Scan of negative from 58-year-old Rollei!

[tbm]

Pursuant to my post last week about asking if I'd wasted my money having recently bought a Rolleiflex 2.8A manufactured in 1950, I ran a roll of FP4 Plus through it and developed it in Ilford's ID-11 developer at 68 degrees for 8.5 minutes without any dilution. I then scanned one of the negatives with my new Epson V500 scanner, erased some dust marks via Photoshop, and here it is. Although it certainly cannot duplicate the immense quality of Rollei's current cameras and lenses, I'm please with its quality nevertheless, partly because I am not fussy about lens quality differences. This scene was captured in our backyard at 4:00 p.m. looking southwest and shows a Trumpeter rose tree on the left, clivia plants below it, a small Sego palm in a pot on the right, and our jacuzzi behind the Sego. Due to the narrow field of view of the 80mm Zeiss Opton Tessar lens, our swimming pool on the right is not included in the image. I should mention that on my LCD screen, the image looks substantially better while loaded into Photoshop than it does herein, demonstrating perfect tonality and contrast in the former rather than the latter.

[FrankS]

Looks like you got a good one. :)

[tbm]

For a much better representation of the actual scan results, go here to see it on my Flickr pages:

http://flickr.com/photos/21652620@N08/

[nextreme]

You're lucky, I've been disappointed by my Rolleicord (Tessar lens).
I don't know if it's me or the lens. I'm thinking it has to be really stopped down (still have to test that) to get something sharp.

[rich815]

Welcome to the wonders and joy of the Rollei TLRs! It's why I have 6 of them and have another on the way (oldest a 622 from the 1930's! newest a Tele-Rolleiflex).

nextreme, if you're dissatisfied with the sharpness it likely needs a CLA.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

You're lucky, I've been disappointed by my Rolleicord (Tessar lens).
I don't know if it's me or the lens. I'm thinking it has to be really stopped down (still have to test that) to get something sharp.

You shouldn't have to stop down a Tessar for it to be sharp, at least not the 3.5 Tessars. some of the 2.8 Tessars on Rolleis had a bad reputation, but the 3.5 is an extremely sharp lens. I have an ancient pre-war rollei with Uncoated lenses. The taking lens on it is a 75/3.5 Tessar and it is SHARP even wide open.

[nextreme]

oops, my bad. It's not the Tessar, it's the Triotar 3.5
The finder lens has no markings. As best I can tell, it's the Rolleicord IId model 5

[rich815]

oops, my bad. It's not the Tessar, it's the Triotar 3.5
The finder lens has no markings. As best I can tell, it's the Rolleicord IId model 5

Yup, the Triotar will need a tad of stopping down but then should be pretty darn sharp. The one on my Rolleicord Ia is anyway. Flare is more an issue on mine.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

oops, my bad. It's not the Tessar, it's the Triotar 3.5
The finder lens has no markings. As best I can tell, it's the Rolleicord IId model 5

The finder lenses were made by Rollei, and were not the same as the lenses used to actually take the picture. Most Rollei finder lenses are marked Heidosmat Antastigmat. The taking lenses were made by Zeiss and Schneider. The Triotar is a 3 element lens, while the Tessar is a 4 element design that is a lot sharper wide open than the Triotar. As Rich said, Triotars are really sharp stopped down.

[rich815]

I shyed away from any Rollei Triotar cameras until one was offered to me under $50 USD (the Ia I mention above). I've been surprisingly pleased with it.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Wow Rich, I thought that I had the prize for best deal on a Rollei. My ancient prewar Automat with the uncoated Tessar cost my father $65 when he bought it for me at a photo flea-market in Cincinnatti, Ohio back when I was 15 yrs old.

[rich815]

Wow Rich, I thought that I had the prize for best deal on a Rollei. My ancient prewar Automat with the uncoated Tessar cost my father $65 when he bought it for me at a photo flea-market in Cincinnatti, Ohio back when I was 15 yrs old.

Hi Chris,

I've been very patient when hunting for my Rollei's, and I POUNCE when I see a deal (in the approx. order in which I got them):

Rolleicord III (not sure which) with Xenar: $55 USD
(later sold on eBay for over $100 USD)

Rolleiflex 2.8E Planar: $150 USD
(a real beater but take WONDERFUL images, found in a Beijing flea market alley)

Rolleiflex 2.8C Xenotar: $275 USD
(practically MINT condition, but I like the photos from the beater 2.8E Planar better)

Rolleiflex 622 with Tessar: $110 USD
(came with original hood and original yellow filter)

Rolleicord Ia type 4.5 with Triotar: $50 USD

Tele-Rolleiflex with working meter and Rolleinar 0.35: $900 USD

Rolleicord V with Xenar: $100 USD (currently on the way, just found last week)

I see so many people complaining about how they cannot afford a Rollei TLR so they shop for a Yashicamat and a budget of $150-200 USD. I have no doubt the Yashicamat can take good photos but build quality-wise it is no Rollei...

[leica M2 fan]

That shot is superb! The camera is a winner! You are very fortunate. I like the sharpness of the shot very much. You got a great deal.

[nextreme]

Yup, the Triotar will need a tad of stopping down but then should be pretty darn sharp. The one on my Rolleicord Ia is anyway. Flare is more an issue on mine.
So, say f8 and on ? I haven't had any flare issues myself, and i should mention the softness I have seen is really on the edges, but those edges are about 2cm wide each side, so only the middle 2cm is sharp at say f5.6

I'll have to do some more testing, I really haven't used that camera enough.

[nextreme]

I shyed away from any Rollei Triotar cameras until one was offered to me under $50 USD (the Ia I mention above). I've been surprisingly pleased with it.
Having seen what yours can do, now I really want to test mine !

[nextreme]

Wow Rich, I thought that I had the prize for best deal on a Rollei. My ancient prewar Automat with the uncoated Tessar cost my father $65 when he bought it for me at a photo flea-market in Cincinnatti, Ohio back when I was 15 yrs old.
Can you believe mine was $45, and it had a metal Minolta lens shade and the Rollei close up lens set !