Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/02/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 18/02/2007, at 12:46, Marc James Small wrote: > At 07:49 PM 2/17/2007, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > > >I had one of the earlier models of this little jewel when I was a > >sophmore in college in 1949. Mine was in gray and I recall that it > >had a lever wind. I sold it to pay for the repairs to my '47 > >Plymouth. a car that was hardly a paragon of reliability. Too bad. I > >liked that little camera. > > Larry > > Unless it was releathered, it would have been in black. I claim no > great expertise in Baby Rolleis, but the Prewar models were to my > fairly certain knowledge all finished in black, and the Postwar > Baby Grey did not appear until 1957. Did yours have a 3.5 or 2.8 > lens? That 2.8/6cm CZJ Tessar could do some great work but the > 2.5/6cm Tessar was a better lens by f/4, I believe. Well here is my cache of 4 x 4's: you have seen the 60's version. Here are the earliest ones made: a 1931 version and the 1933 version (in its own case) The 33 has an older lens than the 31. The lenes were all delivered to Rollei as a batch in 1931. The '33 also has a peep hole on top of the viewing lens to allow you to see the speed and f stop set. Its the "bump". The case is great: the baby is mounted on a sliding steel frame and can be lifted up or lowered back into the case and used, without having to detach the case. <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alastair/ album184/05Original31_33Cased.jpg.html> http://www.tiny.cc/3ZXUc <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alastair/ album184/07Original33case_31.jpg.html> http://www.tiny.cc/59J1w <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alastair/ album184/05Original31_33.jpg.html> http://www.tiny.cc/JYGB2 By the time they made the Grey baby, the f2.8 was gone, the crank (first seen on the original baby of all flexes) was gone, the mechanism was based on the "T" and plastic was invented: the case is a clam. You can swing down the front and the back and use the camera with the case still attached!!. The advance knob cocks the shutter. <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alastair/ album184/01GreyCased.jpg.html> http://www.tiny.cc/5bI8P <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alastair/ album184/02GreyUncased.jpg.html> http://www.tiny.cc/MTukd <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alastair/ album184/03GreyUncased.jpg.html> http://www.tiny.cc/h043E <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alastair/ album184/04GreyPamphlet.jpg.html> http://www.tiny.cc/ru43r Cheers and here's luck Alastair