Rollei 35 S

This camera was gifted to me a few weeks ago. It's in mostly working condition but it has the apparently a common problem that its lower shutter speeds are effectively bulb because of a failure in the shutter mechanism. I don't know if the meter works, I just used the Pocket Light Meter app on my iPhone. It's a zone focusing camera and is definitely the smallest 35mm camera I've used. Not a fan of it; I'd rather use my conventional rangefinders (Canon QL-17, Yashica 35 SE) but they are definitely bigger cameras.

 

 

Delta 100 at f/11, processed in Perceptol 1+2 for 11 min at 68F.

Nice camera and results, Tony. Two features I like with the Rollei 35 series cameras are the depth-of-field scale (more useful to me than a RF camera without one, like the Olympus XA) and that they take standard threaded filters and hoods, which can remain on the lens when it it retracted. The Minox 35's also have a fine lens with a DOF scale, but use fiddly push-on filter-hoods, which have to come off every time you fold up the camera. I also prefer the Rollei's 40mm focal length. Edited February 14, 2022 by m42dave

If you don't really connect with it, sell it. There seems to be a pretty good demand for them.

Sell it. No shortage of drooling admirers who'd happily put cash in your hand. If you like the form factor, look into a used Fuji X-100S/T/F camera.

Beautiful looking camera, but an ergonomic nightmare. I had one for about 2 months and found it painful to shoot with, but many others swear by them. They command a good price second hand, because they have two famous names in one camera: Rollei and Sonnar (Zeiss) - so it has to be really good... Edited February 14, 2022 by Robin Smith

Wimps!

 

What does this camera lack to make it perfect?

 

Well,

 

rangefinder, easy loading, and automatic features would help

 

A close relative saw me through case of mechanical failure with more respected interchangeable lens cameras...

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/a-boy-and-his-rollei-35.441274/

Shutter speeds and aperture are really fiddly esp the aperture, you have to press the button (why?). I think it is an f8 and be there kind of camera. No easy way to hang it around your neck. It's really heavy for a small camera. Guessing focus is even harder with a 40mm over a 35mm. Does look handsome in black though.

Definitely a marvel of miniature engineering, but nevertheless not for the non-dedicated. I have gotten good results from mine and not something I would part with. Just my opinion.

you have to press the button (why?)

 

Actually, because it would otherwise be easy to accidentally change settings and with only a viewfinder you'd likely not catch on...

To my opinion, the Minox35 is smaller, lighter and more streamlined, so that when closed it slips better into any pocket.

And it has an electronic shutter, which works OK between 1/500 ans several seconds (like the Yashica Electro35 - my first rangefinder).

POLKa

JD: Why in that case is the shutter speed not locked too? I think the camera is like that because you are expected to keep the aperture at a "sweet spot" and adjust s/s to match.Those dials are not exactly easily moved either, with or without locks.

 

I agree about the Minox. That was a fun camera.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Robin Smith

Why in that case is the shutter speed not locked too?

How would I know?

 

No doubt you have solved the problem to your complete satisfaction, however

I bought my Rollei 35 from Minicam on 32nd St in NYC the first day offered for sale.

An essential component of this camera is the wrist strap, very helpful for carrying the

camera, but more important for steadying the camera when shooting. The strap is designed

to fit into the springlike slot on the side of the camera.

The Tessar 3.5 depth of field and overall positive characteristics mean that guesstamation

focusing works very well. The camera’s mass helps steady the camera. I have taken

pictures of text handheld at 1/4 sec that revealed no camera shake due to its weight and

leaf shutter.

I always felt that the Rollei 35 cameras with faster lenses were a marketing ploy.

The tab on aperture wheel is to prevent accidents.

Also rugged construction. Sixty some years of frequent use is not a bad service record.

For cameras (like Rollei35 or Minox35) with 35mm focal lenses, guesstimation of focus distance is easy : as the width of the picture is 36mm so also approximately the same as the focal, you simply have to estimate the width of the subject framed in your viewfinder at focus distance and set this value on the focusing ring. Or else, as the height of the picture is 24mm (landscape oriented), multipy the height of your framed subject by 1.5 and that's it !

POLKa

The Rollei 35 both benefits and suffers from the era in which it was first designed and built: benefits from the very clever, all-metal Bauhaus packaging in marvelously small form factor, suffers because the whole concept would have made so much more sense in carbon fiber plastic (i.e. the endless array of Minox 35 and its knockoffs). The camera is a beautiful and unique mechanical gem, mostly because its designer only had those materials available to work with: if he could have made the Minox 35 instead, he probably would have.  So its nice that we got this last little gift of opto-mechanical ingenuity from the wizards of Europe.

Unfortunately it isn't especially practical as a P/S pocket camera, something Rollei was careful to lampshade in its marketing. Yeah, you can set it to f/8 and 15ft  and 1/125th, and pretend its an Instamatic, but thats a bit like driving your tractor mower to the grocery store (doable but not the best approach). To get the best out of the Rollei 35 you have to operate it as if it were a tinier Leica IIc: patiently work the fiddly controls for each shot.

Back in the mid-70s when I was finishing high school and had owned an Olympus OM-1 for about a year, I got stupidly tempted by the LED & gallium meter tech of Oly's new rival the Pentax MX. Regretted that trade from the day I made it: most disappointing 35mm SLR I've ever owned. After struggling to like it for six months, I got disgusted enough to trade it in for a black Rollei 35S and a bunch of film. I still have the receipt somewhere: the 35S sold new for $119 in '77. Despite having the ergonomics of a Houdini finger trap, I bonded instantly with the little Rollei and its stellar 40mm f/.2.8 Sonnar.

Some of the sharpest snappiest Kodachromes I ever shot came from that camera: used carefully within its design envelope, its capable of amazing performance. The catch is that envelope is a bit small: the Rollei 35 excels at outdoor sunny afternoon travel and street work, but balks in many other situations. Eventually I drifted back to the Olympus OM-1, then a Nikon FM, and finally settled on my forever partner Nikon F2AS. I'd break out the Rollei for occasional travel and event use, but those occasions got fewer and fewer over time.

Several persistent issues killed it for me. First was the infuriatingly cranky Compur shutter (anything with a Compur is guaranteed to torture you: why I later opted for a Hasselblad for 6x6 I'll never quite understand). Second, It would unpredictably tear a roll apart when it reached the two-thirds done point. Third, the wind feel and shutter release action were not good for the low light work I found myself drawn to. Last but not least, the sharp metal rewind release lever (stupidly located right on the eyepiece frame) destroyed one pair of eyeglasses after another. 

So during the first eBay craze for the Rollei 35S in 2008, I sold off my minty black example with orig box and papers for close to $300. I replaced it with a nice old Voigtlander Vito B. Huge viewfinder with butter smooth eyeglass-friendly eyepiece, Color Skopar lens easily as good as the Rollei Sonnar at a fraction of the price, more ergonomic, and not much bigger when you consider the collapsible lens on the Rollei is usually open anyway.

Loved the results and mystique of the Rollei 35S, but it became too much of a chore to use. If it hadn't become so valuable to collectors, I would like to have kept mine as a display piece after retiring it. Ah, well: the proceeds went toward a lovely Mamiya C220F TLR, which became my primary medium format system (my Hasselblad kit may follow the Rollei 35S out the door if the resale values keep going up).

Edited December 30, 2023 by orsetto

After tried and failed twice to bond with a Rollei 35 over 15 years, I finally bought a dozen of different compact cameras and settled on the Minox 35 GT (plus Lomo LC-A). I have not sold the Rollei 35, and might try a third time. 

After several "on-trip" failures with NIkon equipment I bought a Rollei 35 (

) and I still love it. but its backuo role has been restaffed with an iPhone

Edited December 30, 2023 by JDMvW

Love the look, hated the camera. My favorite P& S was the Minox 35, which has similar capabilities, but smaller, lighter and simple to use, but not likely to get much joy as an object for the glass display cabinet.

I really tried to love the Rollei 35, twice. But in terms of ergonomics for everyday use, I much prefer the Minx 35 GT or even the Lomo LC-A.

I agree that Heinz Waaske might have used plastics if avaiiable, but disagree that the MInox was preferable.

I  had three MInoxes in succession where the shutter stopped working (repaired by the importers and then died again).

My  Rollei still is functional after xx years.  The Minox ease of closing  certainly was preferrable to having to cock the Rollei before collapsing the lens. Being careful not to empty the light meter battery by not keeping it exposed to light and out of its pouch was a spot of bother and  Minox autoexposure certainly beat that light meter arrangenent. Also the Minox "tessar" type lens was excellent.

However,  the fact that the Rollei works while the Minoxes are dead disqualifies them.

p.

A working but ergonomically hopeless camera being better because it still works is fainthearted praise in my opinion. You still won’t want to actually use it. The Minox was a pleasure to use, although I can well believe they do not last forever. I sold mine because I was gifted a Contax T, which was the same idea as a Minox, but with a rather useless rangefinder. That was stolen and I replaced it with a Contax T2. The fancy auto lens jammed one day and that was that, and that was way more expensive than the Minox. I guess the message is to steer clear of fancy P&S film cameras with electronic shutters. I did not bond with the Contax T2 the way I did with the Minox, even when it worked.

I have owned several models of Minox 35 cameras. My experience has been the unreliability of electronics making the cameras inoperable. In terms of build quality and reliability, the Minox 35 has nothing in common with Minox 8x11 cameras. My Rollei 35 has never failed me. The Rollei 35 is tough…mine has been knocked about and dented, but still works.

I have never found the Rollei 35 awkward in use. However, an essential part of the camera for ease in case using is the Rollei 35 wrist strap, which fits into slot at side of camera. Don’t buy a Rollei 35 without wrist strap.

 

Maybe unrelated and off-topic.. but visual copy to the Minox is the Voigtländer Vito CS IT is battery dependent, but delivers nicely with the 2.8 Skopar..and talk about small! 
I read this is not Voigtländer but actually is bult by Balda.. IF you need the Minox, but not the price...try this one!!

 

Back in the late 70's I considered the Rollei 35 and the Minox EL as a compact camera. Finally I setted on the Olympus XA. 

A long time ago I looked for a Rollei 35 at a reasonable price but couldn't find one, so got a Minox 35 EL. It worked fine, but  I was used to true rangefinders and often was off by a fraction with zone focusing, so sold it. I ended up with an Olympus Stylus for my keep in the car camera, but have rarely used it in the last 5 years.