by Karen Nakamura
The Rollei 35XF is a strange camera. Although it shares the names and some of the basic looks as the cult-classic Rollei 35 compact camera, in reality they are very different. In fact, the Rollei 35 is is actually a rebadged Voigtlander VF135.
| Rollei 35XF | Rollei 35 | |
| Lens | Sonnar Fixed mount |
Zeiss Planar or Triotar Collapsible |
| Focusing | Coupled-rangefinder | Scale focus |
The Rollei 35XF and Voigtlander VF135 are practically identical, only the coloring (black paint vs. chrome) are different, and some internal parts were changed from metal to plastic. Interestingly, while the Voigtlander VF135 has a 40mm f/2.3 "Color-Skoparex," the Rollei 35XF has a 40mm f/2.3 "Sonnar." It'd be interesting to see if they were the exact same lens.
The quirks of the Rollei 35 series are well known. The
Camera
Name |
35XF |
VF135 |
|---|---|---|
Manufacturer |
Rollei
|
Voigtlander |
Place
of Manufacture |
Singapore |
|
Date
of Manufacture |
1974-80 Singapore | 1976-1980 |
Focusing
System |
Coupled rangefinder
focusing |
|
Lens
|
Sonnar 40mm f/2.3 |
Color-Skoparex 40mm f/2.3 x elements 1.0m ~ infinity M46 screw |
Shutter |
Leaf shutter |
|
Metering
System |
CdS program automatic exposure metering |
|
Flash |
Hot accessory
shoe on bottom of camera |
|
Film
type / speeds |
35mm film |
|
Battery
type |
PX625 mercury-oxide cell | |
Dimensions
and weight |
xx L
x xx H x D mm |
|
Retail
price |
||
Rollei started out life as the Franke & Heidecke company in 1920. They first started using the Rollei name in 1926 with something called a "Rolleidoscop" stereo camera. People know Rolleis for their famous line of Rolleiflex and Rolleicord twin-lens cameras, which they first started making in 1929. The Rollei 35 miniature camera came out in 1966. In 1970, they moved production to Singapore but by 1981 they had to declare bankruptcy. Many changes of ownership later, in 1995 they were bought out by the Korean company Samsung, which is continuing production of Rolleicords and Rollei 35s.
|
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