Actually, I agree that Hasselblad moved into a market that was giving up on Rollei, anyway. As an editorial photographer during the late 50s-early 60s, I observed that most shooters were equipped with 35 mm Nikons, and of the few who carried TLRs, most used them for auxiliary purposes, like MF transparencies. Even among that subset, Yashicamat was beginning to take over. Until then, I was strictly Rollei for MF with no experience of other makes, so when I spotted one in the hands of a Herald-Examiner guy, I asked what he thought of them. He said they were okay, any optical deficiencies were finessed by low resolution newspaper printing, would last @ 2 years in rough and tumble news work and cheaper to replace than repair a Rollei. Before the end of the '60s, though, it was all 35 mm. Once it came on the market (1957 version), Hasselblad was really the only viable MF choice for studio, commercial and other dedicated photographers. By the time F&H got their stuff together, they were faced with breaking into a market pretty much dominated by the Swedes. But the amateur market was abandoning MF for 35 mm, and that's what did in Rollei. Based only on my personal observations in Cleveland and Los Angeles, I would date the decline of Rollei from 1957, simultaneously but not necessarily caused by the Rise of Hasselblad. There always remained, however, a hardcore of Rollei fans. I knew one once. Odd fellow.
Allen Zak On Mar 25, 2010, at 11:31 AM, Austin Franklin wrote:
Hi Carlos,I see it drastically differently. Professionals were using Hasselblads more so than Rolleis starting in the mid to late 50's and on. Just look at the production numbers. If there were no Hasselblads, a significant number ofthose purchases would have been Rolleis instead. Regards, Austin-----Original Message----- From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of CarlosMFreaza Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 9:24 AM To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Decline of Rollieflex/Film Hi Austin: It's clear that from 1948 to 1960 Hasselblad did not affect the Rollei TLR production and sales, this decade was the postwar TLR "Golden age" , it was the time for Rollei TLR top production and top sales. The Japanese TLR cameras were the direct competition for Rollei. Rollei noticed they could not compete with the Japanese TLRs about price and then they thought about the MF SLR camera and 35mm cameras, it was Rollei that started to compete against Hasselblad in 1966 and not Hasselblad against Rollei, however it was an error for Rollei the decision about its own MF SLR no production in 1955 with the prototype ready to do it, that decision had to do with the excellent moment for the TLR,but RH did not think Rollei would need MF SL and 35mm cameras to survive after his death. Carlos 2010/3/25 Austin Franklin <austin.franklin@xxxxxxxxxxx>:Hi Carlos, Soooo...you don't think Hasselblad had anything to do with theRolleiflexTLR decline? Regards, Austin-----Original Message----- From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of CarlosMFreaza Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 8:27 AM To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Decline of Rollieflex/Film If you are talking about the Rolleiflex TLR, its decline had nothing to do with the digital era, German photographic industry started to lose markets and to close factories from about 1955/56 due to theJapanese photographic industry competition; F&H had a continous growthup to about 1958; in 1959 the growth stopped and while ReinholdHeidecke felt the Japanese TLR cameras were like a homage to his work,they slowly were reducing the Rollei TLR market. RH died in 1960 and Rollei management decided to develop the MF SLR that RH did not want to manufacture in 1955. About 1965 Rollei TLR cameras production was reduced and R&D work abandoned due to the Rollei SL 66 and Rollei 35launching in 1966. The number of Rollei TLR cameras produced from 1973to 1981 was very, very small in comparison with the TLR golden age production. The TLR did not integrate the Rollei models to produceafter the bankruptcy process, it was a risky decison of the new Rolleimanagement to produce the F Aurum and Platin and due to these expensive models little success within their limited edition they decided to produce the GX for little batches. 1966 and 1973 are two significant years to consider the Rollei TLR decline.- Carlos--- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org- Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list--- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org- Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list--- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
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