Michael's article was quite interesting to read (from my perspective of both a long time Rolleiflex user and also the US Dealer). I still shoot film along side digital. When I use my TLR's I will often shoot a roll and be happy with 10 out of 12 shots or even the whole roll. Sometimes when I shoot digital, I may not be satisfied with any of the hundreds of frames. Considering that I would not say using film is "the hard way". Actually its quite enjoyable because you use (or at least I use) a different methodology when shooting film with the TLR. I think through every shot and compose on the viewfinder. Maybe this is what Michael refers to as rediscovering craft.
With regard to the Rolleiflex TLR's and company, I would like to correct a few factual errors in the article. These are understandable and quite common considering the lack of good information about the cameras and products over the decades. The complete void of marketing and promotional literature has created a lot of misinformation about these wonderful cameras.
A good place to start is the naming: The professional line of cameras coming from company are labeled Rolleiflex - Twin Lens Reflex, and SLR cameras all have mirrors hence the 'flex' part. Consumer level cameras were labeled Rollei. Many people use these two brands interchangeably - and even the company did sometimes print Rollei on some parts like lens caps which added to the confusion. BTW - In German a word with an ie or ei will be pronounced as the last letter so technically its pronounced more like Roll-eye.
When the company was Rollei GmbH in the early 2000's - even before it was Franke und Heidecke - they introduced the FX version of the TLR. It was not the FX model introduced in 2012 as Michael writes but the FX-N model which could focus much closer without the Rolleinar close up accessories. There are/were in fact four different versions of the TLR available. The FX (standard with 80mm lens), the FW (wide with 50mm lens), the FT (Tele with 135mm lens) and the new FX-N (with same lens as FX). A lot of even experienced photographers didn't know that Rolleiflex's were still made new. They made the TLR's from 1920's until February of this year when the factory was shuttered. You can download a pdf of the factory brochure on the TLR's from my website and/or a user manual for free if you want more information. Direct links below:
http://rolleiflex.us/products/tlr-brochure-english-versionhttp://rolleiflex.us/products/old-rollei-tlr-brochurehttp://rolleiflex.us/products/user-manual-for-fx-and-fw-tlr-camerasConfusion about where to buy and pricing was also a problem for Rolleiflex/DHW which Michael does rightly bring up in his article. The company either didn't have or did not enforce a MAP and this caused lots of problems, which were compounded by a large number of ebay sellers with inventory purchased during their frequent turnovers that was sold as new - look for packaging - some will still say Rollei, some with Franke und Heidecke, and a few with the last company name DHW. B&H wasn't an authorized dealer but did managed to make listings on their site for the different items anyhow. My guess is not too many people bought from them since their prices were much higher than list - for example the FX was over $8000 on B&H but official list was under $5400. I don't know for sure but my guess is that when B&H actually took an order they had to go to one of the Asian dealers and paid list which is why they had to price so much higher.
Leica Photo Lisse / Henny Hoogeveen probably was DHW's biggest dealer since they sold a lot to Asia as well and he did take a big lot of the last goods but not all of them ;-) In any case the new TLR's have strong competition from the old ones which were quite good. Check Vivian Maier's photos... I still shoot a 2.8F from 1965 and would be hard pressed myself to feel the need to trade it for a new one. The new cameras do have better metering and ttl flash metering which can be a big advantage. The FW is wider at 50mm than the older and rare Rolleiwide at 55mm, and the FT has both a nicer lens than the older Tele-Rolleiflex and can focus significantly closer.
When I started my dealership, I expected to sell mostly the Rolleiflex Hy6 and lenses since it could take digital backs along with the film backs. With LuLa being mostly digital oriented I only placed adds for the Hy6 with the Luminous-Landscape so I'm not all that surprised Michael went to ebay when he did his TLR search. That's what a lot of people do, and in fact there are quite a lot of Rolleiflex fans that didn't even know the company was still in business. Still I was definitely surprised by the interest in the TLR's which made up half of my camera sales. On top of that about half the Hy6 buyers planned to only shoot film with them. I'd say there is still a very active group of film shooters and its growing not shrinking. Film is not really complicated at all, but there are lots of opportunity to add your own craft, feelings and energy to it along the way starting with the film type, camera and lens choices, exposure, development and processing.
