erichiss

<p>Hi Ray,<br>

As I understand it, the lock-out of other back makers Phase One had via contract was released during the turnaround, and therefore Sinar backs and any other back maker can supply digital backs for the Hy6. The newest Hy6 Mod2 bodies can operate with Leaf AFi, AFi-ii and Credo backs as well as the older Sinar backs. Sinar can now also supply new backs in the Hy6 mount though they only produce their multi-shot backs. I've been very keen to try one of their eXact 16-shot backs on my Hy6 with the 90mm APO macro lens. </p>

<p>Colin,<br>

Thanks for sharing my link. :-)<br>

All, I'm happy to answer any questions there may be, excluding comments about the style of presentation I use. <br>

Arthur - presumably they will outsource some production of metal parts and other items - but this would not be new - they have done this for a very long time already. The optics came from Zeiss or Schneider since forever as an example and also from third party manufacturer's in Germany. Many metal parts were made elsewhere for a long time and also the circuit boards too. The bigger question will be what products will continue and what new items will be added. They did change the design of the metal shades for the bayonet 104 lenses in the 6000 and Hy6 platforms and they have new film backs coming for the Hy6. <br>

A lot of how they do depends on whether there are sufficient sales or not. I'm sure they would add additional employee's when there is need to do so, but they are able to both do service and make new product now. <br>

Regards,<br>

Eric Hiss<br>

Rolleiflex USA</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The Rolleiflex 6008AF and the Hy6 and Hy6 Mod2 all autofocus and shoot 6x6 film. Built in metering is very good on both cameras. </p>

<p>This is a very late reply, but some information in case someone finds this thread looking for information. Rollei 6000 series lenses were set at the factory to focus at the hyper focal distance at the widest aperture and film. It's not really common, but i've seen a few lenses that will turn past the infinity mark on the barrel - in which case your lens can be adjusted or you can just pay attention to the setting. This doesn't mean that the focus screen is not calibrated, just that the lens goes past and doesn't stop where it should. A technician can adjust the lens to stop at the correct spot<br>

But to Ferdi's post - The focusing screens on the 6000 series cameras can be adjusted/calibrated by turning the four little screws at each corner of the focusing screen. The front two are in deep recessed holes and the back two are under the frame. You need a tiny phillips screw driver - and make only 1/8 a turn or less adjustments - equally on all screws. I rarely have seen one that needs adjustment however so that's the last place to fiddle with unless you really know what you are doing. Make absolutely certain the camera is not focusing at the setting seen in the viewfinder. To do this, test focus at 2 meter distance.</p>

<p>Leaf makes an AFi/Hy6 to 4x5 graflok mount that keeps the same spacing as film. It's an $800 piece but if you have a Hy6 mount digital back, then you can go back and forth between film and digital in a large variety of large format cameras. I use mine in my polaroid 110b conversions, linhof Technika, and Graflex cameras. It's really cool. You can find polaroid 110b conversions for under $1000 sometimes even half that price and so it's not really a small fortune to get into (keeping in mind that this is a small amount compared to the digital back).<br>

These days you can also buy chinese made digital back to 4x5 adapter plates on ebay. Not all will keep the same spacing, so you'd have to recalibrate your rangefinder, but its doable. <br>

I like the convenience of digital but the 4x5 film has a different look which I still appreciate. </p>

<p>I also thought you had two different sizes there with the Rolleinars being smaller. </p>

<p>How about something like this? <a href="http://rolleiflex.us/products/bay-iii-to-43mm-screw-thread-filter-adapter-ring-for-rolleiflex-tlrs">Bay III to 43mm Screw Thread Filter Adapter Ring for Rolleiflex TLR's</a> Then you can use less expensive screw in type filters...<br>

It's getting hard to source the bayonet filters. Heliopan still offers some… but they are quite expensive new. </p>

<p>Congrats on your good fortune of being given a Rolleiflex 2.8E! Wow! I hope you enjoy it!<br>

You can buy new tripod mounts for nearly the same price as used ones go for on ebay, plus new leather straps, and even new Rolleiflex TLR's -- they still make four versions Wide (FW), Normal, Normal with close focus (FX and FX-N) and the telephoto ( FT). <br>

Apologize for the shameless plug as I'm the US Dealer, but it seems many don't know that all these are still available. <br>

Rolleiflex USA http://rolleiflex.us</p>

<p>Which battery charger do you have and does the charge light come on or not? Or does it go yellow?<br>

It's most likely the battery, as its not likely much goes wrong with electronics that sit, but the battery chemistry can. These old NiCads have been replaced by NiMH cells now at the factory. New batteries are expensive but better than the older ones, with higher capacity and less memory problems. You can also have your current pack rebuilt.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Well there are several ways you can achieve this but having a meter would be really useful. You can leave the metz sca adapter in the camera's hot shoe and connect your studio lights via the sync port on the camera with a sync cable. In this set up its probably wise to let the metz be the main light of your subject and use the strobes as fill, or perhaps side or top lighting. The issue is that since the studio lights don't have TTL you'll have to meter them or make a good guess based on power settings and distance factors. Ideally the metz would have a higher setting on the subject such that the TTL would work properly. If you had a light meter you could set both to manual and get more consistent results however. Another option is to let the Metz expose the subject and let the shutter drag - using the studio lights as fill in over time without firing if the the constant on is strong enough. I think this works well with portraits as the image is just a bit softened by the shutter drag. One other separate issue you may need to resolve is that the two lights you have are different in color temperature. You'd want daylight film for the Metz but tungsten film for the studio lights. You can gel the lights or use a pop on color compensation filter over the metz. <br>

I have a lot of pocket wizards and also cables to connect the pocket wizards to the metz flashes so that I can leave on pocket wizard in the camera hot shoe, that fires both metz flashes and the studio strobes if I like. Anyhow there are a lot of possible configurations … </p>

<p>He does write "trigger the studio lighting" …. <br>

Btw - I love the Metz 60 ct-4 flash units. These are very inexpensive second hand these days and can pump out a lot of light and the light itself has a nice quality to it. You can find lithium battery packs now for them on ebay that remarkably have more capacity and weigh less than the dry cells. I use mine often with pocket wizards attached to each flash unit via a metz to pocket wizard cable you can order from Samy's. Then I fit one pocket wizard to the camera. In this mode there is no TTL metering of course, but you can put the flashes anywhere to add light. I've even done this outside to light up buildings or trees in the distance. </p>

 

<p>If I understand you wishes correctly you just want to use both sets of lights together. I think you can use the strobes set up as a slave (to trigger when the other flash is seen) without needing the pocket wizard. Probably you wish to use the Metz with the camera for exposure metering, so for your strobes you'd need a slave cell that plugs into the sync port on the strobe pack. Some strobe power packs have the slave built in, others require the plug in piece, but slave cells are cheap. There is a cord that connects the metz to a pocket wizard, but I think it goes in the same hole that you'd connect the sca module so that would prevent you from using the TTL which I think you want. </p>

<p>I started my us dealership expecting mostly to sell the Hy6 Mod2 cameras but the TLR sales are keeping pace which is a pleasant surprise. (Dennis, thanks for posting the link) <br>

I think a lot of the new sales of TLR's are in the FW since you can't find the wide version for sale easily, and of course you can't buy an older close focus version so the FX-N is in new territory. Definitely these cameras last a lifetime and there are quite a lot of excellently usable older Rolleiflex's out there, but rather than hurt sales I think that helps since people have come to know and love them over the years. I have my own FW, but also use a 2.8F form the 60's. The really great thing about the new models is that they have ttl flash metering and I do like the electronic exposure metering as well. </p>

 

<p>I've got the Rollei version of the lens and never seen that edge in bokeh. There is a square baffle but its up inside a bit from the mount. </p>

<p>I'm sure you'll find loads of information (and opinions) over at the Luminous-Landscape forums. The H body is both more advanced and also a better camera than the DF+, and probably the phase one software is better than the phocus from Hasselblad. A lot of the dealers have demo bodies so its probably worth a bit of time to check them out and see which you are more comfortable with. You might also want to look at the Hy6 ;-)</p>

<p>Hi Ed,<br>

Nice to read your story here. I also would be interested to see some of those photos!<br>

Eric</p>

 

<p>Considering there are enough sales on new Rolleiflex TLR's at about $5000 - $6000 to keep the factory backlogged on order for two months the prices for the used TLR's makes sense. These cameras were truly built to last a lifetime. <br>

The new ones have several advantages - TTL flash metering, electronic exposure meter, top of the line focusing screen already installed, custom leather choices, etc and of course a 2yr warranty. But for many, the lower price of a used model is quite appealing. <br>

Those are my explanations for why a used TLR would command a high price, but I have no idea why an item wouldn't sell - but probably if it isn't then there may be a reason - something in the seller's feedback or something about the auction that looks suspicious. I've seen a number of attractively priced items, only to realize that the listing must be fraudulent. The tip off's are the sellers request for you to contact them via e-mail off of ebay, or a user that never sold camera equipment before. </p>

<p>George,<br>

You might have sticker shock looking at a lot of the new cameras out there! Don't look at the prices of the new Leica's or even the new Rollei Hy6 Mod2's then! :-) But you are right in that there are lots of bargains in the used gear lately. A lot of the older cameras were designed to work for a lifetime, not be thrown into the bin every three to four years for the next big thing.<br>

Plamen, I think Fredi answered your questions, but just to add that to get to the 1/1000th shutter speeds, you need one of the PQS lenses as well - a lot of focal lengths were offered in both PQ and PQS over the years so look carefully. <br>

The kits I offer through Rolleiflex USA come with the 80mm f/2.8 Xenotar PQS (Schneider) which is an awesome lens, and that makes up more than half the cost of the kits as its over $2k new by itself. And they come with the new NiMH batteries instead of the older NiCad batteries - a small thing but nice to have. <br>

Regards,<br>

Eric</p>

 

<p>Here's the text from the Rolleiflex 6000-System Brochure about the Flash features with the 6008AF body paired with the 3562 module:</p>

 

<p>Flash photography with the dedicated Rollei flash adapter:<br /> Using dedicated flash units in conjunction with the SCA-3562 Rollei Flash Adapter, you can take advantage of the TTL flash-metering feature of your camera. To do this, switch the flash unit to TTL metering. A sensor in your camera will meter the light reflected from the film surface during actual exposure and con- trol flash duration as a function of film speed and ambi- ent light. The result is very precise exposure within an ISO range of 25 – 1600.<br /> <br>

The SCA-3562 adapter allows the following values to be exchanged between flash unit and Rolleiflex 6008 AF: </p>

<ul>

<li>Focal-length setting of AF lenses to control the flash reflector</li>

<li>Lens aperture and film-speed setting to control the autoflash exposure mode of the flash unit</li>

<li>The flash-output compensation set on suitable flash units</li>

<li>Control of AF preflash.</li>

</ul>

 

 

<p>With the dedicated Rollei SCA-3562 Flash Adapter and a Rolleiflex 6008 AF, the following flash modes are possible:</p>

<ul>

<li>Programmed AE flash</li>

<li>Aperture-priority AE flash</li>

<li>Shutter-priority AE flash</li>

<li>Fill-in autoflash (compensating and additive)</li>

<li>Flash bracketing. </li>

</ul>

 

<p>I would have said to send this in as well, so glad you have already done so. There can be a number of faults that can cause these symptoms. DHW provides fast and competent service. Hopefully its just a resistor board, but can also be a shutter going out (don't ask me how I know) :-)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>David,<br>

Either charger will work with the Nimh cells.<br>

Eric</p>

 

<p>Hi David,<br>

Yes when you are working with higher magnification, it's a lot easier to focus by moving either the subject or the camera. Many companies make macro focusing rails for this purpose. You attach the rail to your tripod and the camera to a pad that slides along the rail. Typically these are gear driven rigs that can precisely move the camera with lens. Rollei at one time offered one, but you can use any. <br>

What I often do is mount a long arca style tripod plate to the camera in the axis of the lens, and let this slide a little in the tripod head to achieve focus and then tighten the tripod. <br>

Eric - Rolleiflex USA</p>

<p>Hi Collin,<br>

I haven't personally seen this problem so a bit of a stab in the dark, but here are a few things you can check.<br>

Try resetting the camera - set dial 44 to menu (exposure metering to red spot) then push the memo button repeatedly until the 'reset' is displayed in the camera. It will flash 'reset' press shutter all the way down and the reset should stop flashing and be fixed, now return the dial 44 to one of the regular metering modes. <br>

Another thing to check - carefully remove the finder and lift the focus screen. Look around for any debris that could be fouling the mirror motion from making complete travel. Similarly, remove the lens, activate the mirror up button and look for anything that could have inadvertently gotten in the mirror box while changing lenses such as a ball of lint. <br>

DHW has been quite fast for service and may be able to accommodate you by sending the camera ahead to your next location. <br>

Regards,<br>

Eric</p>

 

<p>David,<br>

You can actually get past 1::1 with the 67mm extension tube fitted to the 90mm lens. The rollei close up manual (free download from my site-btw) states the range with 67mm tube is 1.36::1 to 1::1.24 <br>

When I shoot macros like this I really like to have a flash or two flash units close to the subject at an angle from the camera axis. I'll normally use a pocket wizard on the camera and one connected to the flash so I can set up the object and flash together then be able to move the camera around for composition and focusing. When you have this high a magnification its easier to focus by moving the camera or the subject rather than manipulating the focus ring. <br>

Colored paper underneath makes a nice backdrop and isn't reflective but best to angle the flash. </p>

 

<p>You can buy new Rollei C chargers that have a button for de-charging the battery prior to recharging that does a lot of what the Maha chargers did to fully cycle the batteries but this is really useful only for the older NiCad cells. DHW now fits Nimh cells in their 6000 series battery packs. As their US dealer, I have both available in my online shop and they are not terribly expensive so that's another option. I have to admit, I rebuilt my own using the packs on ebay and they worked fine, but that was before I started my dealership. Rollei Hensel also used to be able rebuild them with new cells.<br /> <a href="http://rolleiflex.us/products/rollei-6000-series-nicad-battery-pack">Rollei 6000 series battery pack with NiMH</a></p>