1935 Frank & Heidecke Rolleiflex “Old Standard”

This is the original “Old Standard” Rolleiflex produced by Frank & Heidecke in Germany between 1932 to 1938. It was the very first Rolleiflex specifically designed to use 120 roll film. (The previous model in addition to being rather fragile, had used 117 roll film, which only produced six 6x6 exposures per roll.) The Old Standard was a very successful design and put Rolleiflex on the map. It defined what a great medium format TLR was capable of achieving and the features it needed to do this. Many of these cameras were used by war photographers during WWII and subsequently worn out or lost in action… This camera was very significant historically. Eighty years later, it can be difficult to find very clean, fully functional examples.

These photos were taken with the “Old Standard” Rolleiflex which we had the pleasure of having in our shop. It’s fitted with a 3.8/7,5cm (75mm) Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. The owner hails from New York and as is often the case, he was kind enough to share his photos with us.  Copyright 2016 Ray Vickers. All rights reserved.

 These photos were taken on 120 Kodak Portra 160 color print film.