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Author Topic: Lovely Rollei 35S and 35SE, the light meter style and battery replacement issue  (Read 593 times)

EinstStein

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After getting used to gestimation focusing with Hasselblad SWC/M, I decided to get the Rollei 35S (again!, I owned once but sold it). Luckily I got both 35S and 35SE in excellent condition and price.

Immediately I found I felt quite different in 35S vs. 35SE  on the light meter. Most online discussions prefer 35S for the out of viewfinder needle match style (vs. 35SE in viewfinder LED style). The arguments favor the waist level adjusting as well as the visible tune-in process. But my experience is quite opposite.

The major issue with 35S is the pointing direction of the metering can be quite off the real composition target.  It's not much of a problem when the scene has low light contrast, but around sunrise and sunset, say in Zion or Arch national park, there is strong shadow and strong light, the direction of the meter must match well with the composition. 35SE works much better than 35S since I am looking into the view finder to adjust the exposure. 35SE LED only shows if the exposure is right-on (in its precision, of course) but does not show how much off when it is not. This is non-issue at all. Practically it's just an over-turn and under-turn, then settle on the right spot. Big deal. Overall it's much quicker to operate with the in-finder light-meter than to take the camera off the view finder , adjust then get back to the view finder again.

Another big advantage of 35SE is its battery location. 35SE has the battery on the top of the camera while 35S is deep inside the film cavity. This makes a big difference to replace the battery. With 35S, it's a big trouble to change the battery in the middle of the unfinished film. 35SE is simple. 



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