Rollei 35AF Review: My “Shut Up & Take My Money!” Camera.

Rollei 35AF Review: My “Shut Up & Take My Money!” Camera.

Update: As a counter to my mostly positive review below for the sake of balance here is a link to a review from another Eric that had a much rougher go of things. I personally did not experience many of the things that he did. Would I still be happy overall with the Rollei 35AF if I had? Honestly, yes most likely. I am an odd duck and can forgive a whole lot for a first time out of the gate from scratch effort that creates some great images. But I also acknowledge that others may not feel the same way. Now back to my review.

In my first post about this camera, I wrote:

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

This post is my first formal review after a few sample photo posts. It will be long-winded and go like this.

• Short version.
• Cut and paste from a prior “So…” post with additions/edits.
  • Including comparisons with new and old cameras.
• Additional thoughts.
  • Including any ills.
• Hopefully a graceful exit.

For the first bullet, I will swipe a comment I left on an Instagram post in response to another 35AF buyer.

Short version: I can forgive nearly any ill when the AF, Exposure, and IQ are covered.

What ills? More on that towards the end.

Before I wrote a formal post of my thoughts at any length I wanted to get some film through it and allow a little of the new arrival Pyxie dust to clear. I have had it a couple days now. I have posted some sample photo posts with three favorite color films, and I am now working my way through my first roll of black & white film. So it is still early, but barring some unforeseen circumstances I can call it.

I like this camera. A lot.

Cut and paste.

The only outstanding question is where it will land in the analog hierarchy when the dust settles and the remaining new camera haze clears. As stated above 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 Pentax 17 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 who seemed to come down pretty hard on the camera and then proceeded to take some fantastic photos 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 sends me scrambling for the exits, real or virtual.

Before it arrived I was 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.
  • Considering what goes into engineering a net new product and now adding in LiDAR AF, I cannot 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 had quickly dismissed 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 with no warranty and no promise of working past this moment. The Contax T2 I once owned before the price jumped now costs far more than this brand new Rollei at more than $1,000 the last time I looked. A new camera that costs significantly less and adds a warranty? 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.

I have seen some reviewers compare the Pentax 17 and Rollei 35AF. Understandable, because they are both new film camera releases. But other than that, now that I have had a chance to use both, these are entirely different beasts in my opinion. Both bring a set of capabilities that align well with their price points.

A quick Pentax 17 and Rollei 35AF run down. This is not a competition so there is no winner.

Focus

	Pentax 17	Rollei 35AF
Focus	While I am not usually a fan of zone focusing I think it fits the more whimsical half frame mood of this camera. Additionally, it is well-implemented and plays well with the forgiving f/3.5 aperture.	More on this below, but the AF is one of the definite party pieces of this camera.
Frame Size	Half frame is a bold and wise move here in my opinion. Offsets any zone focus reservations I have with so many frames at my disposal for safety pics.	I will never be mad at a full frame film camera.
Build	Looks the part but a bit lighter in the pants and plasticky in places than I expected. Not a bad thing necessarily.	Looks the part but a bit lighter in the pants and plasticky in places than I expected. Not a bad thing necessarily.
Optics	I could not ask for better.	I could not ask for better.

I mentioned the T2 above and having owned both now I noticed some similarities between it and the Rollei 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
Exposure Compensation	Yes	Yes

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

…there are differences.

• Wildly different aesthetically.
  • No one better than the other to my eye. 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 many hundreds more, I would say $799 is reasonable. We just need to keep this thing away from any social media darlings or they might ruin 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.

Exposure

The Pentax has created a mode to accommodate nearly any occasion and offers manual control of the film speed and exposure compensation. The Rollei 35AF has a solid aperture priority mode with +2 to -2 compensation, but it also supplies full manual control of aperture and shutter speed with metering shown in the little LCD screen.

So while it is AF only, you have full exposure control.

AF

I am happy to report that focus on half press and recompose works perfectly. 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.

It remains a solid budget choice.

Back to the matter at hand.

The Rollei’s AF is as close to perfect as I have ever experienced.

• Amazing accuracy and consistency.

• Great for focus and recompose. Here I focused on the blue chair in the lower left hand corner and recomposed.

• Courtesy LiDAR this is the best low/no light focusing camera I have ever used.

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

No. Unlike the Pentax 17 that I like a lot it could be. The “perfect” camera does not exist.

At a minimum…

Does it make for an intriguing offering for a reasonable sum that is capable of creating some nice fantastic images that more storied offerings would struggle to replicate or better?

Yes.

Am I glad I have it?

Yes.

Ok, enough editing of the prior post. Here are some add ons now that I have used it.

Additional thoughts.

So, the complaints from the internets:

• The winder is hesitant to move and the end of the wind lever hurts my fingy (Ok, that was a bit juvenile of me and unwarranted. I am sorry. But I have already become defensive of this camera.).
  • I have had no issues in this regard. Perhaps it is my ox gene but I do not struggle at all to advance the film and did not find the end of the lever bothersome to my thumb. Maybe MINT has tweaked this since the test copies were sent out.

• Feels toy like.
  • It’s light. But to me it does not feel poorly made. No issue here.
• Shutter button is hard to half press and takes a lot of pressure to fully press.
  • Maybe MINT/Rollei has sorted this since the test copies went out but I have had no issues in this regard. Half press is easy to engage and feels fine overall.
  • Same for full press. Perhaps it is my beef mitts or MINT/Rollei has sorted this out but I have had no issues with full shutter press actuation.
• Price.
  • I have mentioned this above, but I have more to say here. I took four years of drafting in HS, went on to get a degree in Industrial Engineering, and for my first job after college I was a CAD Specialist/Engineer/Programmer at GE Steam Turbine for GE Power Generation Engineering. I taught CAD to Engineers and Draftpersons as well as writing code and upgrading GE Steam Turbine from an older VAX/VMS OS/CAD System to a UNIX based system. I say all of this to get here. I am staggered that one man engineered a new camera and it works so well. I have not a single complaint about the price, operation, or the build quality. Gary Ho did an amazing job here and is to be applauded.

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Only two things irked me a bit. The “ills” I mentioned above.

• Rewind effort.
  • The rewinding force required teamed with the cute little knoblet on the end of the rewind lever would require fingers the size of Tinkerbell teamed with The Hulk’s forearms to operate as designed.
  • Fix: I slow down and use my thumb on the side of the rewind lever. More time-consuming than whizzing it around with the knoblet if it was freewheeling as I expected but passable.
  • Conclusion: Not optimal, but not a showstopper in isolation.

• Removing/replacing film cover.
  • Removal.
    • The first removal was the most stressful. Enough force was needed that I kept checking to make sure I had the film cover lock lever in the right position. I did. I just needed to give it a heave-ho. Once dislodged my expectations were adjusted and removing the cover has not been that bad since.
  • Replacing.
    • Again, it took more effort to complete than I expected. But after four rolls I have gotten the hang of it. The issue has to do with the tight tolerance between the lip of the cover and the camera body. I find a light press in on the cover at each side and the back will guide it home.
  • Conclusion:
    • Your mileage may vary, but I am fine now that I know what to look for. This may just be my forgiving Engineer self being sympathetic to the design effort but so be it.

So those were the “ills”. What of the likes not mentioned above.

• On/Off dial.
  • I find it very well thought out and easy to get the results I am looking for.
    • Off.
    • On w/ no flash.
    • On w/ flash.
    • ISO.
      • Shows the current ISO and allows you to manually set the ISO by pressing the delayed shutter button on the front.
• Shutter/Winder/On/Off Interlock.
  • This camera really tries to keep you from messing up.
    • The shutter button sits flush until you wind the film on.
      • An easy tell that I have not advanced the film.
    • The shutter button is locked when the camera is off.
• LCD screen.
  • Fits a lot of information in a tiny screen.
    • Shows ISO on power up.
    • Half-press shows exposure count.
    • Exposure.
      • Manual mode.
        • Has an easy to read plus/minus/Ok read out.
      • Aperture priority.
        • Shows AUTO unless you go outside of the camera’s ability to compensate with shutter speed.
          • For example, I had the aperture set to f/2.8 at midday and the screen showed overexposure. I simply had to close the aperture down until I saw the AUTO prompt again and I was good to go.
• Flash.
  • Works as billed. Does a great job providing fill flash.
• Focusing.
  • As mentioned above I would say more, but all I have to say is that the AF is nearly unflappable. Even with no light as mentioned above.
  • Also has a form of focus confirmation.
    • No beep, but the focus noise quickly clues you in on whether you have successfully pointed at what you meant to point it at. For example, say I am trying to focus on a close object. The focus noise sounds for longer for close objects. So:
      • “rr” – At or near infinity.
      • “rrrr” – Mid focus range.
      • “rrrrrr” – Close focus.
      • “rrrrrr” w/ blinking green – Too close to focus on.
    • Intended? No. Usable? Yes.
• Exposure.
  • This camera has yet to misread the exposure… That is all I have got.
    • I have full confidence this camera will nail exposure.
  • The one missed exposure… one!… after three rolls of film… was a user error. A backlit scene where I should have dialed in some compensation.
• Aesthetics.
  • I think this little camera is beautiful.

I could go on but I will stop here. Suffice it to say I found everything became intuitive right away and I found it easy to get the camera to do my will. That alone is impressive but the real party pieces is…

• Image Quality.
  • I love the images that this camera creates.
    • Sharp.
    • Nice background and foreground blur.
    • Great colors.
    • Little flare as far as I can see so far…

Ok. I have got to stop.

Attempt at a graceful exit.

Is it a perfect film camera? No. No such thing exists.

But it is as close to a perfect daily camera film camera as I have come across.

• Stellar AF.
• Rock solid AE.
• Compact.
• Light.
• Solid control scheme.
• Looks good while doing it.

• Fresh mechanicals with a significantly reduced risk of packing it in unceremoniously.
• A warranty if they do.

Well done Gary Ho, MINT, and the newly min… no… reconstituted Rollei camera company.

A sample of images from my earlier posts after the close.

Happy capturing.

-ELW