News, Tech Tips, Updates

Leaf AFi-ii 12 digital back available soon

Just a FYI that I will have an 80mp Leaf AFi-ii 12 back available soon.  Actually, it's available now, but I haven't photographed it yet.  This is the one with the articulating screen and revolving sensor.  These had a higher level of integration with the Hy6 cameras than the Credo backs and are hard to find.    

Feel free to contact me. 

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Factory Visit Summer 2016 - Yes they are still in business!

Factory Visit Summer 2016 - Yes they are still in business!

Yes Rolleiflex is still making cameras!  You might have heard about their insolvency and auction, but they restarted quickly and are still in business. Their new business name is now DW-Photo GmbH and they are located in the same factory space in Braunschweig as for the last 65 years.   Here’s a little summary of what’s going on there now

DW-Photo GmbH Factory visit July 2016

I visited DW-Photo GmbH this summer and was pleasantly surprised by how their restart has gone since the auction.   I’ve got some photos and notes to share with everyone from the visit:

Overall thoughts:

They are located in the same building that the factory has been in for many decades, but in a much smaller space that is about 600 square meters. This appears to be the portion of the previous space that was the clean room area and a bit more. The lower floors with heavy machinery for manufacturing, polishing and painting the metal parts as well as the cellar are all now completely empty and so far not cleaned up let alone occupied. This makes getting to the new space a bit eerie but once you are inside their portion everything starts to look very clean and organized. Actually I have never seen it so clean and efficient looking.   DW has managed to get most of their important calibration tools needed for assembly as can be seen in the photos. Some of them are a bit old but still work well and are fine for their production requirements. I was very happy to see that they do still have their print room with many of the original engineering drawings and also their server with all the electronic engineering and production drawings and information. They will obviously have to use outside machine and parts makers to produce the needed parts but this won’t be such a problem since they have the engineering drawings and specification files.  Staff is reported to be about 10 employees though not all are working full time.

 

Current production is focused on the Hy6 Mod2 cameras and lenses. Hans tells me they are making about 6-10 new cameras a month in addition to doing upgrades to Hy6 Mod2 and all the service and repairs. They are working on a new production run of the 6060 film backs for these cameras that hopefully will be available some time soon.   At the moment they are not assembling any TLR cameras, nor any 6000 cameras or the Rollei 35. It did appear that they were preparing a few projectors but had limited supply.   I did see a good amount of parts for the 6000 series cameras, as well as some for the TLR’s and Rollei 35’s too when I looked briefly through their parts bins.

 

Service:   They can service any Hy6 or AFi body, and can perform upgrades to Mod2 bodies on most bodies that have the 3.10 firmware and the where the 3 digit in the serial number is a 3 or higher – best to ask first.   They can repair any 6000 or Hy6 lens and in fact while I was there Rolf and Sabine were working on repairing a 500mm Tele-APO-tessar PQS lens. Rolf confirmed that only 20 of these were made.

Address for service is: 

DW-Photo GmbH
Attention: Service
Salzdahlumer Strasse 196
38126 Braunschweig 
Germany

 

 

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110mm f/2.0, 30mm PQ fisheye and 60mm Curtagon all available

I've gotten in one more new (open box) 110mm f/2.0 lens along with a lot of new items including Hy6 Mod2's, 6060 film backs,  and some TLR accessories like lens shades.  

I also have a few other rare lenses come into my used department lately including the 30mm PQ fisheye, the 60mm Schneider Curtagon, and also the Imagon.

Not much of my new inventory is listed yet so if you are looking for something please e-mail me….

 

 

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AFi-ii 10 and Sinar eMotion 75LV digital backs available

Currently I have two digital backs available for sale:

  • AFi-ii 10  56mp back with revolving sensor and articulating screen - will work with AFi, Hy6 and Hy6 mod2 cameras.  This back has the widest sensor ever made and a 3::2 crop ratio.  It can be set to shoot 3::4 or even square in sensor flex mode.  When shooting square it still gives you approx a 37mp resolution and 3::4 a 45mp resolution.  
  • Sinar eMotion 75LV - 33mp back with internal RAM and CF card slot - will work with AFi and Hy6 (but not Hy6 Mod2).  Produces a very film like file that is very nice and this is one of the most affordable used digital backs for the Hy6 available.  Uses an adapter plate for each camera and comes with the Hy6 plate, but it can be swapped out easily to go on different cameras if you need.  
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One last Hy6 Mod2 Kit with 6060 film back left

I've got several new Hy6 Mod2 bodies left, but only one 6060 film back (new) left available. I will sell this with a new Hy6 Mod2 and AFD 80 as a kit.   There may be new 6060 film backs available next year from DW-Photo, but at the moment its hard to know when or even if. 

I do have two used Hy6 bodies with used 6060 film backs available now, and will be photographing and listing them soon. 

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TLR Lupe base frames back in stock

I have several of the Baier Magnifiying loupe and prism bases back in stock. I also have several V mount loupes that will fit these. You can use any V mount prism as well such as the metering prism shown in the picture.

 

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New in stock

RC-100 remote release for Hy6, AFi, and Hy6 Mod2 bodies back in stock

Type C chargers - limited new stock

Some other items back in stock

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X-Act2 lens boards and accessories fit the Novoflex Balpro T/S

Here's a more compact sort of mini X-Act2…. 

Nathan Wright of Ohm-Image has posted an interesting review of the Novoflex Balpro T/S showing how you could use your Rollei lenses and X-Act2 lens boards and accessories with the Balpro.  You can also get camera mounts and accessories from Novoflex to mount different cameras such as the A7R to the Balpro which presumably will also fit on the X-Act2 - hmm….  Anyone tried this? 

Balpro T/S review by Nathan Wright

Novoflex website  Balpro camera and lens mounts

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