As all Optima cameras it has a programmed exposure automation, and by that is hardly comparable to the Rollei 35.A camera like the Agfa Optima 1535 is nearly as small, but has a coupled RF and much more sensitive light meter, reading down to several seconds.
As all Optima cameras it has a programmed exposure automation, and by that is hardly comparable to the Rollei 35.
Between a Rollei and a Minox 35, the Minox is the winner. Smaller, lighter, lens is just as good. I would put the Rollei way down on the list of small cameras to have. Too fiddly to use.
The electronics are pretty reliable in these cameras. The two issues which crop up are first the row of contacts which connect the shutter and cds cell to the body when the lens is extended, and second there are two tiny electromagnets, each controlls one blade of the two-blade shutter; you could call them "opening" and "closing" electromagnets. These magnets (connected to the timing circuit), each controlling a tiny lever, time the shutter and it is when the levers stick that the shutter fails. I've yet to find a Minox 35 that couldn't be resurrected by cleaning the contacts and/or freeing the levers. Sometimes the armatures stick to the magnet cores, too.Some have already made my intended responses, but I would still like to add my responses. I bought my Rollei 35 the first day they were for sale at Minicam in NYC. (Was it 1966? All I remember was the excitement among the customers. )
The wrist strap is an integral part of the camera, as is the zippered case with hole for wrist strap. Despite rugged construction I put so many dents on corners that they had to be hammered out. Meter is accurate and works well after all these years. While not a Luna pro or Ranger 9 a large share of my pictures are taken in not so bright light. The shear mass of the camera allows use of slow shutter speeds (I have shot printed matter at 1/4 sec with no visible camera shake at large enlargements).
By the way, I have a small drawer with a half dozen Minox 35 cameras that are electronically dead.
I've done a little bit of servicing of the Rollei 35SE, Minox 35EL and Olympus XA, and for what it's worth, I thought:
Rollei looks very nicely made. Mine already had a brass gear installed in the film wind mechanism. Want to be careful not to lose the lens trim ring which is only lightly cemented into place, and said cement deteriorates over time.
Minox was one of my first repair attempts, but even so I was able to fix an electronic shutter which wasn't opening correctly. Never had further issues. At first I was annoyed by the apparent lack of any manual exposure control until I realized that the ISO dial can be effectively used as such.
Olympus XA is a thing of wonder: First of all, rather than design a complex mechanism to retract and extend the lens, they reworked the optics such that the rear lens element is enormous and sits much closer than normal to the film. At least superficially, it appears similar to what Fujifilm does with their X100-series cameras, and Sony with the RX1. It also seems to be the easiest to service of the bunch. Does it make the others appear quaint by comparison? Oh, just a little...
mine spend more time at Rollei for repairs than in my hands until I finally just pitched it; nothing but a headache.While I'm always doing my best to fend of GAS there are a few cameras out there that I doubt I could resist I I found at a yard sale. The brownie hawkeye and the rollei 35. Not exactly sure what it is about these two other than I just love the looks of them. It's not a logical decision.
I've been very tempted to buy a rollei 35 lately. Probably the 35s but I'm not married to that. I was wondering what people thought of the camera? Whatdid you find were it's strengths and weaknesses? Do you enjoy shooting with it, or is it lacking? I understand the issues of it being zone focus, uses an obsolete mercury battery, and still cost top dollar. How do people find the left handed/upside down flash/backwards loading/top down settings adjustment idiosyncrasies? Quirky and fun or a major annoyance? Would you buy the brownie hawkeye instead? I'm interested in others points of view here. Don't hold back! Thanks for your opinions.
If I remember correctly, they go for around €100 to €250 in brick-n-mortar stores carrying 2nd hand items here.Just looked again at completed items and amazed at the variance in prices, anything from £35 to £290 for effectively the same camera.
Well, even the uploads look pretty good to me.For those photos I loaded of the Las Vegas Skyline and the chicken heads in Mexico... in reality they are remarkably sharp. Much sharper than in the APUG upload.
I like mine (Xenar f/3.5).
Did the OP dive in?
I like mine (Xenar f/3.5). it flares like crazy is my only complaint. Easy to use and to carry, I haven’t dropped mine yet. It’s perfect for pinging off candid frames with friends/family. I don’t hesitate to bring it and to exercise the shutter without restraint.
My focus scale on top is feet, meters underneath. I’d love to swop this around as I’m great at guessing in metric but it seems impossible to find information on this possibility or why some are feet some are meters on top and how i could get one ‘in metric.’
Did the OP dive in?
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