Revisiting the Rollei 35
Back in the late 70's I owned a Rollei 35S. It was a remarkable camera at the time due to it's compact size, build quality and an extremely sharp lens. I really enjoyed using this camera, but as things would turn out I would encounter one major obstacle. That bump in the road would be my reluctancy to shoot any 35mm color or black and white film with an ASA higher than 64. The Rollei 35 is a camera with an adjustable focusing lens that has no focusing aid other than the distance markings on the front of the lens barrel. Focusing this camera properly would rely on ones ability to guess the distance from the camera to the subject, or your comprehension of hyper focal distance or zone focusing. My selection of film speed choices would make this not the easiest camera to get consistent sharp focus on anything less than a bright sunny day. When shooting my two favorite films, Panatomic-X and Kodachrome 64 under optimum lighting conditions the camera performed extremely well - on a cloudy or overcast day, not so much. Still needing an adequate shutter speed to hand hold the camera, I would have to rely on wider lens openings in low light conditions - therefore creating a shallow depth of field making it increasingly difficult to obtain a useable focusing range when shooting those slower speed films. Since I was all about using only the sharpest, finest grain 35mm films that I could find at the time, and that I would have nothing to do with the higher speed films - I decided to part ways with one of the coolest looking and uniquely designed pieces of photographic gear )-:
Recently acquired Rollei 35 and 35S Models
Well they're back - Now in 2022 I am embracing the grain and shooting black and white film almost exclusively. No longer concerned about shooting only fine grain film I recently reacquired a Rollei 35 and 35S. I am now shooting film with speeds ranging from ISO 100 - 400 and occasionally pushing 400 to 800. I now have a completely different outlook and approach to the Rollei 35, and like the Pentax K1000, it has hit the refresh button on my photography. No longer dependent on bright lighting conditions, using higher speed film stocks with these cameras allows me the luxury of a wider zone of focus due to potentially greater depth of field. This allows for a higher rate of hand held photos in sharp focus under varying light conditions when I'm not able to guess the exact distance. Don't get me wrong, this is nothing new. It was true back when I started. I have just changed how I approached things. That's the beauty of photography. You can still teach an old dog old tricks (-:
Earlier German made Rollei 35 with a retractable 40mm Zeiss Tessar f/3.5
Made in Singapore Rollei 35S with a retractable 40mm Sonnar f/2.8
The earlier Rollei 35's were made in Germany in the 60's and then production was moved to Singapore in the 70's where the extremely popular 35S version with f/2.8 Sonnar lens was introduced, both the 35 and 35S are extremely well built, handle the same and take extremely sharp photos. There are other versions of this camera some having lesser features or different lenses and different style light meters. I chose these two, favoring the original design with one having a Zeiss Tessar lens and the other a Sonnar.
Rollie 35S - shot on Fomapan 400 - Princeton -NJ
Rollie 35S - shot on Fomapan 400 - Princeton -NJ
Rollie 35S - shot on Fomapan 400 - Princeton -NJ
Rollie 35 - shot on Rollei PX400 - Lambertville -NJ
Rollie 35 - shot on Rollei PX400 - Lambertville -NJ
Rollie 35 - shot on Rollei PX400 - Lambertville -NJ
Rollie 35S - shot on Fomapan 400 - Princeton -NJ
The photos in the following gallery were taken at various locations in NJ with either the 35 or 35S models and shot using Fomapan 400 and Rollei RPX400 black and white film rated at ISO 200 instead of 400 and pull developed in either Rollei Super Grain or Clayton F76plus film developer. All photos were done using zone focus and choosing an aperture range anywhere from f/16 to f/8 depending on the lighting. To view more photos taken with these two cameras click the link below and once again thanks for viewing (-:
View more photos taken with the Rollei 35 and 35S