Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Rollei Compactline 90

Serious photographers of some age will know the venerable German brand Rollei, a classic high quality camera for pros and discerning amateurs. Recently we were told the brand had dies along with the company, but it seems not. See the newest Rollei at the bottom. In more than one sense...
A red Rollei with "smile detection". Sigh. What's next, a Hasselblad with every Happy Meal?


5 comments:

Monsieur Beep! said...

Rollei is a wonderful and famous brand, now aren't these cameras beautiful instruments?
Just recently I came across a Rollei digicam for some 55 Euros! It looked simple but the LCD looked fine on it, I was even considering to buy it as a back-up camera for "Doesn't Matter If I Drop It Into The Water" - conditions.
Yet somewhat strange to find the brand name on a simple "no frills" (semi-disposable) camera...

My father used to have one of those twin-eyed Rolleis, only it was named "Rolleicord", a lovely 6x6 thing.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yes, the Rolleicord was a basic version of the Rolleiflex.

Anonymous said...

The word I'd use for the older versions is "muscular." The newest is kind of like going from a supercar to a Smart Car. Disappointing! :-)

Ray said...

I think cameras are becoming like those 'UJMs' (Universal Japanese Motorcycles) we all joked about back in the eighties, when the 'big four' of Japanese motorcycle manufacturers were all producing essentially the same product - differing from one another only in brand name badges and minor cosmetic changes. I rode Kawasakis because they were fast, but it could almost as easily have been a Honda, or a Yamaha, or Suzuki because there weren't that many differences between them, really.
I think digital cameras are getting like that, or already are.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah. I'm hoping fervently that some will make products breaking the mold.