Rollei 35

Because of the limited radius of available space around the fully insertable lens, the use of the normal central shutter was impossible.

When Heinz Waaske finally presented the fully functional new camera prototype to his employer, Heinrich Wirgin (a.k.a.

It was not until that moment, that Wirgin told his chief engineer that he had already decided to end camera production and photo equipment business.

Having become Rollei's managing director only in March 1965, Heinrich Peesel accidentally got a first glimpse of his new employee's tiny prototype camera.

Filled with enthusiasm, Peesel decided that the camera should immediately be further developed by Waaske for mass production, but, using only parts of Rollei's suppliers.

Waaske's little camera was presented at photokina in 1966 as Rollei 35, with a better lens – the Zeiss Tessar 3.5/40mm lens, a state-of-the-art Gossen [de] CdS-exposure meter and a precision-made diaphragm shutter made by Compur, using Waaske's patented shutter design.

However, the much smaller CdS-photoresistor improved the stylish look of the camera, the battery powered light-meter was more shock-resistant, and the "CdS technology" could be used as a selling point in advertising.

The housing needed to be changed just slightly, since Waaske unknowingly had adopted the appearance of Rollei's twin-lens reflex cameras, by placing the exposure time and aperture controls to the right and to the left side of the lens.

Nevertheless, Rollei's designer Ernst Moeckl revised the housing, and by changing the edge radius made the camera body even smaller.

Placing the hot shoe on top of the camera was not feasible because of the underlying exposure meter and transmission gear.

Mounting the hot shoe at the frame cover would likely cause damage when using one of the heavy flash lights of that time.

Enclosed in the darkness of the camera bag, practically no current drained from the battery, which therefore remained usable for many years.

They experimented with an external rangefinder mechanism with a turning prism as used in Zeiss Ikon Super Ikontas, but as the production shifted to Singapore this idea was abandoned.

Now licensed lens production ("Made by Rollei") was used instead of the original Zeiss lenses, as well as Nissei exposure meters and Copal leaf shutters (both Japanese manufacturers).

This did not continue to be a noticeable advantage however, because of reduction in the cost of competing cameras, but unlike Rollei, through increasing use of electronics.

Preceded by two concept studies, the entry-level model with a triplet lens, the Zeiss Triotar f 3.5 / 40 mm, hit the market in October 1969.

The original movable sliding tube was one of the most expensive parts, because it had to be precisely manufactured on a lathe for a light tight fitting.

These changes resulted in the fully inserted lens protruded a bit more from the camera body than in the previous model.

Especially for the North American market, a special edition with an artificial leather covering in traffic-red, yellow-orange, deer-brown, steel-blue and white was produced, counting 100 items for each color; however, as these test samples did not cause much interest, they were not quoted in any price list.

The new designation Rollei 35 LED resulted from the three light emitting diodes in the viewfinder, which indicated overexposure, correct exposure, or underexposure.

But the first models suffered from clumsy design of the power switch, which activated the light meter permanently.

From August 1978 onward an improved model was made, where the light meter was only activated when the release button was depressed slightly.

Due to its large success, as early as the end of 1967 a luxury and a beginners variant of the Rollei 35 were planned.

But, when finished, the lens did not focus sharply enough at close distances, and mass production had to be delayed by a whole year.

Unlike the Rollei 35 LED the shutter position and aperture control settings were transferred, without any electrical contact wear and tear, using a differential gear turning a variable density filter in front of the CdS light sensor.

As of November 2023, Mint Camera is working on an improved version of the Rollei 35 with additional features such as autofocus and built-in flash.