Rolleiflex 75 mm 3.5 vs iskra

Hello.

Has someone made a comparison between pictures taken with these two cameras ? I'd like to know if Iskra

can compare with the xenotar lens and how.

Perhaps nobody here own both, the first has so much "fame" but ....

I own both. The Iskra is pretty good, but I think the Rolleiflex Xenotar has a nicer character. I

think a lot of it would depend on how clean the particular examples are. The Rollei seems

sharper wide open, but stopped down a bit they are both sharp.

Lenses are like guns, they all do the same thing but one is more liked than another.

I had a Moskva 5 which is said to be similar in build quality to the Iskra (feel free to correct me if I am wrong) and I felt that the image quality was OK, but not great.....it is pretty hard for any folder to be as good as a Rollei. I think the question is do you want the compactness of a folder over the image and build quality of the Rollei. I ended up selling the Moskva because I couldn't stand the build quality and the squinty little finder/rangefinder, not because of the image quality. I'd say buy both if you can, try them out and sell the one you don't want. Ebay is great that way.

I can't actually see that lenses are like guns, although I suppose you could always stake your victim out on the ground, mount the lens in a solar transit and burn a hole in them. Seems like a lot of effort, though.

The Iskra has a four element tessar-type lens. It could be good, but I don't think it can beat a Tessar or Xenar on a Rolleiflex, and certainly not a Xenotar or Planar.

I have an old Seagull and multiple Iskras.

 

Even a seagull 4 element lens is much better than a Iskra 4 element lens due to the sturdiness of the entire box that holds everything together.

 

The quality of the Iskra is very good ... for a folder.

However, being a folder, there are always issues with lens being parallel to the film plane, the rangefinder accuracy, the sturdiness of the struts etc, as all these are affected by the movement inherent in a folder (opening and closing). Even after all the adjustments, parallelizing, checking infinity etc on my Iskras.. the seagull still produces sharper images on a tripod as compared to an Iskra on the same tripod.

 

I'll say that they are meant for 2 different purposes - cheap, good image quality, lightweight, pick any two. (Iskra-cheap,lightweight. Rolleiflex-good image quality,not so lightweight or cheap)