Rollei Wide Angle Rolleiflex
The camera design and manufacturing world is often a back-and-forth affair with one camera maker upping the stakes with different features and others trying to catch up. When Mamiya rolled out its interchangeable lens TLR cameras with the C-Series, Rollei looked to counter with its own version of a TLR that could accept different lenses. While those cameras ultimately didn't make it to market, Rollei decided to make both a wide and a telephoto versions of their famous Rolleiflex 2.8E camera.
With its Carl Zeiss Distagon 55mm f/4 lens, the wide angle Rolleiflex has a lens roughly equivalent to a 28mm lens on a 35mm camera. This focal length is used by many photographers for landscapes, environmental portraits, or making images any place where the limits of a space might make the more standard 80mm lens too long. Just like the other Rolleiflex 2.8E, the wide angle version has an optional mechanism that locks the aperture and shutter speed together and also a selenium-based light meter that will (would) give readings in almost any light conditions.
The Wide-Angle Rolleiflex was produced from 1961 through 1967 and remained largely unchanged, although the second version allows for the use of 220 film.
While Rollei returned to making a wide angle TLR in in 2003, the all mechanical versions produced in the 1960s are still desirable and many need only moderate servicing to remain functional cameras in the 21st century. And while sightings of these cameras may be rare, they are most definitely worth the search.
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