Rollei 35T – A compact hiking companion

I had been desiring a Rollei 35 for a while, after previously owning a B35 which produced some nice pictures for me but had a tendency to chew the film between sprocket holes and had a shutter wheel so stiff that moving it was like trying to open a particularly resistant jam jar.

So it had to be one of the what I would consider the ‘proper’ Rollei 35s, but which one? There’s one with a Tessar lens and one with a Sonnar, the latter having one more element and being quite a bit more expensive. Some people say the Tessar is better with black and white while the Sonnar is better with colour. I looked at some example pictures and I thought the Sonnar images looked more refined, but I liked the grittier look of the Tessar images so I decided to go with that.

Then, do I want an LED light meter or a needle one? I’m quite happy with the needle version, so I’ve narrowed my options down to the Rollei 35T.

Where to get one? I had read about Film Furbish on 35mmc so I went to their website where they had a good selection of the various models.

I went for the cheapest one that was in merely “exc” condition rather than “mint”. It arrived a few days later in a lovely presentation box with all original accessories and the camera looked so perfect it might as well have been new from the factory.

Compared to the B35, the 35T is quite heavy, so obviously has a lot more metal in its construction. Loading a film is a bit fiddly; you have to remove the back, lift up the pressure plate, load the film upside down, put the leader in its slot, reset the pressure plate, manually wind the film a bit, then close the back, lock in place, then wind on with the lever, right to left.

Using it is not a point-and-shoot experience. First pull out the lens, then lock in place. Then, use the meter to set the aperture and shutter speed. I find my meter underexposes a bit so I set the ISO to one stop more to compensate. Also it’s best to point it at the ground because a bit of sky can alter the reading wildly. Finally, set the focus distance by guessing. And shoot!

All the controls have such a satisfying mechanical feel and sound that it’s a pleasure to set it up for a snap. Then winding the film on with the nice clicky lever, which I’m still being a bit careful with after the unfortunate experience with the B35 of ripping through the film with enthusiastic winding, although I’m guessing this one will probably be fine.

Onto some pictures. Due to its size and the quality of the lens, I have found myself taking this one along on hikes, because it fits so easily in the backpack I don’t notice it, leaving more space for clothes and lunch, and when I want to use it I can choose to just put it in my coat pocket instead.

I am including some mono and colour pictures, with XP2 and Gold respectively, for comparison. My experience so far is that it does have the edge with black and white, but it’s also good with colour.

This one is the trig pillar at Back Tor on Derwent Edge. I like how it’s rendered the wetness of the rocks.

I think it’s fair to say that I am pleased I bought this Rollei 35t camera. I paid more than I would have done on Ebay for a similar model, but I feel it’s worth it because it works nicely, the viewfinder is perfectly clear, and I got a guarantee with it. Kudos to Film Furbish.

Although not a big sharer, I do put some pictures on Flickr sometimes here

Thanks for reading.

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