Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]John Doherty wrote: > > Has anyone had a recent experience deciding on a pocket camera ? > > <snip> I > don't care about auto focus and rarely use flash. Is a Leica CL too big for you? If it is, and if you REALLY don't care about autofocus or flash, I'd go for the Rollei 35. I've got one (with 3.5 Tessar) and vastly prefer it over the GR-1 and Yashica T4 (I have both) when I don't need flash and have time to set up the manual focus. The autofocus/flash jobs are perfect for the indoor party, where there's almost never enough light for anything but a Noctilux and you rarely take two shots in a row at the same distance. But even there, I can almost guarantee any of the autofocus things will drive you NUTS with the time it takes between button press and shutter opening. The "decisive moment" is whenever the internal computer decides to set the thing off. This is where the Rollei will be most like your XA - when you press the button the shutter goes off NOW. Add to that the fact that the Rollei doesn't depend on a battery to work its shutter, and that you have complete control over both shutter and aperture (you can use or ignore the coupled meter as you choose) and you have a nifty package. You do give up rangefinder focusing, though, they are not very light weight (because they're almost all metal), and the older ones want mercury batteries (I use the Wein cell equivalent, don't know if the 2.8s use newer batteries.) But they are small, rugged and reliable, in my experience. I wish I'd had a Rollei 35 when I went on a 12 day Boy Scout backpacking trip with my kids in 1997 - the Yashica T4 I got to take along quit on the first day of the trip (it worked fine on the two test rolls I'd put through it before we left.) The Olympus Stylus Zoom I had as a backup worked reliably, but I lost several priceless shots because the autofocus spot was between two heads and gave me a frame perfectly focused at infinity - this happened when I gave the camera to somebody else to take a picture of me and my kid together at some scenic point. (The T4 was replaced on warranty after I got back from the trip, but I've never trusted the new one. I know this is irrational, and it does take nice pictures, and is fairly cheap.) Take a look at a Rollei 35. With a 2.8 lens it may be just what you're looking for. Cheers, Kip