Heinz Waaske is the man behind the Rollei 35, in the 1960's Waaske started to create a prototype. In 1965 Waaske started to work for Rollei, the managing director Dr Peesel got a glimpse of Waaske's prototype and was filled with excitement by the little camera. Peesel decided the camera should be developed further and be ready for the 1966 Photokina event.
When shown for the first time at Photokina, the Rollei 35 was greeted with delight and from then on became a firm favourite with Photographers; Professional and Amateur. About 2 million Rollei 35 cameras have been sold worldwide.
Due to the popular demand in 1967 Rollei decided to make a luxury model; the Rollei 35 S. Carl Zeiss were assigned the task of creating a 5 element lens; the Sonnar F2.8, an extremely sharp lens on a tiny camera.
For a long time I have wanted to add a Rollei 35 S to my street camera collection, and I was fortunate enough to find one on the market at a very reasonable price.
This Rollei 35 S is built to last a lifetime as cameras were in those days, its small enough to fit in your pocket, being just a bit bigger than a roll of 35mm film, brilliant for street photography!
The lens is fantastic, super sharp and capable of making large, quality enlargements in the darkroom.
Once you use it and see the results you won't be able to put it down. A beautiful little street camera to own and treasure..
For my first outing I took it on the streets of Huddersfield where I put it through its paces, this is one of the images taken with this fantastic little camera.
Below is my short video review of the Rollei 35s, take a look and if you are interested in Street Photography come and join me on my next workshop in Edinburgh.
Labels: Rollei 35S camera
