Rollei 6008AF unresolved issues

[mjsharples]

After reading through much of the Rollei forums it seems there exists

a faction of 6008AF users who are not satisied with 1.) the auto focus

feature of their systems (images are soft,speed, and other issues)

2.)battery longevity, and 3.) overall quality of the system.

I am leaning very heavily toward purchasing a new 6008af and would

like to know if any experienced users have regrets and if the 6008af

is reputable as 1.)a quality rollei product requiring little to zero

time in the repair shop, and 2.)a delight to use.

Thanks for your honest input!

[geoffrey goldberg]

From a Rollei owner, but not an AF one:

 

One of the issues with the AF is that its the same basic battery (improved a bit I think) but

its now doing so much more. The more basic 6003/8 did well and had great life from their

batteries and life was rarely an issue. I'd travel to Europe with a spare battery for a week

and never run out. With the more elaborate AF makes the situation a bit more of an issue.

 

I looked at an 6008 AF, and while its nice, I prefer the slower more deliberate manual

focus. Something about the precision and the thoughtfulness seems more appropriate.

The AF seemed (at first glance) to be something which was ironically better for the

marketplace, but not as good for the camera user. A bit strange to say, but somehow I

think these cameras all have a sweet spot in their use, and when they drift too far....

 

I didn't find it exemplary in its accuracy, but I think that would improve with experience.

The confirmation with MF lenses would be a pretty good help too. One issue is that of

composing with focus off center. Make sure you are happy with that.

 

The Rollei quality is amazing, IMHO. There are those not used to it, and not too sure how

to use it - but the quality is there.

 

In the end I preferred to leave the Rollei system where it was, and not go AF.

 

Geoff

[tak_l._poon1]

it is a delight to use. images are super sharp, speed of autofocus is fast. battery does not last as long as 6008i, but if you have a spare one, it is still OK. overall quality is excellent. I trust Schneider optics.

 

but service in my home town is very limited. the camera has to be shipped to Germany for service. the process takes at least 3 months and usually much more.

 

I have a lens that has been in service for already 6 months and i still have not got it back.

 

i have to back up myself by duplicating some essential items. (i have a 6008i body and old lenses still in use.)

 

i have had a number of unheardof problems: (!)

 

1. the 80af standard lens cannot focus to infinity. the whole chain of optical elements were installed just about 1 mm too far away. it is still in the repair shop.

 

2. the mirror motor capacitor once blew, and the camera can only focus and close the aperture but not taking pictures. it stays in Germany for one month and now is as good as new. the engineer could not figure out why this happened.

 

3. another lens would open the shutter once the mirror is locked up, and it remains open until the shutter button is pressed again. therefore the exposure time becomes as long as the mirror lock-up time. which could be one hour. this lens has been now in Germany for already 2 months.

 

but as far as handling and picture quality are concerned, it is unbeatable. and just for these reasons I am not going to switch my system.

[bob_the_builder1]

Image quality is excellent as is camera build. If you don't want to drain batteries with AF you

can just turn the AF off and focus manually.

[carl_glover]

I use it in a variety of conditions (deserts, out at sea, rock concerts and sub-zero

conditions) and it behaves in an exemplary manner. I DO carry three batteries and a spare

body around.

 

I'm not interested in any form of autofocus, they just don't work how I want them to. The

same applies to the AF on my 1DS MkII and my Nikons. Once you get the hang of manual

focussing it isn't a problem at all.

 

I bought the 6008AF because of the preflash facility which saves a lot of film and time, the

best thing is that it (so far) has worked with every single flash I've thrown at it.

 

I can't wait to get a decent digital back on it one these days!

 

As a camera that I use it's my favourite, it never lets me down, just make sure that you

have a spare battery or two...

[jim_mcbride]

I love Rollei cameras and have always loved them since I bought my first 2.8F (Xenotar). At

present my favorite Rolleiflex is a 6XXX SLR. By far the biggest weakness of the electronic

Rollei SLRs is the batteries. If Rollei could have come up with a satisfactory solution to the

battery problem, the 6XXX SLRs would have been a grand slam home run. As it is, I find

myself selecting the TLRs for use much more often than my SLRs because of the atrocious

batteries that must be used with the 6XXX SLRs. Too bad that Rollei is not able to solve the

power problems associated with their cameras.

[bob_the_builder1]

Jim, you use a lot of hyperbole but no real facts on the "battery issue". What exactly is the

problem you are having. I have never had a problem with the batteries in my 6000 series

Rolleis. You charge them up, plug them in and go shoot some film... they last for ages and

when necessary you can recharge or fit a spare if you have one. About as simple and straight

forward as batteries get.

[douglas_green1]

Some of the problems Jim is referring to are memory effect which can easily kill a battery, poor power to weight ratio because the technology is old, and the fact that the batteries are proprietary, extremely expensive, and very hard to find.

 

I bit the bullet and spent something like $275 on an adapter from Rollei's service department that allows an external clip with 10 standard AA cells to be used instead. I wouldn't trust my Rolleis on a remote shoot without this adapter - or several spare batteries. It's a shame, because, other than the battery technology, the optics and overall design of the 600x family is superb. The battery is the achilles heel.

[jim_mcbride]

Doug, thank you for answering Bob's question. You are much more articulate than I am,

and you nailed the response. I only just recently found out about the AA battery pack for

the Rollei 6XXX series of cameras but have not been able find one for sale anywhere, with

one exception. Adorama in NYC seems to have them in stock, but I was quoted almost

$400 without the 10 batteries which are required. I think that's too much money so I tried

to contact Rollei - USA to see if they would sell me a unit directly. I've been trying to

contact them by e-mail for two weeks. So far, no response. Do you have any idea where I

might purchase one of these Rollei AA battery packs for a little less than $400? TIA for

your help.

 

Jim McBride

[douglas_green1]

Jim, I'm not sure what to tell you. I got mine from directly Rollei-USA's service department who said that they were offerring me a deal, on that Power interface and AA clip, along with a 6001 body, because I had fried the main board of a 6002 and they couldn't repair it. At one time, I had seen them for sale at Hadley Chamberlain (a southern cal Rollei Specialist) but they don't list them on their website (www.hecphoto.com)

[geoffrey goldberg]

Simple answer on the battery front: many of the batteries we get in the US are older ones,

and have sat on the shelf for a while. I remember (now 10 + years ago) when I got my

6003 that the batteries never ran out - I could shoot 30+ rolls of film and not have to

change.

 

Now, that's not the case. The film nor the camera haven't changed - its age of the

batteries. I've replaced it and cycled a few newer ones through, but the biggest

breakthrough was getting rid of the Rollei charger and changing to this charger, which

came off some Rollei board a few years ago:

 

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/mh-c777plus.htm

 

Its a miracle: this charger (once you set it up, and that's not too hard) gets and cycles the

Rollei batteries back to where they once were. Bliss has returned.

[bob_the_builder1]

Doug,

 

"Some of the problems Jim is referring to are memory effect which can easily kill a battery,

poor power to weight ratio because the technology is old, and the fact that the batteries

are proprietary, extremely expensive, and very hard to find."

 

The memory effect can happen to any battery. I have never had a problem with it. There

are after market replacement battery cells if you don't want to go the proprietary route.

Much cheaper. Hardly amounts to the impression Jim was giving of "problematic batteries".

I suspect that the folks who don't like the Rollei batteries don't like batteries full stop. Poor

power to weight ratio? Have you weighted the camera?

[bob_the_builder1]

Geoff, yes choice of charger can make a difference. A good charger will drain the battery first

so that memory effects are negligible.

[markusglueck]

I bought a 6008AF used last year an up to now had no problem. I have all MF Schneider lenses (40mm,80mm,180mm) and the AF-Mode is used only for focus confirmation. I used it even with the marco bellows with excellent results.

The batteries are no issue yet (I'm carrying one spare, but never needed it). I read in a German photomag there is a new charger available at the beginning of 2006 the will be a new charger available, that is microprocessor controlled (delta v) and has a discharge function.

 

Concerning build qualitiy: It's as good as it get's. Very sturdy and accurate. My tripod (Manfrotto MA55) droped it last week from about 1,2m on frozen gras and snow. The legclamps weren't thight enough for -10�C. It fell straight on the back. I cleaned the snow with a cleanex

and found the camera in best working order. Lucky me?

 

What I like best about the camera are the various special functions, programable with two buttons. Especially the preflash is very, very useful (e.g. no calculation of bellows factors for macro work, just measure, adjust and shoot!)

 

Best regards,

Markus

[wim_van_velzen]

I have to say I never had a problem with my 6008i nor with the batteries. When it is really cold (sub zero Celsius) they tend to get low quite quick, but after a bit of warming in my shirt, they can handle some more films again.

<p>

Unless I am the lucky exception (which I don't believe), I cannot see why this should be Rollei's achilles heel.

<p>

<A href="http://www.fotografiewimvanvelzen.nl">Wim</a>

[mjsharples]

To everyone who responded, Thank you very much for your honest input. I placed an order with Mike at ctrades last night and should receive my 6008AF on Friday.

What really impresses me most about Rollei users is it seems most of you out there are obsessive about capturing near perfect to perfect pictures and therefore you chose the Rollei system; albeit most would prefer it sans battery pack! As a person who prefers function to fashion, I appreciate you all sharing your experiences with your Rollei's.

Merry Christmas!

[OCULUS New York]

You don't mention where you are Micheal, but if in northern climate, a good investment is pocket battery pack with extension cord. You keep the standard battery pack in your pocket and a (~4 ft?) cord runs up and plugs into your camera.

 

You can find them on ePrey, as they have been around since SLX days.

 

Have fun, and regards to Mike; he's a great seller (sold me mine).

 

Ray Hull

[douglas_green1]

Bob the Builder, perhaps you would care to enlighten the rest of us as to the source of non-proprietary batteries that you claim exist for the Rollei 600x series which we might buy? We are all looking for these. The problem is, that if such things exist, they are certainly NOT widely available, as Jim's search reflects.

 

As for memory effects, they only happen with NiCADs, which are old technology. They do not happen with NiMH or Lithium Ion batteries, which are more modern technologies. And my power to weight ratio comment referred specifically to the battery, not the camera. NiCads offer much lower power to weight than NiMH and Lithium Ion batteries.

[bob_the_builder1]

Doug, open up a battery and inside you will see lots of smaller AA sized rechargeable

batteries soldered together... you can buy these at any reputable battery store.

[bob_the_builder1]

Doug, correction: I meant batteries half the height of standard AA batteries... You will often

see folks snap up dead 600 series batteries - it is because the are usually going to

recondition them themselves...

[douglas_green1]

Bob, I was not looking for how to engineer replacement batteries from components. I would rather buy them, already made - from a wide range of suppliers - like one can with EVERY other camera system that uses batteries. It was during a failed attempt at cobbling together a replacement battery from bare cells that I fried the main board of my 6002. The fact is, for other MF cameras, one does not need to go through this crap. That is one reason that the battery system is the achilles heel of the 600x series.

[bob_the_builder1]

Doug, they sell them in sealed packs that you just insert into the case and connect to the

cables. Have a look around.

[douglas_green1]

Bob, Have a look WHERE? I know where to get the battery cells, individually. I don't know where to get them, properly soldered together in the correct configuration. I was referring to the fact that there are no non-proprietary solutions that don't require the user to use a soldering iron, and BTW, how does one know that the capacitors of a failed battery are working properly, without some type of knowledge and instrumentation? This particular issue was the cause of my 6002 being fried.

 

You missed my point entirely. I'm a photographer, not an electrician. When my camera's battery fails, I'd like and reasonably expect, to be able to easily purchase a new battery on short notice. Not one that I need to solder together from components bought in an electrical supply shop, with no guarantees that the resultant cobbling job is actually functional.

[jim_mcbride]

Bob: some of us are experiencing difficulty in standing up to the winds of condescension blowing from your direction. Try to understand: we all love our Rollei SLRs or we wouldn't have spent the big $$$$$ we spent. We just do not particularly care for the batteries. We're not condemning the whole system, we just don't like the power solution Rollei offers at present. We hope and expect that a technically savvy company like Rollei can do better. Let's leave it at that.

[bob_the_builder1]

Doug and Jim, no condesention, just the truth. If you want batteries quickly get them from a

Rollei dealer, if you are not in a hurry and dont mind a bit of DIY buy them from a battery

dealer.