[rollei_list] TeleRolleiflex
- From: "Allan Derickson" <alland435@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 7 May 2011 19:40:04 -0700
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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