamiya TLRs have a relatively large bellows, they have to be able to focus a wide range of lenses. The lenses can be built so infinity is the same (all the way in) no matter what lens is attached. But the longer the focal length, the further away the focusing mechanism need to move to focus on the same point. So if the existing focus mechanism can focus an 80mm lens to 1 meter, it could only focus a 160mm lens to 2 meters (someone correct me if I'm not accurate here.)

EdSawyer · Dec 17, 2019

as already mentioned, this idea is a non-starter. The 1.5x mutar is a nice piece, and optically quite decent.

For even more reasons on why this idea won't work, look up the exploded diagrams from the Tele and any of the 2.8 cameras, and see how many parts differ - it's a lot.

Alan Gales · Dec 17, 2019

campy51 said:
I already have 2 working 2.8 cameras. I am thinking if I could convert one for say under $500 then it might be worth it. I could then sell my good lenses and face place to offset the cost and end up with 2 very different cameras instead of 2 of the same. I do plan on selling one of them even if I don't convert one.

You could end up with one working camera and a parts camera. You are right in asking here. Maybe someone else has tried it. I think Dan Fromm gave you some good advice. Talk to a photographer machinist before attempting this.

campy51 · Dec 17, 2019

It's a dead issue with me now. Thanks for the input.

Grim Tuesday · Dec 17, 2019

Paul Howell said:
For $500 you can get a Mamiya C220 and a 135mm lens set, then add the 250mm if you want to go longer or the 105mm if you want to go shorter.

$500!? Try $200. Mamiya TLRs are some of the cheapest and most underrated cameras on the market right now.

Neil Grant · Dec 19, 2019

...i wonder if it would be possible to re-use the Zeiss tele lenses by repurposing them for a Mamiya Cxx TLR? Could the pair be mounted on a lens panel intended for a Sekor 135mm?

MattKing · Dec 19, 2019

Neil Grant said:
...i wonder if it would be possible to re-use the Zeiss tele lenses by repurposing them for a Mamiya Cxx TLR? Could the pair be mounted on a lens panel intended for a Sekor 135mm?

Success would probably depend on the distance between the optical centres of the viewing and taking lenses.

Can you put the Rolleiflex tele lenses in a 2.8 camera?

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