How a trench warfare invention became Germany’s most iconic camera for a whole generation of professional photographers

The story of one of Germany’s most famous brands started in 1929 (some say 1928) when the German firm of Franke & Heidecke introduced the Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex. This produced a 6x6cm image on Kodak's 117 (also known as B1) roll film.

The Rolleiflex "Standard" of 1932, and all later Rolleiflex and Rolleicord cameras, other than the Baby Rollei models which used 127 film, would use the B2 or Kodak 120 film.

This camera quickly becomes the standard bearer for 6x6 (2¼ square) twin-lens reflex cameras, thanks to its high precision and great optics. Reinhold Heidecke didn’t invent the Twin Lens Reflex format. As a long-time professional camera designer, he’d undoubtedly have been aware of the earlier large-format designs. What sparked his interest, however, was the realization that in the trenches of The Great War (now known as World War One), photography over the parapet was an extremely hazardous business.

His idea was to use an upside-down TLR, of compact dimensions, which the photographer could fasten to a pole and hold above his head (sort of like a periscope) and then take the photograph by using a long cable release to activate the shutter. Used in this fashion, the photographer’s life would be not only somewhat easier but also likely to last longer.

The first Rolleicord, came just five (or six) years later, in November 1933. It was a simplified version of the Standard Rolleiflex, with a cheaper 75mm Zeiss Triotar lens and a simplified film advance mechanism using a knob instead of the crank found on the Rolleiflex.

Their next big advance came in 1937, when Franke & Heidecke unveiled its Rolleiflex Automat, which featured the first automatic film loading and frame counting system for roll film, doing away with the need for the red window.

Development of the Rolleiflex/Rolleicord models was slow through the Second World War, but steady, with new lenses, introduced, though often due to simple availability. After the war, development settled into two lines. The less expensive 3.5 series, with f/3.5 lenses and the 2.8 series with faster f/2.8 lenses.

In 1951, the 3.5F ‘flex was launched with flash synchronization, and in 1956 the 2.8E arrived with an uncoupled selenium meter. The 2.8D followed in 1955, with a fully coupled Selenium light meter.

In 1957, Franke & Heidecke reintroduced their pre-war 4 x 4 Rolleiflex for 127 films. Commonly called the “Baby Rollei,” it and its copies from Yashica, Minolta, Ricoh, Walz, and others started the short-lived 127 film “super-slide” boom. As a young lad, your scribe was part of that era, and still has a few “super-slides" in his possession – mostly from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Most have faded badly, and all were horrid to project as the tiny slide-mount made it virtually impossible to project one without the heat of the lamp causing it tos “pop” out of focus.

Additional changes to the main line included 220 film compatibility, improved film flatness via glass pressure plates, and even a prototype with interchangeable lenses (similar to the Mamya “C-Series”), though this variant was never produced, which is a pity, as it might have saved the firm.

Rollei’s last hurrah was their Rolleiflex SL 2000F, a 35mm Hasselblad clone, which was first shown at Photokina in 1976 but (possibly due to financial restraints) did not reach the market until 1981. It was a 35mm camera of modular design, with both eye-level and waist-level finders, interchangeable dark slide film magazines, and a motorized film advance powered by five AA-size rechargeable batteries.

The 2000F camera has an electronically controlled focal-plane shutter with speeds from 16 seconds to 1/1000 second and flash sync at 1/100 second. It features aperture-priority automatic exposure, with ±2 stops of exposure compensation. Zeiss lenses, from 16 to 200mm are offered, as well as 500 and 1000mm mirror lenses. There is also a range of somewhat cheaper Rolleinar lenses, made by Mamiya.

However, most people weaned on traditional SLRs found it "different" and sales were slow. An updated 3003 (with a 1/2000 top shutter speed) and a simplified 3001 (no waist-level finder) soon followed, but it all ended when Rollei went bankrupt in 1982. Had Rollei survived, the 2000F, 3001 and 3003 would have been prime candidates for modern digital backs.

Rollei was reorganized many times after that, Without listing all the failed firms, suffice it to say that today, the small firm of DW Photo, in Braunschweig, Germany still produces the Rolleiflex Hy6 mod2 SLR (with both digital and film backs) in very limited batches, and services existing Rollei cameras. In all, a rather sad ending, to one of the finest camera lines to ever exist.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras.