Uncoated Rolleiflex Planar?

[Peter Williams]

I just purchased a Rolleiflex 3.5F with the Planar lens. The viewing lens looks to be multicoated (purplish reflections), but the taking lens looks crystal clear - like it has no coating at all. This would be a fairly late model camera with the white face and a serial number beginning 2848XXX. Is this normal? Did Rollei produce cameras of this model with uncoated taking lenses?

 

[elekm]

I can't think of any reason that camera would have an uncoated lens. However, anything is possible.

I would test this camera and make sure that it focuses to infinity.

The next thing I would check is whether it's just the front element that's uncoated or all the elements. Put the shutter on B, open the aperture to f/3.5 and inspect the rear and middle groups.

There are possibilities, ranging from that it does in fact have an uncoated Planar to a loss of coating to a surreptitious replacement of one or more of the lens elements with those of an uncoated Tessar.

But definitely run some film through the camera.

You could check to see if the serial number on the lens matches the number on the rear element, but this wouldn't mean much if the front element was swapped out and the original Planar lens face ring was kept.

 

[sjperry]

One possible explanation mught be that the taking lens got fungus inside it. I think that removing the fungus will damage/ remove the lens coatings.

Steve Perry

 

[dpurdy]

I don't believe that removing fungus does remove coating. I have read lots of accounts of people taking lenses apart and cleaning fungus out and never heard that they removed the coating. I agree with the idea that something fishy might have gone on with the camera. It might be a case of the original lens got damaged and someone replaced it, though I doubt they would use a lens so old that it didn't have coatings. More likely it seems to me that somehow the coating got damaged and someone polished or chemically removed it.

 

[Allan Swindles]

Peter,
The Planar lens DOES look completely different from the Heidosmat. If you hold the camera under a light tube you should see a pink/purple reflection in the Heidosmat and a slightly yellow/goldish reflection from the Planar. The Planar is already UV protected.

 

[Peter Williams]

Peter,
The Planar lens DOES look completely different from the Heidosmat. If you hold the camera under a light tube you should see a pink/purple reflection in the Heidosmat and a slightly yellow/goldish reflection from the Planar. The Planar is already UV protected.

I took another look under the light and the planar does have a slight yellow/gold tint to it. Like the other posters, I was beginning to think that something deceptive had been done to the camera.