Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Rollei35S --- Now you're talking. Best pocket sized camera ever made. >Beats all the Leica pocket trash. The only downside is that you have to >know what you are doing to use it. No rangefinder. No auto anything. Just >solid construction and the sharpest 40 mm f2.8 lens in the business. >Larry Z Larry, Not shure about "sharpest 40" since the Voigtlander 1.4/40 appeared. And on the Rolleiclub Website they estimate the 2.3/40 Sonnar of the Rollei XF 35 as the sharpest 40 of all compacts. I have a Rollei XF 35, which is another design. Slightly larger and much cheaper than a 35 S (paid 18 Euros on the auction site - a retired Rollei worker has CLA'd it and adjusted the voltage for new batteries for 25 Euros). Automatic exposure and manual rangefinding. The Sonnar 2.3/40 (the larger size of the XF body allows a faster lens than on the 35 S or SE) is a sharp lens with a very creamy bokeh. A real Sonnar (even if the same lens was named Color Skopar on the equivalent model Voigtlander VF135 - it was the time when Rollei owned Voigtlander). The XF is good for those occasions where you need a automatic compact. The other day I have mounted it on my race bicycle with a Linhof panorama tripod head. Was fun. http://www.rolleiclub.com/rollei/35compact/xf35.htm Didier