A Bucket-List Camera
The first in a series of camera-porn postings.
Periodically, we get some wonderful cameras coming through the shop. I have have won several at auction, but some have gotten away. This is not a camera that I was specifically bidding on (mostly due to condition issues), but this is a camera that I would love to own. Hell, I might even start shooting film for this camera, if I got one.
This, is the Rolleiflex 3.5B MX-EVS. They were made between 1954-56, with approximately 94,000 units being made. I am struggling with wanting to go into depth and detail regarding this camera, and all the bells & whistles in it’s design, or, just talking about the beauty of this camera.
Let’s stick with the simple way.
For those unfamiliar with the Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera design, there are two lenses, but only one is used to take the picture; the bottom lens. The top lens is used for focussing and framing your shot. Both lenses are operated by the focussing knob that you see on the side of the camera (the big one on the right side of this picture above), and you see what your camera sees by looking (down) through the viewfinder, which is placed at the top of the camera.
For its time, this was a very sophisticated camera. It was a contemporary of all of the other fine German cameras that we have come to know and love: Zeiss, Leica, Voigtlander, & Agfa, among others. It is interesting to note that, some of the most amazing cameras that Kodak ever produced, were designed and built in Germany (look for that post later on).
Most Rolleiflex cameras used a 120mm film stock, though this camera could also use 35mm film. The 120 film made this a “Medium Format” camera. Thankfully, 120 film is still widely used, and several companies produce it, but DAMN!, that shit’s expensive!
It was typical that German camera companies of this era loaded their cameras with every bell & whistle available. Legendary “German Engineering”, made these cameras sought after by skilled hobbyists and professionals alike. You paid for it, they were not cheap. This Rolleiflex, was (one of) the best that you could buy. Even if you didn’t know how to use it, just think of how cool you would have looked, in the day - in Paris - shooting with one of these cameras hangin around your neck?
You can see why I want one.
.. skipped the 2 & 1/4 Format myself.. a pal had this camera but soon ‘had a Blad’.. never liked the ‘somewhat square’ for composition.. yet in the hands of the ‘masters’ those cameras captured so much of our ‘Visual History it’s astonishing.. as are the images themselves !
I love TLRs and had 2 Mamiya C330 bodies and 2 sets of lenses that I have shot for many years. They are really fun. I always used 400 speed film, or faster, in them because without a tripod, looking down through the top viewfinder makes it hard for me to keep the camera still.