Good price on a Rolleiflex?

epig · Mar 1, 2010

holmburgers said:
Thanks for the info. I'll see if he can do $150 or I'm out.

We'll see about that $300 Hasselblad... Shaa!, and monkeys might fly out my butt! (wayne's world)

Last August I bought a near mint 1965 500C, 12 exp back and 80mm Chrome lens in the leather Neveready case for $200 from an old man who bought it new, shot three rolls through it and shelved it lo these many years.

These deals exist, my monkey butt friend!

Eric

jon koss · Mar 15, 2010

Did you ever buy the camera? If not you should have a look at the Rolleiflex that was just listed in the APUG classifieds.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Good luck,

Jon

John R. · Mar 15, 2010

Q.G. said:
A quick note on the T coating bit: Zeiss started using T coatings in the mid to late 1930s.
So not, as i said, long before WWII.

The actual T (Transparenz) coating was first developed by a Zeiss staffer named Smakula in 1935 for use on binocular optics, not for camera optics. It was post World War II sometime around 1947-1948 when the coating was first applied to Contax II lenses. Not sure when the coating may have first been applied to optics used in Rollei's.

Andy38 · Mar 16, 2010

The first Rolleiflex built with coated lenses is the Automat 3, or K4B2, made from 1945 to 1949, with Tessar Carl Zeiss Jena, Tessar Opton or Xenar (Schneider).

But some earlier may have been coated many years after they were built; here is an Original (~1931) with a coated taking lens (Tessar f3,8); I suppose it was coated after WWII... Sometimes I use it : at f8, lens is nearly as sharp as a later Automat coated lens.

Ian Grant · Mar 16, 2010

John R. said:
The actual T (Transparenz) coating was first developed by a Zeiss staffer named Smakula in 1935 for use on binocular optics, not for camera optics. It was post World War II sometime around 1947-1948 when the coating was first applied to Contax II lenses. Not sure when the coating may have first been applied to optics used in Rollei's.

I spotted a 150mm f4.5 T Tessar (so coated) on Ebay last year, the serial number made it around 1939 which makes sense because the first Contax II/III lens to be coated was the 5cm f1.5 Sonnar just before WWII.

Andy38 said:
The first Rolleiflex built with coated lenses is the Automat 3, or K4B2, made from 1945 to 1949, with Tessar Carl Zeiss Jena, Tessar Opton or Xenar (Schneider).

But some earlier may have been coated many years after they were built; here is an Original (~1931) with a coated taking lens (Tessar f3,8); I suppose it was coated after WWII... Sometimes I use it : at f8, lens is nearly as sharp as a later Automat coated lens.

Nice camera Andy, I have a late 1930's Dagor (AM Opt) that was factory coated after WWII. It's possible that when yours was coated the polishing altered the cuvature slightly.

While checking out my own T coated early 50s 150mm Tessar I found that there was inter-trading between the two halves of Zeiss and that some Opton lenses were in fact Jena lenses but I guess they'd had to pass stricter quality controls.

Ian

John R. · Mar 18, 2010

Andy38 said:
The first Rolleiflex built with coated lenses is the Automat 3, or K4B2, made from 1945 to 1949, with Tessar Carl Zeiss Jena, Tessar Opton or Xenar (Schneider).

But some earlier may have been coated many years after they were built; here is an Original (~1931) with a coated taking lens (Tessar f3,8); I suppose it was coated after WWII... Sometimes I use it : at f8, lens is nearly as sharp as a later Automat coated lens.

Andy .. That's a great old Rollei. Wish I had a real old one like it. I've got a newer one with a 2.8 Planar (incredible lens). The coated lens on your camera is very interesting. Where did you get the info on the date of that camera and lens? I would sure like to read more about the optic history of the Rollei's.

Andy38 · Mar 19, 2010

John R. said:
Andy .. That's a great old Rollei. Wish I had a real old one like it. I've got a newer one with a 2.8 Planar (incredible lens). The coated lens on your camera is very interesting. Where did you get the info on the date of that camera and lens? I would sure like to read more about the optic history of the Rollei's.

I don't know much more about this camera .Serial numbers on front (106xxx) and on Tessar taking lens (1304xxx) let me think this camera is from 1931.

But I try to understand why it was modified...
All elements on taking lens were coated; camera has a synchro X (not M : flash fires when shutter blades are wide open) and ground glass screen is brighter than on other Original's, with a glued rangefinder spot on its center (perfectly working).
I suppose these modifications were expensive.
Why not buying a post-WWII Rolleicord, with its coated lenses and a more robust construction ? It's easier to use; and it uses 120 rollfilm; Original doesn't, only 117, or 620 when modified.

Good price on a Rolleiflex?

epig

jon koss

John R.

Andy38

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Ian Grant

John R.

Andy38

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