Rolleiflex MX
The dominant design of the twin lens reflex.
Rolleiflex MX with 75mm f/3.5 Zeiss-Opton Tessar. (Color photos of the cameras were made with a Nikon F, 55mm f/3.5 Micro-Nikkor-P.C, and Portra 400.)
1937: the TLR paradigm was set
The Rolleiflex wasn’t the first twin lens reflex (TLR) camera, but it ‘defined the breed’ (Gustavson, 2011). Rolleiflexes were made by Frank & Heidecke of Braunschweig, Germany and the first one appeared in 1929.
In 1937 an improved model, the Rolleiflex Automat, came out. ‘Some additional features were to be added later, but this camera is essentially the same Rolleiflex which would be manufactured for 43 years’ (Evans, 1986).
Thus, Rolleiflex had created the dominant design of the TLR. Dominant designs appear following ‘an initial period of intensive churning of product innovations’ when ‘experimentation with the fundamental systems of the machine’ die down and substantial innovation stops (Utterback, 1994).
Roppongi station, Tokyo Rolleiflex MX, 75mm f/3.5 Zeiss-Opton Tessar, Verichrome Pan, 2004.
1950s: heyday of the TLR
TLRs have relatively few moving parts which helps control manufacturing costs, and medium format adds photo quality. Furthermore, they handle well and focus accurately. That’s a great combination and the TLR design became popular following World War II. In the 1950s a lot of Japanese camera companies made TLRs. Some were innovative, others followed the dominant design, the Rolleiflex.
The Rolleiflex was the standard professional medium format camera in the 1950s. in the Hollywood film ‘Funny Face’ (1957), Fred Astaire is a fashion photographer and he uses Rolleiflexes in fashion shoots with Audrey Hepburn and Dovima (a prominent model of that era).
The Hasselblad 500C was introduced in 1957 and that marked the end of the Rolleiflex’s medium format preeminence.
Compass Coffee Washington, D.C. Rolleiflex MX, Fomapan 100, 2023.
The Rolleiflex MX (made 1951 to 1954) is a lightly updated descendant of the 1937 Automat. The lens is a 75mm f/3.5 unit, either a Schneider Xenar or Zeiss-Opton Tessar. Starting in 1954 the Tessars were re-branded as Carl Zeiss (Evans, 1986).
From the mid-1950s the standard Rolleiflex models were fitted with the more complex Schneider Xenotar or Carl Zeiss Planar lenses.
EPA building Washington, D.C. Rolleiflex MX, 75mm f/3.5 Zeiss-Opton Tessar, Fomapan 100, 2023.
Summary
Twin lens reflexes are great user cameras. In the medium format universe, they are compact and their design is mechanically simple, yet they produce big 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 negatives.
The Rolleiflex is the original and it remains the standard. Hunt (2024) summed it up: ‘When it comes to twin-lens reflex cameras, there is one true king, and that is the Rolleiflex… The Rolleiflex range of TLR cameras are the stuff of legend’.
Unfortunately, being legendary confers strong collector value. Which doesn’t help users. The good news is that excellent Rolleiflex-inspired TLRs were made by less legendary manufacturers. See my articles on the Yashica Mat and the Seagull.
Maintenance and repair
No maintenance has been done.
References / further reading
Camera manual: orphancameras.com
More references:
Emanuel, W.D. 1975. Rolleiflex Guide, 41st ed. London: Focal Press. Special edition by A Photographers Place, New York.
Evans, A. 1986. Collectors Guide to Rolleiflex Cameras. Grantsburg, Wis.: Centennial Photo Service.
Gustavson, T. 2011. 500 Cameras: 170 Years of Photographic Innovation. New York: Fall River Press. The 500 cameras are from the George Eastman House Technology Collection, Rochester, N.Y.
p. 171: Rolleiflex I; p. 172: Rolleicord (made by the same company, it had some features deleted and sold at a lower price); p. 182: Rolleiflex 3.5E.
Hunt, B. 2024. Film Camera Zen: A Guide to Finding the Perfect Film Camera. Los Angeles: Chronicle Chroma.
Rolleiflex TLRs are featured on pp. 166-167. ‘Rolleiflex was one of the true greats in the photography world… a camera that has taken some of the most famous photographs in history’.
Matanle, I. 1986. Collecting and Using Classic Cameras. London: Thames and Hudson.
p. 131: ‘…the Rolleiflex Automatic with its superb f/3.5 Tessar and Compur Rapid shutter, became as dominant a medium format camera among commercial photographers as the Hasselblad is today’.
McKeown, J.M. and J.C. 1996. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 1997-1998. Grantsburg, Wis.: Centennial Photo.
Pritchard, Michael. 2014. A History of Photography in 50 Cameras. Buffalo, N.Y.: Firefly Books. (The Rolleiflex 3.5F is camera no. 35.)
Utterback, J. M. 1994. Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.