where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to?

hi


i have a 2.8F Xenotar that i recently acquired [last year]...

excellent mechanical and optical condition in all respects...
wonderful...
nah... awesome!....
...

want it?! gimme a quotation...
maybe i will think...

;=)...
:=P...

hehe...


regards

PP
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

Check out European dealers on the web. When I left France last year,
they were plentiful in the used markets in Paris, and cheaper than
dealers in the US were selling for.

RolandRB wrote:

 >In the age where we are led to believe that medium format cameras are
 >being dumped onto the market to make way for digital, then how come I
 >find it nearly impossible to get a Rolleiflex 2.8E or F with a Xenotar
 >lens that is in perfect optical condition? Anyone know a good source
 >for these?
 >
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

I'm in Munich so I'll check some of the second-hand shops here first.
Then I'll check the German websites for second-hand cameras if I can
find any. If somebody can point me to these big German dealers with web
sites then I would be grateful.

I prefer to buy from the EU so I don't have to pay customs duty and
purchase tax which adds about 20% to the price.
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

The 2.8 Rollei's got the reputation of being a collectors camera rather
than a user camera. A folly for rich people to buy and collect and
perhaps to sell on at a profit to a future collector. But nothing could
be further from the truth. The resolving power of the 2.8 Xenotar is
awesome and beats the 3.5 Planar hands down. If resolution is what you
are after then the 2.8 with the Xenotar is the one to go for. I know
that with wider aperture lenses sometimes a compromise is made with the
sharpness to get the wider aperture but this was not the case with that
lens. With a Tessar you are stretching it at f2.8 and perhaps an f3.5
would be sharper but not with the Planar and Xenotar design. But bear
in mind you are diffraction limited to 1500/f-stop lp/mm for yellow
light in any case so you wil only see a sharpness advantage at f5.6

I think Zeiss were rather miffed that the Xenotar 2.8 was better than
their Planar 2.8 and improved on it with the later f2.8 Biometar that
got put on the Praktisix/Pentacon 6/Pentacon 6TL. Somebody here will
confirm or otherwise. I have a few of them with the Biometar and the
lens is very sharp indeed. But whether you can translate that to film
depends on if you can get the film flat. I could use those cameras but
they are a bit bulky and have film winding and flatness problems so I
would trust a Rolleiflex more.

I'll try some of the shops here in Munich now I have almost given up on
ebay. Sometimes the pricing can be quite strange with cheap cameras
being dear and valuable cameras going cheaper than they should. I might
get lucky oneday.
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

RolandRB Wrote:
 > I'm in Munich so I'll check some of the second-hand shops here first.
 > Then I'll check the German websites for second-hand cameras if I can
 > find any. If somebody can point me to these big German dealers with
 > web
 > sites then I would be grateful.
 >
 > I prefer to buy from the EU so I don't have to pay customs duty and
 > purchase tax which adds about 20% to the price.


Hi Roland

Try: <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.jessops.co.uk" target="_blank">www.jessops.co.uk</a> - and go to their Classic Cameras page.
Sometimes you can spot a bargain.

Got to admit I prefer a Flex 3.5F with Planar!

Cheers,
Ray


--
Rollei Ray From UK<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

None in Munich that I could find. Two 2.8Fs with Planars in Sauter but
no Xenotars to be had anywhere.
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

RolandRB wrote:

 >
 > I think Zeiss were rather miffed that the Xenotar 2.8 was better than
 > their Planar 2.8 and improved on it with the later f2.8 Biometar that
 > got put on the Praktisix/Pentacon 6/Pentacon 6TL. Somebody here will
 > confirm or otherwise. I have a few of them with the Biometar and the
 > lens is very sharp indeed. But whether you can translate that to film
 > depends on if you can get the film flat. I could use those cameras but
 > they are a bit bulky and have film winding and flatness problems so I
 > would trust a Rolleiflex more.

The Biometar is a Zeiss Jena (DDR) design. In my own experience - and
everything I've heard - it is a good, but not stellar design.

 >
 > I'll try some of the shops here in Munich now I have almost given up on
 > ebay. Sometimes the pricing can be quite strange with cheap cameras
 > being dear and valuable cameras going cheaper than they should. I might
 > get lucky oneday.
 >

I've usually been very lucky with Ebay (espeically Ebay.de). I think
that in all cases with German sellers, I've manage to persuade the few
who misdescribed or badly packed the cameras to reach a solution (very
different experience with the USA)!

Try Emailing Wiese in Hamburg: He is certainly reliable and competent.

Chris<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

Chris Loffredo wrote:

 > RolandRB wrote:
 >
  >>
  >> I think Zeiss were rather miffed that the Xenotar 2.8 was better than
  >> their Planar 2.8 and improved on it with the later f2.8 Biometar that
  >> got put on the Praktisix/Pentacon 6/Pentacon 6TL. <...>
 >
 > The Biometar is a Zeiss Jena (DDR) design. In my own experience - and
 > everything I've heard - it is a good, but not stellar design.

IIRC, the Biometar is the same lens as the Planar, only made in Jena. They
had the trademark issues after the split of Zeiss, and Jena wasn't allowed
to use the Planar name.

In terms of quality, the variations of individual lenses are probably larger
than the average differences between Planar, Biometar, and Xenotar (of the
same era).

-- Lassi<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to? 

I have read conflicting sources on the Internet (not a reliable place
to look for information for sure) about the Biometar and Planar being
the same or different. Here is one source.

http://www.rickdenney.com/kiev_cameras.htm

"The lenses Zeiss Jena produced for the Pentacon Six were nearly
identical to the proven designs being produced by Zeiss Oberkochen for
cameras such as the Hasselblad. They used formulas that are still in
use, including the Sonnar telephoto. Zeiss Oberkochen switched from the
Biometar design used by Jena to the Planar design, which is better in
some ways and not in others, by all reports."
 >> Stay informed about: where have the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8E/F Xenotar's gone to?