Camera Speed Dating – Rolleiflex

Those that know Meghan and I know that we have what appears to be an on going camera acquisition problem. To remedy this but continue to try out ALL of the cameras we have decided to start borrowing cameras from our fellow camera enthusiasts instead of trying to purchase or hoard them all to ourselves. Not all are winners though and some are just easier or more fun to use but you have to shoot with them first to find out! Thus, we decided if we run a roll through every camera we are interested in, not unlike going on a 5 minute date with a bunch of strangers at a singles night, we can quickly see which are worthy of being added to our collection (or put on our list of “must haves.”) Camera speed dating!

Here is most recent camera I had the pleasure of a quick date with…. the Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex.

A few quick facts about Rolleiflex (s), nothing to specific though because I forgot to figure out the exact model of the camera before returning it. The first Rolleiflex was released in 1929. The second was released ten years later. It was around then that all the variants cropping up.

Most of the time I remain loyal to my darling Rolleicord Va, however the opportunity to try the higher end Rollei TLR came up so I took it. I am usually put off the Rolleiflexes because typically Rolleiflexes are larger than Rolleicords and have an coupled shutter / advance lever instead of a dial and separate shutter cock pin which is more tucked into the camera. However if I already didn’t love my Rolleicord so much, I’d have to say using the Rolleiflex was quite lovely. Which is probably why it was one of the most prolific TLR’s ever made, so much so that there were many other brands that modeled their TLRs after the Rolleiflex. It had clear sharp focus and felt sturdy and well made in my hands.

Here are a couple of photos I took and one from when Meghan tried it out.