First Two Rolls with a Rolleiflex 3.5F

Hello all! I'm sure you saw my first post about needing a strap for my Rollei. Well I'm still looking after getting a case of GAS on a well priced Elmar 3.5...ahem, anyways! I had my two rolls sent out to Process One out in Kansas. Decent prices all around and my film and scans came back a day early. After this though, I'll be using up the last roll or two of my now-expired TriX 400 to practice developing on my own.

 

For now, I was ecstatic to be using my Rollei 3.5F. Planar lens, serviced by Fleenor in recent times and it was a joy to use. Everything about this camera is silky smooth, from the film advance to focusing, to the little 'click' I hear every time I hit the shutter button. I also have a pre-war Automat with the Xenotar lens. I have ran a few rolls through her and love the images but I can know tell how badly she needs a service soon. All in good time.

 

A little premise on the following images; all of these were hand held. Some (especially those of the old racecars) were shot all the way down to about 1/8th of a second. Focusing I found was a little more difficult than with my Automat. My Automat really 'snaps' into focus, whereas the 3.5F I found myself trying to use the magnifier more. Perhaps it's aftermarket ground glass? I relied on the still operating light meter for indoor shots (which have appeared to work well), and outdoor I relied on the sunny 16. According to Process One, they use Kodak X-Tol as developer. I tried to vary my shots to observe bokeh, textures, bright sunlight and misty mornings, ect. It's obvious I've got some more acquainting to do with my Rollei, and my composure isn't the best. I have not post edited these scans, this is how they were given to me.

 

First picture, indoors of part of my collection. This was early in the morning, and most likely needed more light and a smaller aperture.

 

One of my kitties watching me closely. The edges of my house came in quite nicely.

 

My 1972 Dodge Dart awaiting it's small block swap, I like how crisp the lines came out, I tend to like my automotive photography with definitive lines. I also like how you can still see some details in the beams above.

 

 

 

Boyfriend's '13 Challenger on a misty morning. Even with the wider aperture you can see the rays of sunlight peeking through in the background. you can see hints of the 5 aperture blades in the bokeh, but overall looks very smooth.

 

This image looked better in the glass than on film I guess lol. A bit everywhere. Still, I like how the spider web came out.

 

One of those images I didn't quite catch the focus on my intended target (note the tarp being sharper than my Dart).

 

 

My 06 Dodge Charger's spoiler, wide open at 3.5. You can tell how shallow that DOF really is. The part of the images just shy of the focus spot is rather smoothly out of focus, whereas the background and towards the bottom right especially shows a more, "chaotic" type "movement" to the bokeh.

 

 

And this was the exact opposite, stopped down to f/16 due to being early morning with the sun still rising above the trees. I believe my focus point was on the pole with the '2400' on it, next time I'll try for a more central location to focus.

 

 

My boyfriend's '73 Plymouth Duster. I enjoy the texture it captured in the car port tarps and really everywhere else. Even the small grains of the kitty littler from a small trans leak are visible. ;)

 

Next post will be the next roll, my 'Flexes outing to the remains of a car show and more attempts at photography.

Hooray, you made it to the next few pictures! These were taken either indoors or on a very overcast day.

 

Griot's Garage: their flagship store of very nice car detailing products. They also host a monthly cars and coffee event. The lines of the building came out nice and crisp, only losing some detail towards the right third of the photo. I believe most of the outdoor photos were at f/11.

 

Somebody's very nicely done "racer" 1963 Ford Falcon of a similar era to the Rollei (1960). A really great feel with this camera and old cars.

 

 

This came out pretty muddled with no definition of the car ending and the floor beginning, I could probably fix it in post,

 

 

I may have wanted a large depth of field on this image but was restricted to the available lighting I had. Notice the fine cracks in the paint, I don't believe I even noticed that when I looked at the car!

 

 

All these beauties behind a rope. I like how the depth of field is noted by one car after the next.

 

 

This is my favorite in terms of composition. This image was hand held at around 1/10 of a second I may have gotten sharper results with a tripod but I'm impressed that it didn't become a blurry mess.

 

 

Another fail at focusing. I was attempting to focus on the car in the center of the image; instead, I got really nice details and sharpness of the window and the lights!

 

 

My boyfriend on the right and his friend to the left. Apprehensive on a picture but I got an agreement, even smiles! "Make sure to get my Cadillac in the image!" Again, it seems as though I have the Caddy in better focus than their faces. More practice...

 

A classic Tri-Five Chevy.

 

A classic duo, the Falcon and the Bel Air. I would've framed it better but I was constantly dodging the cars trying to leave the parking lot lol.

 

 

And there you have it. Thank you for taking the time to look at my images. I'll have to measure out some cans to make sure my focusing is still accurate, but I believe it was my difficulty finding the sweet spot in focusing on this 3.5F. I'll get it eventually! Overall I'm loving my Rolleiflex and I'm hoping to get the hang of it soon. Let me know if you have a preference of film and/or developer, either overall or specifically for the Rollei/Planar. I'm looking at getting fresh film soon and would like to try something else other than Tri-X. Thank you!

Great work, Katie. Love cars. My first car was a used 1969 Mustang that I drove my first two years of college. My wife and I watch a lot of car restoration shows and never miss the Barrett Jackson auctions. The Duster reminds me of the "mean Mary Jean" commercials of the day. The Duster was so light that even the base 318 two barrel wasn't a bad performer.

Keep up the good work.

Well done! Hope to see more from you in the future.

Very cool, Katie! Keep at it!

Great work, Katie. Love cars. My first car was a used 1969 Mustang that I drove my first two years of college. My wife and I watch a lot of car restoration shows and never miss the Barrett Jackson auctions. The Duster reminds me of the "mean Mary Jean" commercials of the day. The Duster was so light that even the base 318 two barrel wasn't a bad performer.

Keep up the good work.

 

Thank you! I love the look of '69 Mustangs. Both my boyfriend and I are equal lover of cars as well. His Duster has a mean warmed over 360 small block that loves to keep revving. I prefer cruisers over screamers. :)

 

Thank you everyone! I look forward to experimenting with different film (perhaps some color?) and different subjects, even if automotive is my favorite subject. This will certainly be a staple in my bag when the car show season comes back in spring!

Really nice shots, Katie - keep up the good work & keep sharing the results here.

That Dart looks lovely, Learned to drive on a '72 Dart with a 225 cu in slant 6.

The Dart was a versatile platform in its day- the thrifty driver could go with slant six and the performance oriented could choose from several V8 options. The Dart's corporate cousin, the Plymouth Valiant didn't look so sporty as the Dart, making it a bit of a secret weapon if one hopped up its performance. We had a saying around my area for many years- In front of every slow moving line of traffic is a little old lady driving an olive green Valiant.

Thank you all, you'll be sure to see more of me around here. I have plenty of user cameras that I'd like to share on here as I try them all out: hence my need to learn film developing at home. Maybe by the springtime you'll see more of my Dart out of the "shop" haha. It originally had the slant six, and it was my first car and daily driver for a number of years until it got too tired. Now it's getting a mild 360 so I can keep up with modern traffic.

Nice shots, good start. Vrooom.

Well done. Love the photos of the cars

Hello fellow motorhead type person and thanks for posting your photos.

Very nice, Katie. Makes me actually want to shoot MF again (never thought I'd say this).

Very decent shadow/highlight control. I like the tones in some of the pics too. A bit grainy for 6x6 but that is not always a bad thing.

Great Stuff Katie.. I see how you're working on the focus... and it's tough in low light and slow lenses. While Tri-X or the newer T-Max 400 are probably fine films..you can experiment of course. I would recommend though working with one film and developer combination....until you find it's not giving you something you need. I jokingly tell people if you can bake brownies, you can develop film...it's not Rocket Science.. but like baking, you need to perfect your pan, temperature, ingredients.. etc .. There's plenty there to tweak...lifters, manifolds plugs etc You get the idea. Stick with the Tri-X and use D76. When focussing, it's hard to avoid the obvious highlights as the focal point. You mentioned the older Standard was easier to focus ... I have a late model Rolleiflex T of similar vintage to your 3.5 Planar, with the modern "plastic" modular screen. I have debated replacing it. A contributor..Rick Oleson makes a replacement screen ..reasonably priced. I haven't .. taken the plunge but something for a future GAS situation. A brighter screen maikes a big difference.

 

Custom Fitted Focusing Screens

Wonderful shots, wonderful subject matter, wonderful piece of equipment. My Rolleiflex 3.5F is one of my favorite and well used cameras. And I agree that even for us old folks, being able to go to 1/15 (perhaps not down to 1/8s) is quite an incredible tour de force for us. Thanks for these wonderful expositions.