Rolleiflex — Will I Need a Close-Up Lens for Portraits?

[stephen_mcateer]

I have a Rollei 3.5F coming in the mail in the next few days.

I'd like to use it for head and shoulder-style portraits.

Will I need a Rolleinar close-up lens? (I believe the nearest focus of Rolleis is about 3 feet.)

Thanks for any info.

[Niels - NHSN]

No. Should a little cropping be necessary, the  large format will forgive you. 
Anyway, getting closer than 3 feet too a person’s face can be rather intimidating unless you know them well. 

[stephen_mcateer]

Just now, Niels - NHSN said:

No. Should a little cropping be necessary, the  large format will forgive you. 
Anyway, getting closer than 3 feet too a person’s face can be rather intimidating unless you know them well. 

Thanks Niels. I'm thinking of doing some pictures of my mother — she doesn't mind being photographed. 

[AJG]

+1 on Niels' advice--facial features tend to look distorted when you get very close.  Most commercial portrait studios rarely get closer than 5 feet from a subject for this reason. If you do need to get closer, the Rolleinars are excellent optically in my experience.

[stephen_mcateer]

22 minutes ago, AJG said:

+1 on Niels' advice--facial features tend to look distorted when you get very close.  Most commercial portrait studios rarely get closer than 5 feet from a subject for this reason. If you do need to get closer, the Rolleinars are excellent optically in my experience.

Okay thanks for that @AJG. I was looking at Richard Avedon's portraits of his father and thinking he must have used a Rolleinar of some sort. Those pictures are nice but then he was the master portrait photographer.

[arthur_gottschalk]

And master of the Rolleiflex. 

[SCL]

I'd suggest getting very familiar with the capabilities of your Rolleiflex before spending $ on things like the Rolleinar, which at best, really demands firm working experience to get good results consistently. Been there!

[maris_rusis]

To get good head and shoulders portraits out of the Rolleiflex system without being too close to the subject and thereby avoiding big noses and small ears:
The best way ($$$) is to use a Tele-Rollei with its 135mm lenses.
Second best ($$$) is to attach the Mutar 1.5X equipment.
Third best ($$$) is to install the Rolleikin 35mm equipment. The standard Rolleiflex lens becomes a portrait focal length on the 35mm format.
Fourth best and cheapest is photograph from 1.5 metres away and just crop. The negative will be more than good enough.

Those portraits of Jacob Israel Avedon were controversial at the time for their harshness and sadness and do include some distortion because of the close camera position.

[stephen_mcateer]

22 hours ago, SCL said:

I'd suggest getting very familiar with the capabilities of your Rolleiflex before spending $ on things like the Rolleinar, which at best, really demands firm working experience to get good results consistently. Been there!

Yes. I tend to splurge on equipment at times.

Edited July 21, 2023 by stephen_mcateer

[stephen_mcateer]

18 hours ago, maris_rusis said:

To get good head and shoulders portraits out of the Rolleiflex system without being too close to the subject and thereby avoiding big noses and small ears:
The best way ($$$) is to use a Tele-Rollei with its 135mm lenses.
Second best ($$$) is to attach the Mutar 1.5X equipment.
Third best ($$$) is to install the Rolleikin 35mm equipment. The standard Rolleiflex lens becomes a portrait focal length on the 35mm format.
Fourth best and cheapest is photograph from 1.5 metres away and just crop. The negative will be more than good enough.

Those portraits of Jacob Israel Avedon were controversial at the time for their harshness and sadness and do include some distortion because of the close camera position.

@maris_rusis Thanks for the tips. The Rollei I received in the post today turns out to be (Probably) uneconomical to repair. So I may have to find a good one before I can start looking for attachments.

The portraits of his father: he discusses them in a documentary that I skimmed through on YouTube last night. They're powerful images but I think he was conflicted about them — he even talked to his analyst about the rights and wrongs of making them.

[jc1305us]

You’ll be fine with the standard lens on a Rollei. 

[stephen_mcateer]

@jc1305us Nice work there.