Rolleicord

Rollieflex twin lens reflex began in 1929 with version B (bottom, right) for 120 size roll film, designed by Dr. Reinhold Heidecke, in Braunschweig, Germany (Patent number 54527). It has a precision rack, and pinion focusing mechanism with focusing knob connected to a rod running between its two lenses. There is an imaging lens as well as a viewing lens. The camera was further developed to be the best mechanically engineered twin ens reflex camera with built-in match needle system, with a display of shutter speed, and aperture setting above the focusing screen, above the top lens, and a single lever cocking mechanism that cocked the shutter as well as advancing the film.

 

Rollei's twin lens reflex design was copied by Yashica, and and many others. Mamiya offered a more versatile design for professional photographers as a system camera with interchangeable lenses but it was much bigger, making it more suited for studio work. The twin lens reflex design remains to be Rollei's most recognized trademark to date.

Rolleicord of 1960's

Early Rolleiflex of 1930's

Light Path through Rollei TLR (above), standard Rolleiflex with 80 m f/23.5(center) , and Tele Rolleiflex with 150 mm f/3.5 (right)

Paul Frankie

Dr. Reinhold Heidecke

Assembling Rollei TLR at the factory

Paul Frankie, and Dr. Reinhold Heidecke worked for Voigtlander just before starting their own company in Braunschweig.

Internals of Rolleicord illustrates the level of professionalism in its opto-mechanical design. All Rollei TLRs have a central shaft running through the camera to connect its focusing knob to rack and pinion gears on both sides of the camera to precisely translate the front lens board, consisting of the imaging, and viewing lenses. Note the velvet covered ring behind the imaging lens (above) to light seal the lens barrel during focusing. TLRs were favorite cameras for wedding, portrait, and artwork coping cameras because they had almost no moving parts except the leaf shutter.

 

You could also see the parallax compensation linkage (above) that translates the focusing screen back and forth to correct the field of view of camera during focusing. Rolleicords had a film advance knob similar to Russian made Lubitel (the least expensive camera you could get at the time) but more advanced models had the lever advance to quickly advance the film, and cock the shutter like in Hasselbads. Rollei TLR had the most impressive mechanical coupling for its built-in exposure meter to display its shutter, and aperture settings all around the camera.