[Leica] OT: Value of Rolleiflex

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Planar vs. Xenotar is a long standing joke topic on the RUG more so than
Tilley's or UV filters on the LUG. Or mentioning Adolf anywhere.
I always wanted to get a Xenotar and make matched 30x40" prints that's as
big as I've worked with and see what difference I might see with a good
loupe between My Zeiss and it.
I'm guessing ahead of time I'd be seeing no difference. Zero.
Or any I'd be seeing would be from enlarger shake. Or the earth turning
shake. Variances in cosmic particle absorption on Man in the Moon Marigolds.
It be nice to have a Schneider I'll take a Schneider anything please and
hope they'd be give me a variation in some way against my Zeiss version but
no I don't think so difference.
Like between French vanilla and vanilla bean.
But I'd know the two cameras apart because one would say Schneider on the
front and the other would say Zeiss.
Joseph and Carl would be their names. I know they'd be friends.

The Zeiss option is a must for eBay people who like to sell a camera right
around 9 months after they bought it and want to make money on it not loose.
It holds value 10% better and its all about money isn't it?
Its a sucker option for sucker collectors who think playing with money on
the internet is their photography hobby.

Nowadays with the fading Rollei 600x line the difference between Zeiss and
Schneider was the Schneider  cost another grand or two more and was a stop
faster. A pie in the sky option.  Schneider was the high priced spread.  I
know a guy who got set up so he could shoot with one for a Nordstrom
catalog.  Its not like they were getting anything less than the best for
their money.

Have Rollei's gone down? I bet they've not and bet you  still need to pay a
grand to get a good one.
Avedon, Penn, Cunningham all had ones which said Zeiss I bet its pure
coincidence and if when they walked into the camera store and there was a
Schneider  that's' what they would have gotten. Cept Avedon who had a dozen
matched Zeiss Planars. I think his would not take 220. Not an F.
I shot a ton of 220 plus x with mine. Flip that lever. Go another round.
The folding finder on the Rollei is far supperior to the Hassy folding
finder.
And I like the folding finders besting best.

Cecil Beaton, Robert Doiseneau, Ralph Meatyard.
You know! Anyone who hated 35mm used them!
Anyone who wasn't using a Leica.
HCB said any moron could get a great shot with a Rolleiflex but it took a
real craftsman to get a great shot with a Leica.  I think it was meant as an
insult. To the Rolleiflex. For me it went both ways.

To me a Rolleiflex is a Leica which shoots medium format film; which I call
Brownie film. As do others.
To me landscape photography is ideal for medium format.
Cityscapes its a tossup.
Or anything which needs to be 16x20" or bigger when you're shooting film. Or
Square.
Its unthinkable not to have a Rolleiflex. I have mine 8 feet from me right
now where it always is. I got it in 1976. It would be the last thing I'd
ever sell if I was starving to death I may get buried with it around my neck
you'd see a faint smile on my face.
Interestingly a Rolleiflex  TLR is quite a bit quieter than any Leica ever
made. Quite a bit. Try one for the first time you'll think  it didn't go
off.
Because of the fact you are looking down into the thing which could be on a
table or waste level its allow quite a bit less obtrusive.
You're not "shooting" anybody with a Rolleiflex. Not Pointing something at
them. Only fiddling with a black box on your tummy.
They wont hear it go off. Wont see it go off. And wont care either way.
It's perceived a Rolleiflex does not steal souls.
Its a non aggressive acquisition act.
NAAA!

So lets see its quieter and more unobtrusive than a a Leica and shoots the
same format as Ansel Adams in the last 2 3 decades of his career so you can
out Adams Adams or Avedon Avedon with a Rolleiflex Rolleiflex;
But other than that there's no reason to consider using and having one.



Mark Rabiner Rabiner
markrabiner.com