[rollei_list] Re: Rolleiflex 2.8F - Telos?
- From: Emmanuel Bigler <Emmanuel.Bigler@xxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:02:30 +0100
Kenneth Frazier a écrit :
Anybody know more?
Ken
Hello from France.
Télos was a French company importing Rollei equipment to France in the
sixties. At the time where the French VAT on photographic equipment was
33% like vinyl record and luxury goods.
I do not remember when Télos ceased to be the official Rollei agent in
France, but as of 1980 they were the official Hasselblad agent.
Apparently both Rollei and Hasselblad were so pleased ;-) with this
agent that Rollei switched to another distributor (I think that in the
eighties there was a company called Rollei-France or something like
that, probably a one-person company) and Hasselblad founded Hasselblad
France, their subsidiary for importing their equipment to France.
Télos-badged Rollei-TLRs were quite common in shops at Boulevard
Beaumarchis in Paris in the eighties.
So there is nothing rare about a Télos-badged Rollei TLR ;-) it means
that the cameré was imported to FGrance by Télos. This gives a certain
time slot, but considering the serial nuber of the camera body gives a
more precise information !!
It is hard to imagine, now that we have abolished customs barriers in
the EU, how tantalizing it was in the sixties and seventies to buy
Rollei cameras in Germany and import them illegaly into France. Not only
retail prices were much lower in Germany due to a huge photo market
unrivalled in France, and if you add the difference in VAT between the
outrageous 33% in France and the corresponding German tax (do not
remember but oit was much lower), you can easily imagine why France in
the second half of the XX-century was never a good place for amateurs of
medium format photography. Professionals did not have to pay the 33% VAT
since their Rollei was considered as part of their professional
equipment. So only French professionals plus some crazy French amateurs
could afford a SL-66 for example in the sicties and seventis.
All the best,
--
Emmanuel
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