Using your Rolleiflex

[pentaxpete]

dpurdy : Maybe send a message to the site administrators about it ?

 

[noeyedear]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here and I just acquired a Rolleiflex T and thought I would like to share an experience that happened this evening. My first time out with the T. It was late evening the best of the light had gone, so I was getting ready to load the car and head for a cup of tea. The Rollei was still on the tripod as I felt for the car keys, I then saw an Owl the other side of the road, it glided towards me and the camera. I watched as it swept gently and silently to within four feet of me and my camera. It gazed at the camera circling the Rollei and myself. It was studying the camera very closely in the orbit, I could of reached out and touched it in flight, it then sailed back to the other side of the road. I'm not sure wether Owls are interested in Rolleiflex or any other camera for that matter or maybe those two lenses look like a pair of eyes and the Owl was thinking about eating either the camera or myself. Anyway a very strange and beautiful experience for me.

Kevin.

 

[pentaxpete]

noeyedear : well, thanks for telling us that story -- I have no interesting ROLLEI or other makes stories to tell !

 

[Uncle Bill]

Esplanade 1 by Bill Smith1, on Flickr


img774 by Bill Smith1, on Flickr

Both shot with my Series E 3.5 Planar Rollei with my last roll of Kodak Plus X 125 (since switched over to FP4).

 

[Uncle Bill]

I have found since the end of winter, I have been using my Rolleiflex 3.5 E and Rolleicord IV almost exclusively. I have to force myself to shoot 35mm more often now.

 

[Ezzie]

Well, I´ve had my 2.8E3 for a couple of week now, and its seen three rolls of film. One TMX, and two Acros. All developed in Caffenol. The first serious use was when the Photo-club at work got a guided tour of the Oslo Opera House. Here are some results.

TMX

Acros

And a recent trip to France to visit my dad. When the chips fell, the Rolleiflex got the vote, as I feel often will be the case in the future.

Acros

 

[dpurdy]

Great stuff Ezzie. Seems like you got a great lens on the E3. Really good contrast and sharpness.
Dennis

 

[Ezzie]

Thank you Dennis. The taking lens does in fact lack some of the coating on the front element, but it doesn't seem to effect the work I've been doing so far. The sea picture in particular, taken without a shade, should really have shown up any caoting issues, but it doesn't. So I'm very, very happy with my baby.

 

[dpurdy]

I have never understood how coating front elements does any good. As I understand it the coatings are to keep light from bouncing and reflecting between elements on the inside... so it would seem to me that the coatings on the inner elements would be the only useful ones.

 

[dpurdy]

I went yesterday to one of the most beautiful areas of the Oregon coast, Ocean Side. I decided to use the 2.8F that hasn't seen much use for a couple of years due to my use of the FX.
The F is my first love though and deserved some use. Clearly it was sullen and unhappy and vindictive. I got up at 5:15 to get on the beach at very low tide before the foot prints arrived.
First thing I realize is that I forgot my spot meter. The Rollei meter works but this was beyond it... so I have to guess my dark very long exposures of dark wet rock and sand. Then I realized after
the 3rd exposure that the frame counter still said 0. I took a couple more exposures and the frame counter started working. I decided I had better bag that roll and start a new one. When I put in a new
roll and tried to start cranking it the shutter got jammed. I had to take that roll out and the shutter started working so I put in another roll. Everything seemed back to normal but the shutter didn't sound right
or actually didn't sound at all using the B setting. So I checked it looking in the lens and it wasn't opening for the shutter button but was opening when I cranked it. It did that a few times and then it started working
normally... but I didn't trust it so for every exposure after that I opened the shutter in B while I was looking in the lens and then pulled my head out of the way as quick as i could.. 30 second exposures... hopefully my face
won't make an impression. After that roll I decided to give it up. Now I have to box up my 2.8F and send it to Harry Fleenor for a few months.
Dennis

Later.. been cleaning and working this camera for nearly an hour and can not get it to do anything wrong. Just playing tricks on me I guess.

 

[John Austin]

Well, as I am preparing 32 x 40 inch prints for my next exhibition, I am not currently using any of my Rolleis - However, for years I used to pretend I did my forest landscape work only with a Linkof kit - In fact I would often drive as far as I could, look at the the land I had to walk over and think "Ph** it" and just take a Wide Angle Rollie - Similar things happened with my earlier naked portraits which were mainly made using my Tele Rollie in preference to my Sinars

Now I am being asked to produce silver jelly prints to 32 x 40 inches by some clients I am starting to regret that lazyness, however it is the film that is showing the stress, not the Rolleis

When the current work is finished it will be two or three Rolleis that go by air with me

John

 

[Jeff L]

I just ordered a Maxwell screen (Brilliant Matte) for my 3.5F. Looking forward to it being much brighter and easier to focus. It was an interesting discussion with Bill Maxwell and he passed on lots of interesting info.
Fingers crossed.

Jeff

 

[Ulrich Drolshagen]

I subscribed to the group a while back, but frankly, I forgot about it. The new posts just do not show up in the "New Posts" overview. Anyway. Interesting topic here. I'd like to contribute to the thread but it's related to holidays a while back.
For some years now, once a year, usually in October, I spend some days on Juist. This is one of the East Frisian Islands in Germany. I am especially obsessed of the western end of the island, a large sand reef, the Bill Riff. It is about 1 square nm large. Some parts are dangerous to walk at, as there are quicksands, besides that you will have to keep the tide in mind. Otherwise it's quite save to be there but not permitted most of the year. There is literally nothing there. Only sand, sky and water and all shades of gray you can think of. Very occasionally you can find things which got washed up like dead birds or fishes, twigs, logs, bottles and the like. As everywhere else in Germany, you must get up early to avoid other people though. The appearance of the reef is constantly changing with weather, the state of tide and the moon phase. So it never gets boring to come there. Usually I take two cameras with me, my SL66 or the LF-Camera and a 3.5F. Last October the weather forecast expected heavy rain for my time on the island. So I decided to take only the TLR with me. The weather turned out not to be that bad at last, but man what a relief for my back that was. I did not miss my SL66 not in the least. I am using the standard lens most of the time anyway. Only lately I found the time to print some of the pictures. This is one of them:

Others you can find here.

Ulrich

 

[ajramirez]

I only bought my first Rollei about three (3) weeks ago, a mint condition 1954 3.5 MX-EVS with the Schneider Xenar lens. I have put ten (10) rolls of film through it and couldn't be happier with my purchase. The purchase also gave me the final push to start developing my own B&W film. I am still experimenting, and not as consistent as I would want, but hope to get there in the near future.

These are my very latest shots, from a stroll around the William Miranda Marín Botanical and Cultural Gardens in Caguas, Puerto Rico, conveniently located right next to my home. Shot yesterday morning, on Fuji Neopan Acros 100, developed in D76 1:1, scanned with an Epson V500:


Túnel by ramirezaponte, on Flickr


Estructura by ramirezaponte, on Flickr


Estructura by ramirezaponte, on Flickr


Peligro - Area Restringida by ramirezaponte, on Flickr


Sri Chinmoy by ramirezaponte, on Flickr

Cheers,

Antonio