[rollei_list] Re: TeleRolleiflex
- From: Bob James <starboy0@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 8 May 2011 19:23:19 -0500
Allan,
I enjoyed your Rolleiflex story. Hopefully mine is about to begin. Just
pulled the trigger and ordered one from B&H.
I remember once in the 60's sometime a family friend brought one over and I was
fascinated with the image on the ground glass (how big it was) and the
composing lines. I sensed he was very proud of this camera and I had no idea
why until I started researching the Rolleiflex a few weeks ago.
Have done the Minolta XG7, Nikon FM, and back to the Minolta thing. Then I saw
some medium format contact prints. Wow! It was an epiphany. I realized this
could be the ticket.
Something to say about a manual film camera. Film captures the light with that
soft edged charm that digital ultimately and unforgivingly pixelates. Thinking
about aperture, shutter speed, and depth of field creates an investment in the
image that autofocus, autoexposure, and autoschmato conveniently relinquish.
So I'm excited to get my first Rollei! I'm getting a Rolleinar 1, red filter
and polarizing filter with it. Have already secured a 5 pack of Tmax 400, a
roll of Fugi Velvia, and 3 rolls of Ilford 3200. I love the way those spools
(big!) feel in my hand.
Bob James
Aurora, IL
On May 7, 2011, at 9:40 PM, "Allan Derickson" <alland435@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I got my first Rollei (an Automat MX Xenar) for my 16th birthday in 1964. I
> used it as my high school's annual book photographer and remember wishing I
> had a TeleRolleiflex when I was shooting sports events. I fantasized having
> one with a prism and pistolgrip along with a powerful electronic flash. That
> would have been the bees' knees for football and basketball games.
>
>
>
> My photographic interests eventually settled on landscapes and my interest in
> a TeleRollei waned to be replaced by a lust for a RolleiWide. I never
> conceived a place for a longer lens in my landscape work. Perhaps because, in
> my younger and freer days, I thought nothing of doing whatever it took to get
> closer to my subject.
>
>
>
> I did eventually acquire the Rolleiwide and have found it everything I hoped
> for. Last year, as part of a business trip to New Mexico, I took my wife and
> infant son and made a mini-vacation to some of the area around Santa Fe. I
> decided to limit my gear to my Rollei 3.5F with both wide and tele Mutars
> plus a Rollei 35 S. The constraints of time and having little people along
> forced me to confine my shooting position to the roadside. I discovered the
> value of the tele Mutar where I wanted a distant element larger in the
> composition. This image of a farm building in the Valles Caldera is an
> example. I should crop it to get it even larger.
>
>
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/baguio_kano/5175676176/in/set-72157625383373066/
>
>
>
> I still wasn't interested enough in a TeleRollei to pay the high prices
> typically asked but I did browse the Ebay listings for possible bargains. I
> made a few lowball bids but to no avail until one came up advertised as
> well-used and with a sticky shutter. My last second snipe bid (still at well
> under the lower end of the recognized range of values) bore fruit. The camera
> arrived and I was pleasantly surprised at its condition. The shutter
> responded well to a cleaning and lubrication. The winding mechanism also
> needed attention as it was stiff and gritty. The glass appeared perfect,
> however, and the body and leather were very nice. I adjusted the focus and
> had a very fine camera.
>
>
>
> Several weeks ago I had to make a fast business trip to Oregon by car. I took
> the TeleRollei and the RolleiWide. They make a nice pair for a road trip. I
> saw these willows glowing in the canyon bottom and they would have been
> insignificant with a normal lens.
>
>
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/baguio_kano/5691032802/in/set-72157623372654317
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