Protective filter for Rolleiflex 2.8F Bay 3

I found myself cleaning lenses quite often and I’m afraid I’ll damage it. I know there are some of you who had their Rolleiflexes for many decades and never had a problem but, anyway, I’d like to try to modify the filter that goes to the viewing lens so I don’t have to take them off ever again, or at least not often.

I see there are different versions of Rolleiflex Bay 3 UV filters, some are -0.5, some H-1, but I’m not sure what’s the difference. Which one has the least effect on the image, and can be use just as a protective filter?

For the viewing lens, you simply won't notice the difference between a UV or skylight filter. Your brain will accommodate any small color shifts so fast you will need to try to see it. There are also filters on Ebay that are plain glass.

Here's one with an arc cut away, but it looks as if they made a wide frame to do this. Maybe notch out the hood will also allow for less/no glass removal on the viewing lens filter.


The problem you will run into is that a hood and/or filter on the taking lens will impede on the bottom section of an filter on the viewing lens. I took an Ebay plain glass filter and cut away the metal frame. Then I ground away the glass part, removing the segment to clear the taking lens hood. But I am not going to encourage anyone to wrap a Dremel in a plastic bag and start using it to grind glass under flowing water to deal with heat and glass dust issues.

Hi Dan,

What about taking lens UV filter? Is this H-1 that has the least or no effect on the image?

I read about this Langdsea filters on a Facebook group, someone was complaining having a focusing issues with this setup.

I spoke to a guy who gave his viewing filter and lens hood to a jeweler to notch it, so it can fit altogether on his 2.8F. I saw the picture, it looks good. He said he has it for some time, and it works great, no image quality issues, no flare, and no cleaning lenses anymore, just filters.

UV filters he uses are Rollei original. It has a letters Rollei-U-V, R III.

But when I search on eBay I see these are not the only ones from Rollei. There are few different kinds of UV filters, so I’m wondering which ones should I purchase just for the protection.

@hiroh I have several UV filters for my 2.8F, see what applies to you:

• Heliopan Bay 3 UV. It gets mounted on the taking lens only. After that you can't use the standard lens cap, but you can put a 43mm regular generic lens cap on top of the filter on the taking lens only. Viewing lens remains exposed. Sounds ugly but this actually is quite practical. These are available brand new on B&H (takes a few weeks to get though).
• I have the Langdsea pair just like on the link above. Never had any issues focusing and did not observe any image quality degradation. The kit I purchased comes with a lens hood which is all metal and jsut as well made as the original. Again, you won't be able to use the standard lens cap on top of these.
• I found someone on eBay who sells dual lens hoods for Bay 3 mount. They are cheaply made (awful 3D printed material) but come with their own dual-lens cap.

I settled on the Langdsea setup + 3D printed hood. This way both lenses are protected and there's also hood+cap to go on top. I had to trim the hood mount a little to make this work.

TBH I am amazed that Franke & Heidecke never figured out how to make a TLR with usable lens filters and caps!

Here's what I did with the filters I already had. I notched one of the UV filters just a bit with my sanding machine using 220-grit sanding paper. It took less than 30 seconds to shave off enough metal so both filters can fit. I didn't do anything to the other filter. It fit's perfectly. If I kept sanding for a couple more seconds, it would be too much and the glass would penetrate through the metal. Make sure to protect the glass before sanding. I wrapped it in a piece of soft cloth and then wrapped it with the painters tape, leaving exposed just the part that I'm working on, so no dust can get onto the glass.

I'm intentionally using both UV and H1 filters because I want to test if there's any difference, so I can easily swap them if I notice the one is better.

Overall, I'm happy with the results, but it would be nice to have a solution for the hood and the lens caps when I need them.

I can notch the hood I already have, but I don't think I'll be able to make it nicely with the tools I have. I'm thinking bringing it to the jewlery maker to cut that piece from the hood.

As for the lens caps, I don't see other solution other than a snap-on generic caps that McDiesel mentioned, or the ugly 3D printed one, which I'm willing to try if that's going to fit my filters.

I've had my 3.5 F for a lot of years, and I keep B&W 010 1x on both viewing and taking.