Rolleiflex 6006 - opinions please.

[Greg_E]

Last time I looked all I found was the lenses in the $2000 range, but I also wasn't looking very hard.

 

[ic-racer]

The older 'SLX-style' lenses are the cheaper ones. Those have a leatherette covering instead of rubber. I got a near mint 50mm for $450 a few years back.
Here is an example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rollei-Rolleifl...66:2|39:1|72:1205|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

(Link points to a 9.5/10 cosmetic, perfectly good working 250mm/5.6 Rollei SLX lens at a slightly e-bay inflated BIN of $449 USD) (Not affiliated, link posted for price reference only , bla, bla, bla..)

 

[dougjgreen]

I said in the post at the top of this page that I had put my 250mm lens on ebay because I wasn't using it.

 

[Iwagoshi]

Doug,
Did you ever get a NiMH 1000mAh battery pack built? I found your old posts from photo.net.

IC, thanks for the battery links. Do these batteries already have the soldering tabs?

deisenlord, A $30 prebuilt option looks too painless to be real.

 

[dougjgreen]

Doug,
Did you ever get a NiMH 1000mAh battery pack built? I found your old posts from photo.net.

IC, thanks for the battery links. Do these batteries already have the soldering tabs?

deisenlord, A $30 prebuilt option looks too painless to be real.

No, but what I was able to get was an external power adapter module from Rollei America that allows you to tether a cord to an external power source that can be kept in your pocket when shooting. This can be used with clips containing 8 or 10 standard AA cells, and it works fine with a clip containing 10 AA NiMH cells. It also works fine with a clip of 8 or 10 AA Alkaline cells. I've found that an 8 cell clip using NiMH cells doesn't put out either enough current or voltage to last very long - like no more than 20-30 shots in a short period of time (but a 10 cell clip of NiMH cells works fine).

Unfortunately, this external power adapter (which basically is a fused capacitor module with a cable connector that's the same shape and with the same camera connections as a Rollei 600x battery) is not a cheap accessory. I believe that I paid something like $269 for it a couple of years ago from Rollei USA.

High price notwithstanding, at least I now know that even if all my Rollei 600x batteries give up the ghost and I can't get replacement cells, I can still use my Rollei 6006 and 6001 bodies - albeit with a battery pack in my pocket containing NiMH or Alkaline AA cells. I've not tried using Lithium cells.

BTW, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if someone with a knowledge of electronics could build one of these things using the housing of an expired Rollei battery and something like $20 worth of components from an electronics surplus supply house. The external AA battery clips for 8 or 10 cells cost about a buck or two each. I actually was trying to build one of these myself when I fried the system board of a beater SLX body - That's when I gave up and dropped $269 with Rollei to buy one of these.

 

[ic-racer]

Doug,
Did you ever get a NiMH 1000mAh battery pack built? I found your old posts from photo.net.

IC, thanks for the battery links. Do these batteries already have the soldering tabs?

Those do not have the tabs. I usually solder a brass jumper from cell to cell. I'm not sure if the tabs on the KR600AE long enough. I recently rebuilt a device with KR-1500SC with tabs and they were long enough to jump cell-to-cell.

 

[Greg_E]

Cheapbatterypacks.com to get cells with tabs or I bet they would solder the pack so that all you needed to do is solder the last 2 connections to get out of the pack.

 

[nocrop]

I have a 6006 Mark I. It's been a workhorse for years, not a single problem. I decided to get an extra battery from B&H ($125!), just in case, but really, the original battery still lasts for dozens of rolls between charges. Perhaps I'm lucky, I don't know. The camera system is heavy, a big drawback for me, though it can make some beautiful images. I don't usually rely on in-camera metering, since I prefer incident metering or Sunny 16, but the big Rollei's meter is very reliable, predictable, and accurate. I've shot many slides with it, and as long as I increase exposures for backlit situations, it's nearly perfect.

Worst downside? Good luck finding lenses in usable focal lengths for a reasonable price. Hasselblads are much better for lenses and accessories availability and price.

While I like my 6006 a lot, and use it fairly often--95% of the time on a tripod--I don't love it like I love my Autocord.

 

[nocrop]

One more thing: don't do what I did and cheap out and get the 2X tele-converter instead of a 120 or 150. It definitely degrades the image on the standard 80/2.8, which is a lovely lens.