Those that know Meghan and I know that we have what appears to be an on going camera acquisition problem. To remedy this but continue to try out ALL of the cameras we have decided to start borrowing cameras from our fellow camera enthusiasts instead of trying to purchase or hoard them all to ourselves. Not all are winners though and some are just easier or more fun to use but you have to shoot with them first to find out! Thus, we decided if we run a roll through every camera we are interested in, not unlike going on a 5 minute date with a bunch of strangers at a singles night, we can quickly see which are worthy of being added to our collection (or put on our list of “must haves.”) Camera speed dating!
Here is most recent camera I had the pleasure of a quick date with…the Rollei XF 35
A few quick facts about the Rollei XF 35…it is a coupled rangefinder camera manufactured in 1974 and has 40mm f2.3 lens.
Despite how cute this camera looks with its shiney black exterior and square shape, this date turned out to be not so favorable, reinforcing my prejudices toward mid-quality/spectrum rangefinders. But I’ll mention its good points first, I was delighted that the exposure in all lighting conditions seemed to be spot on and the camera is quite enjoyable to use- it has a nice smooth advance lever and shutter button. However as always when I use a rangefinder of mid quality it would seem the rangefinder’s focus is ever so slightly off, leaving all my photos with incredible sharp focus just behind my subject, illustrating the lenses potential but still managing to infuriate me. At infinity it seems alright…. This never seems to happen to Meghan which is probably why she loves these little point & shoot cameras from the late ’60’s-early 70’s so much. Needless to say I am going to get our expert camera repair man, Frank to have a look, just to be positive ts somehow not just me. (It wasn’t….the rangefinder was indeed loose inside. Thanks, Frank!)
