[Leica] Re: Leica CL and Rollei 35

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

I've only bought three new film cameras in the last 40 years. One was  
a Leica CL and one an early edition (German) Rollei 35. The other was  
an OM 2. I wanted the Leica to have a fairly modern camera to use the  
small collection of Leica and Canon LTM glass I accumulated over the  
years. I bought the Rollei because it was cute as a button and  
justified the purchase by giving it to my wife as a present to take  
pictures of our new baby son. I bought the OM2 because I thought it  
was a technological masterpiece and I had very good results with the  
used OM 1 I had picked up several years earlier. I never regretted  
buying any of them.

I still use the CL as my standard travel camera. Leica stressed that  
the 40 and 90 mm lenses would satisfy most photographic needs. In  
that, they were correct. Except that I substituted a 100 mm f3.5  
Canon for the 90 mm Elmar. The Canon lens worked every bit as good  
and matched the CL frame line better. Besides, I already owned it.  
But you are right about the Rollei being much smaller. With the lens  
retracted, the Rollei 35 is 1/3 the size of the CL and 1/2 the  
weight. But it is a quirky camera that one must learn to appreciate.  
I still have the Rollei 35, or rather my wife still has it, but I  
liked it so much that I picked up a Rollei 35SE at a camera store  
closeout. In my opinion it has the best lens ever fitted to a pocket  
sized camera. But Mark is right, you need a reinforced pocket. Before  
the digital era most pros I knew carried a Rollei 35S or SE in the  
bottom of their camera bag.

Larry Z


On Mar 10, 2007, at 4:47 PM, lug-request@leica-users.org wrote:

> Hi Philippe,
>
> I've never tried a CL, it's bigger than a Rollei 35S but with  
> rangefinder
> focusing!, on the other hand the 35S even if it is not ergonomic -  
> you are
> right - it is really a toy on your hands...., well when a man are  
> in love
> with different cameras....
>
> Thank you very much for your kind comments
>
> Saludos cordiales
> Luis
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: lug-bounces+luisripoll=telefonica.net@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+luisripoll=telefonica.net@leica-users.org] En  
> nombre de
> Philippe Orlent
> Enviado el: s?bado, 10 de marzo de 2007 22:08
> Para: Leica Users Group
> Asunto: Re: [Leica] With the Rollei 35S
>
> It is a wonderful lens. The camera itself is a bit quirky, but I  
> got used to
> that. But the guess the distance thing of it never worked with me.
> You did some geat work with it. Meaning that in the hands of a capable
> person, the lens quality is at least on par with 'any' Leica 40mm  
> (or any 35
> or 50 from that era at 2.8).
> But on camera body ergonomics, nothing can beat a Leica.
> Thanks for showing,
> Philippe