NY_Dan
Well-known
I just wrote a book review for a really cool book put out in 1936 by the founders of the Rolleiflex called The Golden Book Of The Rolleiflex.
Check it and share your thoughts.
It includes photographs by famous photographers of the time - most common first name is Fritz - that's a cool name.
Check it and share your thoughts.
It includes photographs by famous photographers of the time - most common first name is Fritz - that's a cool name.
largedrink
Down Under
Nice review, thanks for posting!
Freakscene
Obscure member
It is a very cool book. There is a sequel called Im Zauber Des Lichts (The Magic of Light) published in 1940. Now that one is interesting.
Marty
Marty
JeffS7444
Well-known
Well presented, thanks! To these eyes, many of photos do look dated, but meticulously done and very "sunny".
Trask
Established
Interesting that the photos shown side-by-side in successive pages are not square — they look closer to 6 X 7. You’d think that Rollei would want to showcase “the square,” though perhaps in the mid-30’s there was no expectation that cropping should be avoided and/or was artistically regrettable.
charjohncarter
Mentor
Great, I wish I could take photos like the ones in your book: cropped or not.
Freakscene
Obscure member
Shiny happy swastikas. It is very unheimlich*, given what happened just a few years later.
*creepy, uncanny, sinister. But the German word is all of these at once. A much better term.
JPD
Retina and Rollei user
Very nice review. We must remember that we look at the that period in time in hindsight. Germany was in ruins ten years later, but in 1935 (when this book was published in German) it went pretty well for the German industry, and Franke & Heidecke were proud over getting the title "NS Musterbetrieb" (NS Model Company) for their excellent work enviroment. They mention that in the German edition of the book. The German edition also have more photographic articles than the English.
The book contains photos taken with 6x6 and 4x4 Rolleiflexes and also Rolleicords.
I have both the German and English editions, and the 1940 "Im Zauber des Lichts", which is also very good. Then in 1943 Heering Verlag published "Im Zauber der Farbe" with colour photographs and not only Rollei related. It was the same publisher that gave out "Das Rolleiflex Buch" (The Rolleiflex Book) with a couple of years between the editions. They are nice to have for collectors.
6x6 and 4x4 are square formats, but one of the selling points was that the square format was easy to crop and you didn't have to turn the camera on its side to take rectangular pictures.
The book contains photos taken with 6x6 and 4x4 Rolleiflexes and also Rolleicords.
I have both the German and English editions, and the 1940 "Im Zauber des Lichts", which is also very good. Then in 1943 Heering Verlag published "Im Zauber der Farbe" with colour photographs and not only Rollei related. It was the same publisher that gave out "Das Rolleiflex Buch" (The Rolleiflex Book) with a couple of years between the editions. They are nice to have for collectors.
6x6 and 4x4 are square formats, but one of the selling points was that the square format was easy to crop and you didn't have to turn the camera on its side to take rectangular pictures.
JeffS7444
Well-known
"Unholy" would also be appropriate, given the original meaning of the left-facing swastika.
JPD
Retina and Rollei user
The meaning depends on the culture, and what the original meaning of the iron age hooked cross in the germanic countries was is uncertain, but could have been a sun symbol. It almost certainly wasn't called "swastika" like the Indian symbol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika_(Germanic_Iron_Age)
Franke & Heidecke were camera manufacturers and they didn't choose their country's national symbols. If I buy a box of american made Crayola crayons the first thing I would think of wouldn't be the design of the US flag.
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
The Second World War ended in 1945. Germany lost. It has since rebuilt itself into one of the leading European cultures and powers. Please can we now put aside the outdated nationalistic politics and principles and move on?
This post is interesting!! The heyday of the Rolleiflex in the camera world was the 1950s and 1960s, but I am fascinated by how modern the images in this 85 year old book were by today's standards. They hold up well to many that are still published and taken by millions of shooters with now very different cameras.
Rollei along with the other two stalwarts of the prewar (and postwar) German camera industry, Leica and Contax, led the way in the industry for several decades by 'standardising' - the vast range of accessories were designed not only to be useful but to fit almost all of the cameras and lenses made by these now-iconic firms.
In my time I have shot with Rolleiflex and Rolleicord TLRs from almost every decade of their manufacture. I own two 'flex Ts from the early 1960s, also a 'cord Vb. All the accessories (filters, close-up lenses, hoods) for the latter three easily fit from one camera to the others. My 3.5E2 is an exception, but this was a professional series with improved lenses and all the accessories were for a different market.
These cameras have had their day and time but they are not relegated to self queen status. I appreciate that a Rolleiflex or Rolleicord which would have made images for this book in the mid-'30s can be used today.
Many thanks to the OP for having taken the time and made the effort to write and post this. Greatly appreciated.
This post is interesting!! The heyday of the Rolleiflex in the camera world was the 1950s and 1960s, but I am fascinated by how modern the images in this 85 year old book were by today's standards. They hold up well to many that are still published and taken by millions of shooters with now very different cameras.
Rollei along with the other two stalwarts of the prewar (and postwar) German camera industry, Leica and Contax, led the way in the industry for several decades by 'standardising' - the vast range of accessories were designed not only to be useful but to fit almost all of the cameras and lenses made by these now-iconic firms.
In my time I have shot with Rolleiflex and Rolleicord TLRs from almost every decade of their manufacture. I own two 'flex Ts from the early 1960s, also a 'cord Vb. All the accessories (filters, close-up lenses, hoods) for the latter three easily fit from one camera to the others. My 3.5E2 is an exception, but this was a professional series with improved lenses and all the accessories were for a different market.
These cameras have had their day and time but they are not relegated to self queen status. I appreciate that a Rolleiflex or Rolleicord which would have made images for this book in the mid-'30s can be used today.
Many thanks to the OP for having taken the time and made the effort to write and post this. Greatly appreciated.
shorelineae
Finder of ranges
Thanks for the review. It piqued my interest and I ordered the book.
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Thanks for the review. Lovely pictures, though (and this may be with the benefit of hindsight, I admit) rather "Kraft durch Freude."