Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The Rollei is a wonderful camera, and I get a lot of use out of my 35SE. The lens really approaches the Summicron for quality. I do find that the earlier Barnack cameras are more pocketable than the later ones. The Leica II with collapsible Elmar is perfect for a shirt pocket -- no strap lugs, self timer or slow speed dial to catch on clothing. And its 1/500 top speed is the same as that on the Rollei! :-) In general, I'm a big fan of the ultracompact 35mm camera -- I find that the Olympus XA has a tendency to vignette, and prefer the XA4 with its nice 28mm f3.5 lens -- the whole camera weighs less than many 28mm lenses for interchangable lens cameras. The Minox 35mm cameras have fewer virtues, but the lens is outstanding and the camera is, I believe, the smallest full frame 35mm camera ever made. There are so many interesting cameras in this league, from the humble Hanimex 35EE (with an ingenious flip up flash that doubles as the lenscap) to the Chinon Bellami that looks like what results 9 months after you leave an Olympus XA and Minox 35 in a dark room together. All of these are more pocketable than the clunky rectangular shape of the Rollei, but the Rollei Sonnar and complete control over aperture and shutter speed make for a potent package. I do agree that the Barnack spirit is found more completely in these cameras than the M Leicas. It also resides in medium format folders like the Voigtlander Perkeo II or Bessa 66, which are more pocketable than any M Leica. Mark On 11/16/05, Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin@aol.com> wrote: > > Mark writes: > > To me the Leica philosophy of camera size went out with the M system in > 1954. > To me by far the TRUE size of a Leica is the size of a Barnack. A Leica > thread mount camera. Fits in your pocket. Not so M. too big. Clunky. > > ------ > > The Barnack Leicas won't fit in any normal pocket unless they have a > collapsible Elmar lens. For me the ideal pocket camera is the Rollei 35SE. > The lens is better than the Elmar too. Leica once built prototypes of a > Rollei 35 size camera but abandoned it in favor of the M. > > Larry Z > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >