So… Rollei 35AF… <ahem>… Again… Take. My. Money.

So… Rollei 35AF… <ahem>… Again… Take. My. Money.

My thoughts on this camera pretty well echo my sentiments on the Pentax 17 summed up in my first thoughts on the Pentax 17. Take. My. Money.

I opened that post by quoting the comment I left on Hamish Gill’s review.

Excellent review and sample images Hamish. New camera with AE and a warranty? I have spent far more for old cameras that could pack it in without warning if you looked at them too hard and some without any whiff of automation to be found so count me in. Add in it being a Pentax which I have an outsized, irrational allegiance to since my Father taught me how to use his Pentax ME Super as a child and I am defenseless. Pre-ordered mine before I finished reading your review.

I then went on to say that for those who have been along for the ride in this space for a couple of years, I have been asking for a camera company to step up and make a new film camera.

One did answer. Leica.

But, as much as I respect Leica, a new film camera costing over twice what I paid for my elder M 240 was not what I was looking for. Fortunately, Pentax stepped up as well.

Sidebar: Yes. I am aware that neither of these companies know I exist and my ramblings did not play a part in their decisions at all. Just a touch of artistic license is all.

So now Rollei… or MINT playing the role of Rollei? …anyhoo… Rollei has stepped up.

I heard a lot of flack being given to the Pentax 17. Well, I love mine. Have already put a good many rolls of film through. A solid camera. Wrote a review about it. Like to read it? Here it go.

So the Rollei 35AF. While the comments seem mostly positive there have been nay sayers. I even watched a Youtube review by one photographer that seemed to down pretty hard on the camera and then proceeded to take some fantastic photos with it while giving it fairly high praise. This makes sense since I know of only two types of camera people.

1. Salt of the Earth folks whose primary concern is capturing images regardless of their chosen genre, medium, or product.
2. Know it all, but rather, impossible to please grand declaration makers who will argue about anything that send me scrambling for the exits, real or virtual.

I am convinced no matter what Pentax MINT as Rollei would have made there would be those who would complain. As I landed on at the end of my ramblings about the Lumix S9 at the end of the day if you do not like it, do not buy it. My spec list for a new film camera remains short so it was hard for Pentax MINT as Rollei to miss.

• Three digit price.
  • Taking what goes into engineering a net new product into consideration and now add in LIDAR AF I cannot really complain about $799.
• AE.
• Decent Good build quality.
• Warranty.

That was it.

The complaints I have read so far.

• Wind lever throw.
• Fiddly reassembly when loading film.
• Fiddly controls.
• “High” price.

That is about it honestly.

I can quickly dismiss the wind lever and fiddly stuff. I have survived a Leica CL.

All of those concerns were at play with the CL and I got on fine with it.

As far as the price is concerned I mentioned in my comment to Hamish’s review that I have spent more for film cameras that have no warranty and no promise of working past this very moment. The Contax T2 I once owned before the price jumped now costs far more than the Rollei at more than a $1,000 the last time I looked. . Add a warranty and actual, functioning AF? Yes please.

Speaking about focusing, the original Rollei 35 had zone focusing. Like the Pentax 17. The new Rollei has AF like…

…the Contax T2 I mentioned above.

Now that I have mentioned the T2 there are a few similarities at play between the T2 and the 35AF.

	Contax T2	Rollei 35AF
Focal length	38mm	35mm
Max Aperture	f/2.8	f/2.8
Built in flash	Yes	Yes
Focus	AF	AF
Top shutter speed	1/500s	1/500s
Auto Exposure	Yes	Yes
Optical Viewfinder	Yes	Yes
Exposure Compensation	Yes	Yes

So… did they do the thing? Did Rollei make a brand new Contax T2 alternative with a warranty?

Sure, there are differences.

• Wildly different aesthetically.
  • No one better than the other. Just different.
• No film auto load with the Rollei.
• No auto film advance on the Rollei.
• No auto film rewind on the Rollei.

But none of these things are necessary. Not only that, those are the things I worried about breaking on the T2. SO this can be seen as a good thing.

In a market where a decades old point and shoot with no type of warranty goes for hundreds more, I would say $799 is reasonable. We just need to keep this thing away from any social media darlings or they might run the pricing for the Rollei also.

So in my opinion yes. This is a viable alternative to a T2.

Another concern with the Pentax 17 was…

Lack of control.

The Pentax has created a mode to accommodate near any occassion and offers manual control of the film speed and exposure compensation. The Rollei 35AF goes further by supplying aperture and shutter speed dials.

So it seems that, other than AF, you have a fair bit of control. From the videos I have seen it seems that focus on half press and recompose is on the table. That pulls it ahead of yet another favorite old film point and shoot.

This camera is great. If all you want is a solid compact film camera it is a great option. But it has a few issues:

• No half press so whatever you want in focus has to be in the center of the frame.
• No exposure compensation so whatever you want exposed has to be in the center of the frame.
• There is nothing premium about the look and feel.
  • Has nothing to do with capturing an image but it is a thing.
• Also a write off if anything goes sideways.

It does have one huge plus though. I paid $50 for my copy. And this thing takes a mean photo.

Back to the matter at hand.

Is it the “perfect” film camera I have been waiting for?

No. Unlike the Pentax 17 that I like a lot it could be.

Does it make for an intriguing offering for a reasonable sum that is capable of creating some nice images?

Yes.

Do I want one?

Yes.

I will stop myself here and see what happens.

Happy capturing.

-ELW