Adding a technical point of some significance here. And, I'll admit that I've had a general bias in favor of most of the Rollei 35 models since their introduction about 55 years ago. On a Rollei 35, the issue is battery. While it only powers the internal light meter, and you can skip using that if you want to, there is huge difference between the Rollei 35SE/TE (the last versions) and prior models. The basic Rollei 35, 35S and 35T were desiogned to use the long gone mercury battery. There are several work-arounds to replace that mercury battery, each of which has its drawbacks. However, the 35SE/TE models, while designed to work with a mercury battery, use a different type of electronic circuit which will tolerate the current higher voltage replacement batteries and still work perfectly. Conclusion: If you seek a Rollei 35 and you want to use the internal meter system, get the SE (Sonnar lens) or TE (Tessar lens).

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

Great details. Appreciate it! My understanding is most of the metering cells are a bit unreliable nowadays. Mine tells me I should underexposed a bit and occasionally just doesn’t work.

Using the flash on the Rollei - just turn the camera 90 degrees up for portrait or 180 degrees for landscape. You will find the flash is in the perfect 11 or 1 o’clock position for portraits. Very well thought out.

@atomikpi

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I will admit to not owning or having tried the flash but would like to try it. The Rollei 35 is a pretty remarkable little piece of engineering given its age.

@thecascadian3198

2 жыл бұрын

@@atomikpi I used any hot shoe flash, preferably automatic when I had mine. I worked very well, even the huge Vivitar 283 worked.

The results are really really close considering the T3 is almost 10 times more expensive and can die at any time... Great video! Thanks!!

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

yeah if you can live with guess focus the rollei is really awesome. also adorable.

Just turn the Rollei upside down if you want the flash on top. No Biggie!

is it hard to develop or upload pictures from cotrax t3?

@atomikpi

2 жыл бұрын

Hi - same as any other 35mm camera

Nice comparison. I think ultimately it comes down to personal shooting style and preferences. I just got my Rollei 35S the other day. Have to agree feels nice and solid but I have to say the Rollei is no where near as easy to shoot for snapshots than my XA, its a much more deliberate and planned approach. Great optics though!

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

cheers and agreed. my wife actually owns an xa - lovely camera. there's something to be said for something effortless!

Hi I just thought I should mention that the flash is attached to the bottom of the camera but the intention is that you turn the camera around to shoot with the flash still on top.

@atomikpi

2 жыл бұрын

interesting. so a little bit of dexterity is required to use it that way, but a nice option to have.

@dylan.thissen

2 жыл бұрын

@@atomikpi Yes, it's a little unintuitive but that's the intention, it's indicated in the manual and as it's scale focus and settings are manual it shouldn't be too difficult (although I don't think this camera is great with a flash, any old pns will be easier)

Of the two I would take the Rollei, purely because it gives full manual control

I got the Rollei 35S model and I paid £27.00 for it from a charity shop in London and it got the original camera case and lens cap and strap and front lens filter and my lens is the sonnar 40MM F2.8 and it gives fantastic photos as long as you know how to use it

Nice 👍 it looks like rollei is bit more contrastly on my monitor...

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

I was surprised how well it did! Hard to pick a favorite here and think the rollei’s underrated.

I got a special view finder adapter for focuing my Rollei lens and then when you understand how to use it you will end up getting fantastic photos from the Rollei

@edgardoramos5639

3 жыл бұрын

May I know what is that adapter sir? Thanks!

@joeplonsker633

3 жыл бұрын

I am interested in this as well

@randallstewart175

3 жыл бұрын

@@edgardoramos5639 No doubt he refers to an accessory rangefinder device. I've looked at those items for decades, but I've never found one which works reliably. Their problems are that the newest is probably 50 years old, and most were not made with great precision. Now, they are out of alignment or worn our, or both. Adding one to a Rollei 35 defeats its primary character - being small/compact, as they are about 25-30% the size of the camera Look, the depth of field on a Rollei 40 mm lens is so great that any shooting aperture, say 5.6 - 11, you have to be blind to screw up focus on those cameras.

Rollei 35 is most fun camera but hard to use. T3 is easy to use and cool... Actually I have rollei 35 for snap shot and MJUii for party. Thanks for video...

@atomikpi

Жыл бұрын

Mju ii is a great party camera, sad mine died but what do you expect from a piece of plastic. Thanks for watching

Compare them with the Minolta TC-1! All three are cute lil boxes

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

ah, that's a sweet camera!

@randallstewart175

3 жыл бұрын

@@atomikpi Actually, it isn't so "sweet". It is one of the few cameras a national photo magazine tested when it first came out, but which report was never published. That was because they tested one, then another bought on the open market, and both failed their test. To avoid advertiser wrath, they just filed failing reports away rather than publish them.

In terms of lens performance, the T3 is marginally better than the T2, which is quite good but is not the end-all folks like to claim. (Yes, I own one and did qualitative resolution tests on mine and a Nikon 35Ti when I was making a choice.) The lens on the RolleiS/SE tested (by Modern Photography) to be superior to any SLR lens and equal to the Leitz 50mm Summicron at the time. Comparison here is hard, because what the cameras have in common is that they shoot 35mm film, full frame, and are very small. After that, they have nothing in common, so this becomes a comparison of whether you prefer to manually oversee the photo taking process, or point and shoot (not a criticism for me). Frankly, I've never understood the chatter over zone focusing. You look at the subject you would focus on through a rangefinder, judge it to be X feet away, more or less, and you dial that number onto the lens focus. If your life style and experience have prevented you from judging distance between 3 and 20 feet, then you need glasses and auto-focus, in that order. Over 20 feet, the auto-focus in a T2 or T3 isn't going to do better than your eyeball. The main problem with these types of comparisons is that any differences tend to be homogenized by the digitizing process. Here, he may have used a DSLR photo process to "scan" the negatives. but the fact that his camera generates an 80 meg image means nothing if the macro lens used to photo those negatives has an effective resolution about equal to an Epson V600 flatbed, say 2750 dpi.

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

hi. I'm scanning with a fuji gf 120/4 macro lens. I assure you it can resolve a plenty of detail, maxing out a 100 MP sensor. here are the MTF charts for it: diglloyd.com/prem/s/MF/FujifilmGFX/FujifilmGF-120f4-MTF.html?dglyPT=true and some sharpness demos from Jim Kasson's excellent blog - blog.kasson.com/the-last-word/fuji-1102-vs-1204-on-gfx-50s/ it's possible my scanning technique isn't perfect or that I didn't nail focus on the R35 (I call this out in the video, I think - doesn't matter how sharp the lens is if you can't focus perfectly). I'd love to have these old magazine results in the way that we have internet results from modern lenses. I would trust them more than my unscientific comparison ;) btw, I don't find either to be as sharp as my Leica 50 summicron or zeiss 35/2.8c on m-mount. Again, maybe I just need to practice zone focus, or maybe my zone focus scale on my Rollei isn't perfect. Or maybe I need to not use any "hyperfocal" technique at all and just focus on the subject, letting the rest of focus fall however it does. I actually want to do this leica vs. p+s comparison since people tend to say "all lenses are the same," when that isn't quite true (if you're still shooting 35mm film in 2020 though, maybe worrying about this stuff is silly). I find you tend to give up a little by going with a point-and-shoot, and my Leica sees much more use. hope you have a great day, thanks for watching.

You don't need the spikey music during the chat as it really gets in the way

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

Hi! Yeah it was a little loud here. If you check a more recent video I’ve made the background way quieter.

The problem with contax cameras are you can’t get them repaired easily and is expensive

@atomikpi

3 жыл бұрын

yeah, absolutely. this is why I tend to prefer mechanical cameras. I did have some repairs done on my T3 a few years ago, but not sure if parts are still available/when they'll run out.

From my perspective the Rollei was stronger with its imaging than the Contax..............................................

The T3 has a lot of plastic parts in it, and it will die. I bought one when they first came out, and I soon sold it and reverted to my Rollei 35.

@atomikpi

2 ай бұрын

yeah, pretty much every non mechanical film camera is on a one way trip to failure. that’s just how it is. one reason to favor mechanical ones. i mostly reach for my Leica for 35mm

The Rollei "kinda feels mechanical, precise and German"....well it's becaus IT IS German, mechanical camera with a metal body xD

@atomikpi

2 жыл бұрын

Can’t argue with that logic! Not everything German feels German though. The rollei is a pleasure to use, justifies the hassle.