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The Rolleiflex T was originally designed to be a kind of low-budget Rolleiflex, a bit more sophisticated than the Rolleicord, but not quite a 3.5F. Introduced in 1958 to blow apart some serious competition from other companies, the T was officially supposed to stand for its four element Zeiss Tessar lens, but in fact derives from the first initial of Theodor Uhl’s name. Uhl, the brilliant young engineer responsible for creating the T(heodor), was apparently fired once Rollei’s management found out! Nobody seems to know what became of Herr Uhl, but his camera became a legend. The T was built up to 1976, and good examples cost less than some new, entry level 35mm SLRs. First the down side: the Rolleiflex-T lacks the very smooth feel of the top line Rolleiflexes. It’s effortless enough, but you’ll find the 3.5F winds sweeter. However, it’s still at least fifty times as smooth as the Yashica-Mat. I have one of these, too which sounds like a coffee grinder when you crank it round! The T's rather unique method of coupling aperture and shutter speed together is a mixed blessing. If you’re working with a hand held light meter, you can transfer the EV scale to the camera, and this was the thinking behind the idea. At 50 ASA, the numbers on the scale will match the EV numbers on your light meter, for 100 ASA just add one to the number. But in practice it takes some getting used to. One lever drives the whole camera - you have to slide the lever over to select the shutter speed, then pull it up and slide the f-stop to where you want it. You’ll adapt to it, but it’s not as convenient as other TLRs that give you two separate wheels for speed and aperture. The readout of shutter speed and aperture is clearly visible from the top in the best TLR tradition. Mine was originally equipped with an uncoupled selenium cell light meter, an awkward bulging growth on the side of the otherwise very elegant focusing knob. I did try, but all my attempts at calibration failed. For measuring light, it was as much use as a meat thermometer! So I removed it and the camera looks much smarter with just an original Rollei film speed guide in its place. Since I prefer working with a hand held meter, not having the Rollei meter is no sad loss. The T will accept a surprising number of Rollei accessories close-up lens
pairs, prism viewfinder, Rolleifix pistol grip, interchangeable focusing screens
and of course Rollei’s incredibly useful Rolleikin, which allows you to shoot
regular 35mm film in vertical format. It’s a true system camera. As you research the background of these cameras, you’ll discover an astonishing array of accessories were built around the Rolleiflex system - wide-based rangefinders for accurate focusing using the fold down sports finder, flash attachments, a special quick-release plate called the Rolleifix that screws on to your tripod and allows you to remove the camera in a couple of seconds. Some of the more exotic goodies fetch prices approaching those of the cameras! The viewfinder, in common with all Rolleiflexes and most of the Rolleicords, automatically adjusts to correct for parallax error by using a mechanically coupled metal frame hidden below the focusing screen. You won't need to worry about it, since the camera only focuses down to about one meter. What you see is what you get. But everybody says the 3.5 Planar lens is better, did I hear you say? Well of
course it is! The F costs twice as much and the lens has an extra element. This
doesn’t make the Tessar a worse lens. For decades, the Carl Zeiss Tessar was
generally accepted as being perhaps the finest lens in the world. You’ll not
need to worry about the quality of the results. The 75mm f-3.5 Tessar tends to
be a bit soft at the corners wide open (as do most lenses) but this sorts itself
out nicely by f-5.6. At f-11, the results are breathtakingly sharp. I shoot a
lot of Ektachrome Ergonomics: the T departs from the familiar TLR norm by placing the shutter release on the front of the lens plate to face sideways. In practice, this gives your finger a smoother squeeze, and you’ll find it easy to hand-hold a shot at 1/30th of a second. As with any TLR, don’t expect to work as fast as you would with a 35mm SLR - these are cameras for slow, well thought out shots. Rule one, with any TLR, is to use a lens hood always. The front element of the lens is very exposed, and doesn’t take kindly to stray light. You’ll have to get the proper Rollei crocodile-clip strap for it, because of the rather unique attachment method. Any old strap just won’t work, and you’ll need one for TLR belly-button photography! You’d also be wise to locate the proper Rollei leather case - beautifully made, and almost a work of art in itself! Filters? The Rolleiflex -T takes the smallest of Rollei's various bayonets, the 30mm Bay-1. Fortunately, there are plenty of these still around and they're not that expensive. If you shop around, you'll find several adapters were made that allow you to use easily obtainable 49mm or 52mm filters, but the one main advantage of looking for the originals is that the lens hood will fit neatly over the filter. If you can, look for original Rollei filters - remember, your images will only be as good as the WORST piece of glass in the optical path, so you're not doing yourself a favour by using a cheapie filter. For a wedding, you couldn’t ask for a better camera. Plenty of Rolleiflex
Ts
are still in regular use as wedding cameras. The shutter is all but silent, and
the results will easily enlarge to 16x20 inch and bigger. The 75mm lens gives a
very slightly wider angle of view than the 80mm normally found on TLRs, and this
makes tight groups just a tad easier for you without noticeably distorting the
way a 55mm wide-angle would. If 80mm equates to 50mm for 35mm format, 75mm would
be about 45mm. Not much difference, but sometimes you just don’t have that one
extra step backwards - every little helps. For close up tightly cropped face
portraits, you run into one of the less desirable limitations of a "standard"
lens- your subject will have a very slightly larger nose, and may not find the
effect pleasing. Lens of choice for this kind of shot on MF would be something
around 180mm or longer, and only Mamiya with their C220 and C330 TLR range could
handle this. But a head and shoulder portrait will work well, and this is only a
very minor niggle. For day to day, general purpose photography, there's very little you can't handle with this TLR. The folding viewfinder is an example of German engineering at its finest - it's fascinating to unfold it slowly and watch as it expands and clicks neatly into place. Priced in good condition about the same as the excellent Yashica-MAT 124G, the Rolleiflex T offers a lot more system flexibility. Lens quality is good for both cameras, but I’ve found the Rollei does just a tad better wide open. Only a tad, though, and you won't see a difference up to 11x14. Purely subjectively, the Rollei feels better in your hands. The solid, die cast aluminium body shell with its very high quality leatherette covering is easy to grip and inspires a lot of confidence. The Rollei heritage is clear, and the build quality of the T is faultless. The Rolleiflex T is not just a camera for the medium format beginner, it is a respected tool of many working professionals. Mine (T2186990) is one of the last of the series 1, from late 1966. Shortly after I bought it a fault developed, (forgivable, I think, with a 35-year-old-camera) and I decided to spend the extra money to have a full service done. The money was well spent, and the T feels like new again. It’s a trusty companion that will probably outlast me.
Many books have been written on the legendary Rolleiflexes, and I didn’t intend to write another one, but once you’ve used a Rolleiflex, even the less luxurious T, you won’t want to part with it! By the way, here's the manual for the Rolleiflex-T, with sincere thanks to Jeff Munoz!
The final 6000 Rolleiflex-T cameras were ordered by the British Ministry of Defense, and most of them went to the Royal Navy. Rollei were only able to obtain 3500 Tessar lenses, so they asked if the Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar lens would be an acceptable alternative for the rest. It was, and so the very last T ever to be built carried this lens - so it was really a Rolleiflex- X! The Royal Navy's Rolleiflexes had a life expectancy of fifteen years under the most grueling conditions, were unbelievably reliable, and only very rarely needed repairs. They were replaced with a well known medium format SLR system - not Rollei - that also used Carl Zeiss lenses. These newer and supposedly "better" cameras spent a lot more time in the repair shop often apparently couldn't hold a candle to the old Rolleiflexes... There are very few forty-year-old cameras that can safely be used professionally on a daily basis. This is one of them!
Copyright © 2001 by Mike Graham. All rights reserved.
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