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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ต.ค. 2024
- The camera used by my father in 1959 was a Rolleiflex, an object that for me, later, became an icon of perfection.
I've gathered here some photos from that time and others that I took with the camera over the last 2 years.
This is a tribute to the company's founders who created this brilliant lineage of photographic cameras.
Rolleiflex is the name of a diverse, long-lasting line of high-quality cameras originally manufactured by the German company Franke & Heidecke.
It was 1920 when Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke opened a small company in Braunschweig and began developing a prototype camera with Goerz lenses.
The German camera manufacturer has created an impressive line of cameras and a story closely linked to the history of photography. They set the standard for TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) cameras and had great success with them, especially during the 1950s when almost all newspaper photographers used a Rolleiflex.
What makes a Rolleiflex TLR so special? Many things. To start, TLR stands for Twin Lens Reflex. “Twin” because there are two lenses. One to take the photo and the other to frame and focus via a mirror. The photographer looks through the lens to see the reflected image of an object or scene on the focusing screen.
The image is located at the top of the camera which is held at chest height while the photographer looks down. This allows you to take photos at naturally lower angles and makes shooting at ground level easier. If you pay attention, you'll see that most photos taken by a Rolleiflex have a smooth bottom-to-top angle.
Another difference is that the film is 6x6 cm in size, approximately three times larger than a 35mm film image, which provides better image quality at the expense of a higher cost per photo. The square format differentiates the way subjects are framed. The film format is 120, normally with just 12 photos, so be more careful about what you click.
Rolleiflex TLR film cameras were known for their exceptional build quality, compact size, modest weight, superior optics, durability, simplicity, reliable mechanics, and brilliant displays. The lenses are high quality with a focal length of 7.5 cm, manufactured by Zeiss and Schneider. The camera was imitated by several manufacturers such as Yashica and the american Ciroflex. The renowned Zeiss Planar f2.8 and Schneider Xenotar lenses, both with a focal length of 80 mm and fast, are state-of-the-art optics to this day. Exclusive to Rolleiflex is the robust and intelligent mechanical winding mechanism, making film loading semi-automatic and fast.
Rolleiflex medium format cameras continued to be produced by DHW Fototechnik until 2014 - a company founded by former Franke & Heidecke employees.
