Rolleiflex SL35

Updated on July 4th, 2023

Rolleiflex SL35

This is, in my opinion, the best 35mm camera made by Rollei and launched in 1970. It's an all-mechanic camera body with a decent and reliable horizontal travel cloth shutter with speeds from 1s to 1/1000s.

The small-sized, all-metal camera body feels very solid in the hands but not too heavy. It's more compact than a Canon FTb or a Nikkormat, but larger than a Pentax MX. Feels good in hands and that's what matter.

It has no flash hot shoe (or even a shoe). If you plan to use a flash unit on it, you may need a flash bracketing mount or an accessory flash shoe that fits around the eyepiece frame, then use a cable.

This camera uses QBM mount lenses and it's compatible with 1-pin, 2-pin, and 3-pin units. It usually came with a very sharp 55mm f1.4 Rolleinar, designed by Mamiya or a QFT Rollei 50mm F1.8 Planar.

The viewfinder is large and clear, with a micro prism focusing aid at the center and a match-needle light meter on the right side.

About the mechanics, it's a very well-built and projected piece of hardware. It's simple, efficient and very easy to service with no surprises.

The light metering mode is center weighted by two CDs cells and good for normal light use. Not quite in the league of Fujica's or Olympus' SPD system, but more than adequate in good hands.

There is a very strange design feature, the depth preview and light metering button just near the film advance lever, a very awkward position and easy to be confused with the shutter release button. When you press it, the iris closes to the proper aperture and the light meter is powered. This means that this camera has no automatic aperture reading for the light meter. By the way, it uses a PX625 battery for it. I use one LR44 alkaline and a brass battery adapter.

The light meter/DOF preview switch activates the light meter circuit. It's very easy to confuse the LM/DOF button with the shutter button.

The first bad impression I had about the "electronics" was exaggerated. The light meter uses that awful 1.35v mercury battery, but you can use  alkalines without any problem because the meter circuit is actually a Wheatstone bridge and independent of the battery voltage. Clever. I like to use the SR44 or any other silver-oxyde ones that fits, but you can aso use standard alkalines like the A76/LR44.

Please do not confuse the Rolleiflex SL35 with the SL35M. The later model has horrible and unreliable mechanics, especially the film transport gears and it's probably the worst camera from Rollei by a large margin. Some people like it but honestly I don't.

It's a cool camera if you plan to play with QBM lenses. There are some excellent, very sharp lenses for a good price on the second-hand market, like the Distagon 2.8/35, the Planar 1.8/50 and the Tele-Tessar 4/135. They form an excellent starter kit and will not make a hole in your pocket. Some lenses like the 25mm Distagon (Color-Skoparex) aren't cheap, but never exaggerated in price. I love the 85mm Sonnar.

If you don't want to expend too much money on QBM lenses, there is an amateur range of lenses by Rollei, the Rolleinars. Not good as the Zeiss-derived lenses but good enough for casual use.

There are two other possibilities for third-party lenses: Tamron's Adaptall-2 series lenses and Rollei's own M42 screw mount to QBM adapter, but it's a hard to fin item.

Look elsewhere if you don't have plans to play with QBM mount lenses. =)

Pros:

- Very well built

- Reliable

- Good viewfinder and focusing screen

- Compact, about the size of the Pentax MX

Cons:

- QBM lenses are not very easy to find

- Pristine models can cost a good money

Since my focus is on practical and user experience and not historical or too technical, for more information please see The Rolleiflex SL35 Blog or the excellent Mike Eckman's website.

Since I mentioned the Pentax MX, I think they are very similar but in the end personal preferences may prevail. The Pentax viewfinder is larger and better and the camera has an exposure compensation dial around the rewind crank. The light meter of the MX has 5 leds and the SL35 has a match needle system. But the MX has no depth-of-field preview lever/button. In the end, the MX is a more modern camera and the K-mount lenses are much easier to find than QBMs.