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Nowadays, camera manufacturers have so much competition that they have a hard time keeping up with technology. A mid-range SLR has to have just as many "features" as the pro version, but it has to be priced much lower to be sold. How do they do it? By using cheaper, thinner materials INSIDE the camera, hidden from prying eyes. Today, nobody cares that a new camera will only last a few years at best. Back then, it was different. Rollei had no real competition for the professional market, but Rolleiflexes were just too expensive for enthusiastic amateurs. Franke & Heidecke's answer was the Rolleicord. The whole concept of the Rolleicord was to be able to offer a camera of equal quality, with no compromises on construction, but just a few less goodies. A self-cocking shutter driven by a crank meant a couple of expensive extra linkages between the body and the lens board. Off with it - a knob would do just fine! Putting the shutter button on the main camera body meant yet another system of linkages, so why not just have a single lever connected directly to the Compur shutter? Great idea. A self-timer was another additional expense - no need for it! The Rolleicords were introduced a few years after the Rolleiflex swept the 6x6 market - simpler, perhaps a little slower in operation, but almost able to match the Rolleiflex frame for frame in a shootout. As the Rolleiflex evolved, so did the Rolleicord. Seven or eight different models were produced alongside their more pricey sisters, and they sold like the proverbial hot cakes! This is a camera in its purest form: no batteries, no high-tech, no zoom lens, no schnick-schnack. Just high quality simplicity, refreshingly easy to use. If you develop and print your own work, and know how to use a light meter, you'll love it. All of the early Rolleicords came with a three-element Carl Zeiss Triotar lens that was perfectly adequate but didn't quite match the ultimate quality of the more expensive Rolleiflexes. In 1952, that changed. Mine is a Type IV, built between 1952 and 1953. It has a very sharp Schneider-Kreuznach 75mm f-3.5 Xenar taking lens. It's pretty much identical with the Tessar as far as angle of view and quality go. I honestly can't tell the difference when I compare results from this camera against the Rolleiflex T. This was almost the last Rolleicord to have a right handed focusing knob. On the later models Va and Vb, Rollei reverted to the more conventional left hand position. On these older TLRs, the focusing screen is a bit dim. You can safely leave your sunglasses off when you're focusing a Rolleicord IV! Since it's made of simple ground glass instead of the more modern plastic fresnel screens, the center of the viewfinder is clear enough but the edges are difficult to see. Unlike the Rolleiflex-T, you can't remove the viewfinder or change the screen without a screwdriver. Lack of a bright screen makes using this elderly camera slow in dark places - using the Rolleiflex T or Yashicamat afterwards can make you want to rush out and buy a pair of welding goggles! I attempted to convert a modern, split image fresnel screen from a Russian Kiev 6x6 SLR to fit it, but I'm afraid it defeated me. The 'Cord screen is rectangular, the Kiev exactly square. My idea was to add plastic to the top and bottom, but no adhesive known to me was able to bond the parts together strongly enough to hold. Reluctantly, I refitted the old screen. However, it's not THAT bad, and outdoors it's bright enough. Fine-focusing most Rollei TLRs using the flip-down magnifier works best by holding your eye right up to the magnifier. Not with this one: it's easier to compose the picture without it, then fine focus from about 20 cm higher up... you'll only see the center, but you'll find it less of a strain on your eyes, and it's actually quite bright used like this. The Rolleicords aren't as luxurious to handle as the T or the more expensive 3.5F models. The shutter release is primitive - slide the little lever under the taking lens over to cock the shutter, squeeze it to fire. A little bonus with the IV model is that you can make double exposures, something that's not possible with most TLRs. However, they're a good beginners' camera and capable of results to match the T. This is one camera you won't have to treat like a chocolate Easter egg: like all Rollei TLRs, beneath the outer skin of pressed steel and brass, the frame inside is a single, solid, die cast piece of aircraft-quality aluminium, reinforced at the corners and other strategic points. The whole camera is totally insensitive to temperature changes and hard knocks, and unless you plan on playing Rugby with it, it's a safe bet that it'll last you for decades. After fifty years, a service might be a good idea, because the lubricants inside tend to harden and make operation stiff if it hasn't been used for eons. I bought mine to have a keep-in-the-car TLR that wouldn't break my heart if it collected a few more dents or cause me sleepless nights worrying about it. The logical candidate would normally be the Yashicamat, but I suspect it might be a little too fragile for constant vibration and changes of temperature. The Rolleicord is as tough as an office stapling machine, with nearly fifty years of scars and wounds to prove it! A cheap 70s CDS light meter, a lens hood, two rolls each of HP5 and FP4 film, and I'm ready for just about anything that comes my way. The first two rolls of Ilford FP4 proved to me beyond the slightest doubt that it can still match ANY of my other TLRs and produce beautifully sharp square enlargements. The Schneider lens is first rate. What a great camera this would be for an enthusiastic youngster to learn photography from the ground up! Rolleicord
IVs like mine can be found very cheaply in "user" condition: no longer
pretty, but optically and The shutter speeds, changed with a tiny lever on the right hand side, give the camera's age away. Back in 1952, manufacturers hadn't agreed amongst themselves to standardize the logical steps we see today, but it does have a full range from 1 second to 1/500th, in slightly staggered steps: 1 - 1/2 - 1/5 - 1/10 - 1/25 - 1/50 - 1/100 - 1/250 - 1/500th The 1/500th speed needs an extra squeeze to move the lever over, overcoming an additional special spring. Important! Set the speed before you cock the shutter to prevent straining the spring. The focusing knob is a touch undersized, but plenty smooth enough. The depth of field scale shows up to f-16, and the lens will stop down to a marked f-22. The 75mm Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar lens is a very fine performer, even wide open. You don't have to be wary of using it at f-3.5 - the results will stand critical scrutiny even on very large prints. Like any TLR, it'll synchronize with flash at all available speeds. Remember to check that the M-X lever is always at the X position, or the flash will fire but at the wrong moment leaving you with a blank frame and some explaining to do later. There's no flash shoe, which means you'll either have to use a bracket and connecting cord, or resort to a fry-the-curtains potato masher like the Metz 45 CT-1. The tripod thread on the base plate is threaded for the bigger 3/8" size; it needs a reduction adapter to use it on a normal 1/4" tripod - fortunately this costs very little and once screwed in place you can forget it. The official method of attaching any post-war Rollei to a tripod is with a handy quick-release plate, the Rolleifix. Like most f-3.5 lensed TLRs, filters and accessories use Rollei's Bay-1 bayonet. This Rolleicord can
be used with a Rolleikin, giving you a 35mm camera with a fixed 75mm lens for
vertical format photos. Why would you want to use it like that rather than just
put an 80mm lens on your SLR? Well, since most lenses give their optimum
performance at the centers, you'd have pretty much the sharpest portrait lens
around, with a camera capable of high speed flash synchronization - what a great
way to shoot a model outdoors! This is a classic, no-frills medium format shooting iron. The price back in 1952 was about half that of the regular Rolleiflex, but still represented about THREE MONTHS SALARY for an average income-earner! Would you, as a keen amateur, be prepared to spend that much of your income today on a camera? I doubt it. But that should give you an idea of the quality we're talking about, and even nearly fifty years after it left the factory in Braunschweig, this old Rolleicord is still marching faithfully on. By virtue of most of the complex mechanical parts being left out, there's just not much left to go wrong! If I go for a walk with the Rolleicord around my neck, people stare. You get used to it after a while... one old chap came up to me and told me about the one he bought new back in 1953 and what a pity he didn't have it any more! ("So what the bloody hell did you sell it for?" I wanted to ask, but dutifully and politely complimented him on his plastic AF WonderFlex instead. Well, perhaps his camera's still running today, in the hands of some enthusiast? ) The most desirable Rolleicord of all the is the last one ever built, the Vb. It's also the most expensive, and frankly the earlier IV model like mine is the better bargain - if you can afford a Vb, you can afford a Rolleiflex-T complete with removable finder and crank handle, which is certainly the better camera. But performance counts higher than looks. My Rolleicord IV reminds me of a retired German professional boxer I once knew. You could see his nose had been broken several times; his face had plenty of scars from deep cuts earned throughout his career. The days of four hours a day training were over for him, and his stomach had a distinctly rounded look to it, but you really wouldn't want to mess with him! Even with brass peeking through its scratched and worn face, scuffed leather, and generally shabby and degenerate appearance, this old Rollei can still collect a camera's finest compliment when I print up a poster: "Wow! You're not serious? You shot it with THAT?" What more could you ask for?
Copyright © 2001 by Mike Graham. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2001 by Mike Graham. All rights reserved.
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mechanically
on the top line. It does at least have a proper frame counter that resets
automatically, and the simple strap ( just holes punched in the leather that fit
buttons on the sides of the camera) allows this neat arrangement for holding a
cut down piece of film box as a reminder to you that your camera's loaded. 