Rollei 35, The Friend In Your Pocket!

The Rollei 35 is a compact, all metal, and all manual 35mm camera. With its retractable 40mm Tessar lens, it will be your perfect photographic companion, fitting one of your pockets anywhere you will go!

When I discovered Lomography and began to shoot more film and try to experiment different cameras, my grandfather gave me this camera he used to shoot with before he passed to digital, and it became (until I bought myself an LC-A) the 35mm camera I was using the most!

Rollei began producing this camera in 1966 in Germany, and then in Singapore in 1970. It features a light meter which helps you to set the exposition, setting both the obturation speed (1/500 second to ½ second and bulb) and the lens opening (f 3,5 to f 22) with the two little wheels on the front of the camera.

The best part about this camera is its lens, a great 40mm f 3,5 Tessar jewel you have to pull out and lock to take your picture, before you wind the film, unlock and push the lens back inside the camera"s body to put it back in your pocket. It will produce some very crispy shots, almost like you were shooting with an SLR, except that despite its weight (it's all metal) you can carry it in your pocket.

And that's it's the best quality for us Lomographers in my opinion, a great lens in a small camera you can take with you everywhere you go! You can also use it with your preferred Lomographic accessory, maybe a ColorSplash flash you'll slide in the accessory slot under the camera, or a cable release you can screw on the release button.

If you're a double maniac, remember that the Rollei 35 has the take-up spool on it's left (unlike most cameras), so if you double a film shot with another camera you'll get some upside down doubles, strange effects guaranteed.

Thanks to Vicuna & Lyocell for the doubles I did with them using this camera, and of course to my grandpa for this wonderful gift!

This article was written by Lomographer champi.

written by champi on 2008-11-24 #gear #slide #negative #rollei #35mm #review #vintage #crisp #doubles