rolleiflex

The Best Medium Format Film Cameras to Buy in 2024

The past decade has seen an explosion of film users. Whether this is driven by a sense of nostalgia, or a desire to experience the past (for those too young to have shot film earlier in their life), for the simplicity, or perhaps because some celebrities have taken to shooting film, it doesn’t really matter. The reality is likely a combination of many factors.

9 of History’s Rarest Cameras You Can Actually Buy

The history of photography is over a century old -- in fact, it was 107 years ago that Oskar Barnack created the Ur-Leica, a camera that would later be known as the genesis of the 36x24 “full-frame” format. Since then, hundreds of companies across the world have, to varying degrees of success, produced everything from 35mm to 127 to an assortment of medium format sizes and finally to digital.

Great Reads in Photography: March 28, 2021

Every Sunday, we bring together a collection of easy-reading articles from analytical to how-to to photo-features in no particular order that did not make our regular daily coverage. Enjoy!

Restoring and Using One of the Rarest Cameras on the Planet

Arizona-based journalist and photographer Jim Headley recently set out on a "mission" to shoot an ultra-rare Japanese twin lens reflex camera called the Taroflex. Only 10 of these cameras are thought to still exist, and Headley is the proud owner of a fully-functioning copy in "excellent condition."

Shooting a Rolleiflex with Studio Flash and Rolleinars

In this fast-changing age of digital photography, one ingredient missing is a full frame square format camera or digital back. Yes, you can always crop off for a square, but this is not the same as looking through a dedicated square format camera with full resolution. So, what does a photographer preferring the square format do? My option has always been to shoot square format film cameras.

Using a Rolleiflex to Make Tintypes and Daguerreotypes

Those who have known me long enough are aware of my passion for Rolleiflex cameras. Back before I got deeper and deeper into alternative photography I used to shoot my TLRs all the time.

21 Rolleiflex Prototypes Appear on eBay with a Price Tag of $178,000

The factory that manufactures Rolleiflex cameras is being liquidated in a bankruptcy auction, so there's a chance we may never see new Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex cameras produced ever again. As the fate of the brand is in limbo, 21 original Rolleiflex camera prototypes have appeared in an auction on eBay. For a cool $178,000, collectors can own a unique piece of photographic history.

Rolleiflex Factory to be Liquidated at Auction: Here’s a Look Inside

It's the end of the road for the company behind Rolleiflex cameras. Just two months after Fujifilm put up one of its major film factories at auction, DHW Fototechnik is doing a liquidation auction of its own, selling off the massive amounts of equipment used in manufacturing twin-lens reflex cameras.

The auction gives us an unprecedented glimpse into the tools and spaces that were once used to great cameras with the iconic Rollei brand.

This Coffee Shop in South Korea is Shaped Like a Rolleiflex Camera

The title kind of says it all on this one, so we'll keep it brief. There is a coffee shop in South Korea that ought to make it onto every quirky photographer's bucket list... kind of like the bathroom in China we told you about a couple of weeks ago.

The bathroom was shaped like a rangefinder and this coffee shop lets you enjoy your favorite South Korean brew inside a beautifully designed Rolleiflex camera. However you prefer your coffee, there's little doubt in our minds that photo lovers would rather be drinking it from inside this cool and quirky café.

Rolleiflex Still Happily Making Analog TLR Cameras, FX-N to Debut at Photokina

Did you know that Rolleiflex is still producing its high-end analog twin-lens reflex cameras? Apparently there's enough photographers out there buying them for there to be a small, niche market, because Rollei is planning to show off a new model at Photokina 2012 next week.

The FX-N is a 6x6 medium format TLR camera that is an updated version of the Rolleiflex FX, a camera that costs over $5,000. The only difference it has with its predecessor (or sibling) is that it features a new Heidosmat 80mm f/2.8 viewfinder lens and a Rollei S-Apogon 80mm f/2.8 main lens that offer a shorter minimum focusing distance of 55 centimeters.

Fully-Functional Twin-Lens Reflex Camera Created Using LEGO Bricks

After seeing the LEGO large format camera we featured last year, Norway-based photographer Carl-Frederic Salicath set out to create his own LEGO camera. Rather than go with large format, he decided to build a more complicated Rolleiflex-style twin-lens reflex camera that uses 120 film. Aside from LEGOs, he also used some matte ground glass, a mirror, and lenses taken from a binocular.