I have just purchased a 2.8F Planar for a computerless friend and have it
on hand to test. The serial number is 2444xxx and the camera is as new
condition. It came in a new looking case and seems to never have been
used. Off ebay.
My own Rollei is a 2.8F Xenotar with serial number 2958xxx so it is quite
a bit newer. I notice some differences just looking.
The coatings look different. On the Planar the coating is yellow. On the
Xenotar the coating is purple pink and blue.
The aperture of the Planar opens a bit futrher than the Xenotar. The
Xenotar at 2.8 still shows a tiny bit of the aperture blades. While the
Planar opens completely at 2.8. The Xenotar closes down at 22 to a
slightly smaller hole.
The older Rollei has a little more styling than the newer one. The crank
handle has a lttle edge styling while the newer crank is completely plain.
The strap holder is a little more finely molded (or machined). Of
course the new one is white faced and the old one isn't. The older meter
dial has black numbers on silver while the newer dial has silver numbers
on black. The self timer lever has a V and an arrow on the older one
while the newer one is plain.
I thought about secretly switching backs and telling my friend that his
came with the edge wear ;-) but see that the backs are not
interchangeable. You can switch them but there is a slight film spacer
built in the doesn't match. (this will be hard to describe) On the older
camera there is a raised nub on the sides of the pressure plate to stop it
from coming right down tight on the film gate.. allowing about a
millimeter of space. On the newer pressure plate there are no nubs but
the newer camera body has the nubs just outside the film track. So if you
were to put the older back on the newer camera you would have double the
space allowed and if you put the newer back on the older camera you would
have no space allowed. Which I guess would make film transport
difficult. This is something to watch for as if the camera had an older
back on a newer camera the film wouldn't be held tightly enough to the
window behind the lens.
Anyway of course today I will do the inevitable eyeball busting sharpness
comparison with my sheet film back.
For Marc the Planar serieal number is: 4185989 And it is a pristine
beauty.
The camera has leatherette and non half moons but curiously it has the pin
for use with the plate glass and hump back.
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