Ever looked at your favorite classic film camera and thought, "I wish they would make a modern version of this."?  Sadly, most of the time this wish goes unanswered, but for lovers of the Rolleiflex TLR system the dream came true for them in 1987 when Rollei Fototechnic GmbH released a modern update on the Rolleiflex called the Rolleiflex 2.8GX. 

The road to the 2.8GX was a bit of a surprising one.  The life of the company we think of as "Rollei" has been a complicated one.  To summarize, Franke & Heidecke became Rollei-Werke in the late 1970s and at this time production of their TLR cameras ceased. Then in the early 1980s the company went through bankruptcy proceedings and the result was a splitting of Rollei-Werke into separate companies.  One of these new companies, Rollei Fototechnic GmbH, successfully marketed a gpld-plated special edition Rolleiflex called the Rolleiflex 2.8F Aurum using leftover parts from the end of the TLR production run a few years earlier.  These special edition cameras were met with enough commercial success that Rollei Fototechnic GmbH decided to launch a new, more modern Rolleiflex TLR.  Thus the 2.8GX.

In many ways, the 2.8GX is exactly what you would expect and hope it to be: a mix of a camera combining the classic feel of the original Rolleiflex TLRs with the benefits that modern technology had to offer.  The 2.8GX used a modern Rollei 80mm f2.8 Planar lens sporting Rollei's HFT lens coatings.  Other modern additions included a hot shoe capable of TTL flash metering mounted to the side of the camera just below the focusing knob.  Naturally, TTL flash metering required a TTL light meter which the 2.8GX also had.  The meter had a partial center-weighted pattern and was located behind a pellicle mirror in the back of the viewing lens. So we guess if you want to be pedantic about it you would call it a TTVL meter (through the viewing lens).  The light meter naturally required a battery, making this the first electronic Rolleiflex TLR, but the battery was only necessary to power the meter; the rest of the camera's functions were still entirely mechanical.  Unfortunately, or not depending on your point of view, there were some modern subtractions from the 2.8GX as well.  The most notable was the removal of the Automat-style film loading where the camera automatically detected the start of the film upon loading and registered the frame counter for you.  The 2.8GX went back to a method more akin to the earlier Rolleicords where an index mark in the film chamber serves to position the film and then the advance is cranked until it stops at one in the counter.  It isn't a big deal and in fact it is arguably a method more medium format users are familiar with.  Nonetheless it is the most obvious example of some of the simplifications the 2.8GX underwent on its way to market.  

Despite these changes, there is a lot that feels very familiar about the 2.8GX, at least to those used to working with Rolleiflex cameras.  The heft and weight of the camera are identical to that of a 2.8F.  The focusing is still done via a knob under the left hand, while the right hand has an automatic film crank that follows the decades-old Rolleiflex pattern of crank-forward-til stop then crank-backward-til-stop.  Shutter speeds and apertures are set by dials between the two lenses on the face of the camera, with a little window atop the viewing lens to show you your settings.  The finder unfolds up to seduce you with its magic view of the world, and honestly once this happens you will likely completely forget about all the other familiarities or differences this camera has to offer.  For that is where the real magic of a Rolleiflex lies - that wonderful view through the waist level finder that seems to stop time and cause you to hold your breath.