-Leica-like performance
-tremendous lens (f2.8/40)
-pocket size -> easy to carry
-silent shutter
-accurate light-metering
-well-positioned controls
-components at its best: Compur shutter, Zeiss lens, Gossen meter
-high-precision product
-good value for money

-heavy to find a good case for it
-rare
-light-meter sometimes awkward to use (horizon)
-sometimes difficult to guess the distance

The Rollei 35 -especiallly with the Sonnar lens- is still the best pocket camera available. Regarding its size, it provides stunning performance. Due to its size, you can carry it everywhere you want and you and you can still take nice pictures (in case you can use the focus).

Customer Service

Otto Baumgartner, Wädenswil (Switzerland)

Similar Products Used:

Leica M4

-Lens, Lens, Lens
-Great Engineering
-Controls
-Makes you THINK about the picture you are about to take
-Carry on, everywhere
-Great for B&W film(because of its light tolerance)

-Focusing at large f stops
-Awkward batteries
-Lens Cap
-No TTL, makes filter photography even harder.
-Hot shoe on bottom

Great for photographers who love mechanical, think-the-photo cameras (personally I hate P&S´s). Superb optics. Makes a good collectible/usable item. Great to carry around in your kit. I have it as an "accesory" for my Nikon FM2, and usually load it with B&W film. Also carry around an old telemeter for the distances and a light meter to verify that the one on the camera is candid (It gives out strange readings with certain ASA´s). Produces great fotos. Bottom line, if you come around one, BUY IT. You won´t regret it.

Customer Service

None yet, ordered the Rollei repair manual from Ed Romney to try and adjust light meter

Similar Products Used:

Rollei 35S (this one works beautifully), Leica CL, Leica IIIf, Nikon FM2

Small size, high quality construction feel.

Quick to use if you have settings (focus, shutter speed, aperture) pre-set to the right combination.

Despite being placed in the "rangefinder" category, it has no rangefinder. You have to guess the focusing distance and set it on the lens, so focusing accuracy is only as good as your estimating ability. I find that it is very difficult for me to guess accurate focusing at less than 5 feet (can you tell the difference between 3.5 and 3.62 feet without measuring?). This becomes obvious at larger apertures (f/2.8-5.6).

Despite its heft and solid feel, the top cover seems to be made of less durable material, as it dents rather easily.

Viewfinder framing accuracy only fair. Parallax becomes a problem at closer distances, too.

Daft control layout. The combination of small size and oddly-placed controls (wind lever on left, flash shoe and frame counter on bottom) make it awkward to work with.

Most recent versions seem to be silly "limited editions" made for collecting, rather than photography, with enormous prices and impractical jewelry finishes (i.e., "Royal Gold Urushi").

Although the Sonnar lens tests out very well on the bench, what is the use of even the sharpest lens, if you don't have some means for focusing it accurately? The school of "guess and rely on depth of field to cover your mistakes" has never appealed to me. If you tend to focus at longer distances, guesstimation accuracy is less critical, but if you like to get in close, you will probably begin to see the limitations of guess-focusing.

Considering that this is a fairly simple camera design and made in Singapore, the high prices seem rather hard to explain. From a photographer's point of view, you pay quite a lot for what you actually get. From a collector's point of view, they are probably a good buy, in general. There is almost a "cult" of Rollei 35 users/collectors, and this may account for the high prices on these cameras. They do hold their resale value, though, if you take care not to dent them.

Similar Products Used:

Minox 35, Olympus 35 RC, Canonet QL17

black, retro, but not 'old looking'
my female friends think it's cute
silent
40mm view
superb lens keeps it alive as a shooter
awesome mech design allows for easy repairs

dings, dents easily
no good lens cap
too pretty for the heavy handed

The Rollei 35S has a special place in my photography heart. Not only is the lens one of the best instruments I have ever used, the camera is a pleasure to use. The design is phenomenal considering the time it was developed. Every little piece in that camera is fits into the smallest space. The 40mm is almost perfect- I find it better than a 50mm for 35mm film. The common 35mm view is a bit wide for people shots. 28mm is way to wide to get the details on people. Do people forget that the Rollei is practically silent- you only worry about a short click? I have gotten pretty good at estimating distance so not having a rangefinder is not too much of a problem. I do wish they put the lens into an AF version though-my AF Hexar comes very close, but is a bit bigger and the lens has a different quality(very pleasing as well). You can measure a lens with all the technical specs you want, but the Sonnar 2.8 lens reproduces the most pleasing reds and oranges especially late afternoon light. On my camera, the meter is very accurate in most lit situations. It is not reliable for dark shadowy subjects, but you know better than that... The bokeh on this lens is superb, all out of focus objects are very smooth. Please email me if you know what is the AF equivalent of this camera. ?Contax T series?Leica Minilux? An excellent shooter and my favorite camera of all time.

Similar Products Used:

Hexar,XA-4,GR-1

Small size, quiet, durable.

Itsy-bitsy controls.

I have the 35LED model, with 3.5 lens. It's a beater, a dent and scratch special, but it makes fine photographs. I carry it with me everywhere, loaded with 400-speed color negative film. The meter in this cheaper model is not sensitive enough to be of any value except in bright sunlight, so I threw the battery away and sharpened my skills at estimating exposures. Part of the pleasure of using this camera is the knowledge that I can make good photographs without any automatic gadgets. If that sounds silly, you're not ready for a Rollei 35.
My one problem with the camera is not really the camera's fault: As I get older (the header above should read *Retired* Professional) and my arthritis gets worse, the tiny controls are becoming a problem. I'm thinking seriously about a Ricoh GR1 or some other quality P&S. But it won't be as much fun.

Customer Service

Never tried it.

Similar Products Used:

Leica M4 & M6, Various Nikons, and a couple of plastic point&shoots that wound up in the trash can.

great lens, compact

not a real rangefinder, dents and scratches too easily, hard to load, too expensive

Don't be fooled into buying one of these. They are vastly over-rated and over-priced. First of all, it doesn't have a rangefinder, and not all of them have Zeiss lenses. The 35s body is perhaps the most easily damaged of any camera. Loading it, especially in low light, is a pain in the butt. You can get a better rangefinder for less than half the price - Example: The Zeiss Ikon Contessamat SBE wears a 50mm f/2.8 Zeiss Tessar, has an excellent viewfinder with a super brightspot, loads easily, looks great, and can be bought on ebay for $60 - $70. Also, the Retina IIA is a wonderful compact rangefinder camera with Schnieder optics, an extremely accurate rangefinder, and is very easy to load. it's of "clamshell" design so it doesn't damage easily, and it's shutter is even more silent that the Rollei 35s. You can get one on ebay for $50 or even less. Forget about the Rollei clubs and its outspoken proponents. It's a great design, but not a particualry great camera. And it is stupidly priced.

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

none

Outstanding Sonnar lens, compactness, full manual controls, built-in Gossen match needle, Compur shutter, accepts filters, quality metal build.

Metal body dings easily, flash shoe on bottom of camera.

I have had a 35S for 6 months and love it. It takes fabulous pics, and seems to excel with b&w film. The prints from this camera can easily be enlarged for pros.

This is a totally manual camera, so be prepared to work for your shots. However, it is a very pleasing camera to use, and the zone focusing is simple once you get used to using it. I used this camera on a tripod in Italy this March with excellent results with all film types, including slide (Velvia).

People who see the results from this camera can't believe it was taken with the Rollei. It's not for everyone, but I never leave home without mine. I have several b&w enlargements on my wall from this camera and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves manual cameras. Prices are high due to collectibility factor, but you can find reasonable prices from some used dealers.

Customer Service

n/a, although absolutely any question about Rollei 35 cameras can be answered by numerous users on the Rollei Users Group.

Similar Products Used:

Various p&s.

- The Sonnar 2.8 is tack sharp. Great contrast and superb sharpness

- All mechanical shutter from 2s to 1/500s

- Durable, trustable.

- Works without batteries

- forget about the light meter
- that d*** under-the-body hot shoe
- So-so viewfinder

This is a fantastic small backup camera. It's quiet, have a superb lens and it's extremely well made. But if you like electronic gadgets, maybe this camera isn't for you.

Look for used ones. Don't pay more tha $200 for it. The price tag for a new one is absurd.

Customer Service

- Are you kidding ?

Similar Products Used:

Leica M3/SL-2/3C , Minox 35GL, Olympus OM-1/2/4 , Konica Hexar

Tiny, solid feel, works without batteries (Rollei B35 with selenium light meter).

The f/3.5/40mm Triotar lens is not sharp edge-to-edge at f/4 and below. Not easy to handle, none of my friends ever managed to shoot with it without some instructions how to "unfold" the lens etc.

This camera was the first camera I ever owned, it was a present from my parents. It accompanied me more than one decade and never failed. It's ranges are limited (both lightmeter- and shutter-speed-wise). The meter is not coupled, so you need some patience until you are ready to shoot. My father had a 35LED which was a lemon and died after a few years. My brother has a 35S (really a Rollei35S family) which suffers from a semi-stuck aperture from time to time. In general, the Rollei35 are cameras for Rollei fanatics (or collectors). For everyday's photography there are more up-to-date designs available now.

Customer Service

none required

Similar Products Used:

Canon Canonet QL17-GIII and many other rangefinders

Sharp Sonnar coated lens
Solid build, small
Accurate meter (see below)
Very quiet operation
Bright viewfinder
Effective film pressure plate
Complete exposure control!

Inconvenient flash shoe
Range guesstimate focus
Inconvenient film counter

I love this camera. I tried the Yashica T4 first, but I sold it because I didn't like the built-in exposure program (lens too wide open too often). With my 35S, I can control aperture and speed easily. The meter is accurate-- if properly calibrated. I shoot slide film, and had the meter calibrated using the C.R.I.S. battery adapter so that I can use alkaline batteries. The camera is small, solid, and a pleasure to operate.
If you don't like the idea of figuring your own exposure, then you definitely won't like guessing the focal length. I have two approaches-- use a fast film and wide apertures when I'm in a hurry, or a slow film and just do a bit of thinking and estimating to figure range. It's really not that hard, and not especially critical due to the 40 mm focal length past a certain distance.
I don't mind the film counter on the bottom as much as the flash shoe on the bottom, but shooting upside down can be tolerable. Oh well. I tend not to use flash except for stuff that isn't particularly creative (parties, etc.).
I didn't pay too much for a great camera, although I did invest some money post-purchase for a cleaning, lubrication, adjustment (CLA), calibration with the battery adapter, lens hood, and a UV filter. But, I have a fine shooter that won't need maintenance for 10 years and will only appreciate in value if treated properly. (They can be a little pricey due to their collectability, but shop around first.) It complements my Rolleiflex well, and I've sold my SLR so I use only these two cameras everyday. It might not be for everyone, but if you've read this far this might be what you're looking for.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Yashica T4 Super