Okay, I bough this Rollei B35 on impulse. On 13th November 2016, I stupidly had an urge to patronise those second-hand film camera stores… Initially, I wanted to look at Contax T2. Unfortunately, nobody sells it. They only have Contax G2 or Contax SLR. Then I saw Rollei! They are so tiny and cute! I googled about them so apparently Rollei is the second smallest 35mm full frame film camera after Minolta?

For Rollei, there are many different models. B35, LED and S, etc. At that time, I only had my phone with me and googled about the differences about them as the shopkeepers were all too busy to entertain us.

Side note: This was my second time buying from Black Market Camera Singapore and I will try my very best not to go back to the same shop unless they are the only one in Singapore that has the stuff I want. Why? I might blog about it next time.

Unfortunately, the one staff that was free to serve us wasn’t familiar with Rollei. Then he handed us to the very busy and arrogant ones as he’s the most knowledgeable. This guy quickly briefed us, like real quick as though he’s a machine gun. And I think he also didn’t really quite know about the different models or he didn’t tell me.

In the end, I chose Rollei B35. Why? Because it’s the only Rollei that’s “Made in Germany” -.- Also, B35 doesn’t require battery at all, it uses selerium metering. Lastly, this B35 is also the most well maintained among the rest… Actually why the heck did I stubbornly wanted a ‘Germany’?! I hate myself for that.

It was only after a thorough research that I know,

The downs of Rollei B35…

1. The ‘Made in Germany’ or ‘Singapore’ might not be genuine since the lower case is exchangeable.
2. The lens glass, Triotar, of this B35 is the lowest range of Carl Zeiss. Damn it.
3. I could have gotten it at another film shop for almost half a price cheaper.
4. B35 is a rangefinder that has no indicator for focusing. All I can do is estimate the distance. Even the staff didn’t know…
5. The selenium meter might one day be depleted if it keeps exposing to light?

What I like about Rollei B35

1. Small, light and portable
2. No battery required
3. Force me to work on my zone focusing
4. Soft shutter sound, which is best for street photography
5. Ease of use
6. But all points except No.2 are the same for the other models………

Gear Acquisition Syndrome

Every now and then, I condemned myself about my lost of control. If I had waited, I could have chosen a better model, or I could have bought it at SGD273 instead of SGD399. Best is I could wait till the desire die off and not buy at all.

Well, since I have it, I will consider if I want to take it to trips with me instead of the tank-like Nikon FM2.

What do you think?