Underground and Around Town with my Rolleiflex 3.5F, Freshly CLA’d

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Eric, and thanks for your comment. The children in images 5 & 6 (cousins twirling and aspiring bus driver) are my grand-nephews on an outing to the NYC Transit Museum and were very much aware of me and the camera. The subway platform teens however are just strangers and were oblivious in the way most people with cell phones are these days to their surroundings, myself and my Rollei (sans flash) included. I was interested in how their body language echoed each others' at close proximity —it's like they were choreographed — though I doubt they ever noticed each other. I used the flash for the 2 shots of my grand-nephews (the transit museum is very dim and slow shutter speeds are impossible with darting kids!) but not in any of the other frames. I've always been curious about the Xenotar which is reputedly a superb lens, every bit the equal of the Planars. Although I don't feel qualified to evaluate lenses in any scientific manner I will hopefully compare the 2 Planars and the f3.5 triotar on a 1930s ' cord I own at some point down the line. Cheers!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thank you Charles! Much appreciated!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Martin, and thanks so much for reading and commenting. The flash set-up is pretty cool, I must admit! Godox really nailed it with the Lux Senior which has the retro look of a flashbulb reflector with the convenience of USB charging. The only downside is that it isn't powerful enough to bounce -- you have to shoot head-on or close to it. For the shots in the transit museum (bounced fill) I used a more powerful speedlight mounted on the same bracket. Much less charming but still effective. The Bronica mount does have a trigger but it doesn't work with the Rolleiflex, but that's not much of an inconvenience as the shutter button on the other front corner of the camera is very accessible. I chose the Bronica grip because I already owned it and it's surprisingly comfortable in the hand.

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thank you Stephen!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Walter, Great point about the Rolleiflex team's myopic focus on perfecting a technology whose fate was sealed once the first Nikon F (and Hasselblad 500 series) hit the marketplace. What was bad for the German camera industry is nonetheless great for folks like me who benefit from the extreme quality of the build. A hundred years from now, if humans are still around, I can see this camera continuing to function flawlessly. Cheers from Brooklyn.

Walter Reumkens replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

If it continues to be looked after and maintained, that might well be the case. Neither of us will be around to see it. Having been born in Germany and lived here for 77 years, I am familiar with the history of the decline of the West German camera industry. Otto Barnack was unable to get his ideas off the ground at Carl Zeiss and moved to the microscope manufacturer Leitz, only to become responsible for ‘the Leica’ years later. Other developers were unable to get their ideas accepted. I don’t have a Rolleiflex, but I do have a Mamiya C3 + 330f. Why couldn’t Rollei produce interchangeable lenses, for example? This morning I received a Zorki 1 with an Industar-22 3.5/50mm lens, a Leica II / Elmar copy from 1955 made in the USSR. It looks beautiful, seems to work at first glance and the optics are clean; I’ve loaded a film to form a final opinion. It has been in the family for three generations since 1956. I think I’ll treat it to a CLA and have it fully serviced in Slovakia by a Russian specialist who now lives there. I reckon it’ll last another 100 years. All the best, David!

Dom replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Walter, sorry to hijack this thread, but do you know good places in Germany or the rest of Europe where they do CLA of Rollefilex TLRs?

Walter Reumkens replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Dom, I’m not really up to speed on this – apart from a Rollei 35 TE, I don’t own any Francke & Heidecke cameras. I’m sure there are still repair shops in Germany; you can find their addresses online. Here’s an address in Düsseldorf, though I can’t vouch for it. I’ve only read about Paepke quite often; I haven’t had any personal experience with them. There are apparently also places to go in Braunschweig, the former headquarters of Rollei. An internet search is recommended; there are still a number of firms, but their numbers are dwindling due to age. The demand is certainly there, but repair times are getting longer and longer, and there’s a lack of new blood. https://paepke-fototechnik.de/service

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Good luck with your search, Dom!

Michael Jardine replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hullo- I'll put my £0.02 in here and say how much I love the article! The chat in the comments is also great about maybe the greatness of the Rolleiflex is somewhat down to the company's cussed persistence in continuing to build them against the tide of technological progress. I damaged my 2.8F cos I'm an idiot and failed to secure it properly to a tripod while doing night shots in Riga, and I had some trouble finding someone to fix it, and Aperture in London https://www.apertureuk.com/ did a great job. The issue is the fact that they are valuable in ££ terms, and a lot of perfectly competent but 'lower-grade' repair guys won't touch them, where they will happily service, say a Pentax SLR which is never going to be worth that much. Anyway, here's to Rolleis and those who wield them!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thanks for your comment Michael and I'm so glad to hear that your 2.8F came through it's surgery in good health. Speaking of stupidity, in 2020 or 2021 I was taking a family group portrait on a tripod with then self-timer right on the edge of the Atlantic in Cape Cod when a wave came in, destabilizing the mount and causing a slow-motion collapse of tripod and camera. My niece and I ran like hell to rescue the camera before it hit the water (it was fine); the shutter fired and caught us in mid-sprint! It's a really funny photo, a thankfully happy ending to a story that almost went very very wrong!

Walter Reumkens replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thanks for the congratulations, David. I’ve been looking for a decent model for ages, and I hope I’ve finally found one. The seller lives in a neighbouring town, and it puts my mind at ease that his grandfather bought it brand new whilst on a business trip to the USSR. There are currently lots of cameras from Arsenal (KIEV), FED and KMZ (Zenit, Zorki) being offered on eBay, mostly from Ukraine but also from ‘refugees’ who have been granted asylum in Germany; they live here but apparently travel regularly for a few days to the ‘war zone’ they fled from to source replacement goods. I’m now starting to have my doubts as to whether everything is above board. If the same thing happened at Kodak, it can’t be down to nationality; it must be management errors.:-)) I’ll send you a link to a detailed analysis of this topic.

Walter Reumkens replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

https://www.klassik-cameras.de/WestdeutscheSLR.html Unfortunately, it is only available in German. All the information on this website is well worth a look. Some sections are in English.

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thanks Walter! I'll definitely have a look!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Agreed Andrew!! The subway car with the twirling kids, in the NYC Transit Museum, is actually a historic train from the 1930s, hence the lack of other people and lack of obvious litter. But even squeaky clean cars made in Canada by Bombarier last week become gross within a short span. Part of my beloved home city's ineffable charm...!

Andrew replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Glad I didn’t cause offence! If you’re ever in London, do visit the London Transport museum and sit in the 1938 stock car. They are an art deco gem, and on a different planet to the NYC cars. London Transport retain a working set of the 1938 stock which are used for enthusiasts days out and well worth a ride. The comfort, the sound, the smell are so special. And then you remember that they survived WW2 and kept London running during the Blitz. Real history!

Scott Ferguson replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

I think the differences between public transportation in NYC compared to other 'world cities' is both fascinating and revealing. I think the US has an ambivalence about using public resources to benefit the general public (including people of all races, faiths, 'lifestyles' and incomes) vs. benefitting individuals (individuals of means and property.). NYC was transformed in the mid 20th century under the supervision of Robert Moses, to prioritize the needs of people who had the means to own and automobile, and the vast subway system built. in the early 20th century was left to decay and became infamous as a dangerous place for dangerous people like petty criminals, drug addicts and the homeless. In that era the city itself suffered blight, as the people with means and cars moved out and into encircling bedroom communities. In the last 40+ years the city along with the subway has made a comeback, but the subway somehow continues to have the feel of a '2nd tier' option for getting around the city compared to cars or Uber, et al. In any event the difference between how our public transportation experience feels compared to our peer cities like London and Paris, and I can only imagine, Tokyo, is palpable.

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Very astute analysis, Scott! I recall reading in Robert Cairo's "The Power Broker" that Moses had plans to run a highway through Washington Square, with a lane of traffic passing through the Washington Arch. A travesty that would have been. But to your point despite its odiferous, grimy nature the subway is a heck of a lot more presentable than it was in '78 or '88. I personally like it and don't mind the grime. And, as NYC boosters always say, our subway runs 24/7 365 days a year (who-hoo!).

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thanks Scott! I'd love to talk flash at some point for sure — it's been a multi year process since I took Ethan's class (it was excellent but was geared toward digital shooters, totally different). The short answer is I bounced flash and made the ceiling of the transit museum a de facto reflector, though even then if I'd used an intense burst that overwhelmed the ambient light things would have looked more flash-y. Some well known photographers ie Friedlander embrace that artificial look but it's often not my favorite. Thanks also especially for your kind words about the photos. They mean a lot!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thanks so much for your comment and so interested to hear your similar experience with the two close but not identical focal lengths on your Hasselblad. These minute changes can definitely affect not just the images we make but the experience of making them. Cheers!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Gary, living between Huntsville, Alabama and NYC sounds even more unwieldy than my flash set-up! Seriously I can't imagine that kind of divided existence. As for the flash set-up I realize I look like a character from the 1950s when I'm out with it. Most walking-around work I do without the flash and grip which makes the Rollei feel almost weightless in comparison. I'm thrilled to hear that you're loving your 3.5B. They are truly magical cameras.

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Jeffrey - thanks so much for your comment, your kind words and for your poetic reflections on TLRs and Rolleiflexes in particular. I feel so lucky every time I load them up with film and head out into the day. Cheers from Brooklyn.

Ibraar Hussain replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Truly an inspirational post, I remember when I used to walk around London with a TLR https://www.35mmc.com/21/03/2025/mpp-microcord-a-british-tlr/

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Thank you Ibraar for your kind words, and thrilled to hear about your ramblings around London. Although I know many people get wonderful results with 35mm, for street photography—and most any other type of photography, come to think of it—TLRs are hard to beat.

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Eric, thank you so much for your kind words about this post and a special thanks as well for visiting my website. It's still very much a work in progress but I'm so glad you found it interesting. Warm best from Bklyn!

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 29/05/2026

Hi Reed and thanks so much for your comment. I think I expected some kind of dramatic difference in the rendering and relative sharpness of the 2.8/Planar over the 3.5, but haven't found it to be the case. (Though perhaps that's a product of my eyes...). That said the focal length difference is hard to miss even with my myopic vision. Flash has been a work in progress for me, spurred on by the desire to do more studio work. Digital is much easier of course but for better or worse I'm 100% committed to film, and mostly black and white at that. A Luddite, in other words.

Oliver G. replied:

Comment posted: 30/05/2026

With Google Street View, you can see the exterior of the original factory. Unfortunately, the inscription is illegible. It reads “Stammhaus Franke und Heidecke January 1922.” That's where it all began. At Salzdahlumer Str. 196 in Braunschweig, you can see the old Rollei factory on Google Street View. I hope you continue to enjoy your Rolleiflex and have a wonderful weekend.

David Pauley replied:

Comment posted: 30/05/2026

Thanks for sending this, Oliver. Cheers!