This page provides pointers to re-creations of several documents describing Rollei TLR cameras. If the document you seek isn't here please use the contact information at the bottom of the page to let me know what you need. I'll see what I can do about getting that document on-line.
If you haven't done so already, please be sure to read the notes following the list of documents before you download.
| Rolleicord III S/N 1,137,000 - 1,344,050 Rolleicord IV S/N 1,355051 - 1,390,999 |
I do not have a complete copy of the Rolleicord III or Rolleicord IV user's manual available. Instead, download the Rolleicord V user's manual and the Rolleicord III/IV addendum. With these two documents you will have information that covers operation and use of both the Rolleicord III and Rolleicord IV. Click here for the Rolleicord III/IV addendum (rc3rc4_add_991004.pdf, 0.1 Mbytes, last updated 04-Oct-99). |
| Rolleicord V S/N 1,500,000 - 1,583,999 |
Click here for the Rolleicord V user's manual (cord5_5410_991004.pdf, 1.7 Mbytes, last updated 04-Oct-99). |
| Rolleiflex Automat S/N 1,200,000 - 1,427,999 |
Click here for the Rolleiflex Automat user's manual (automat_5305_991002.pdf, 1.4 Mbytes, last updated 02-Oct-99) |
| Rolleiflex MX-EVS Type 1 S/N 1,428,001 - 1,479,999 |
Click here for the Rolleiflex MX-EVS Type 1 user's manual (mxevs_5501_991002.pdf, 1.0 Mbytes, last updated 02-Oct-99). |
| The Practical Accessories, 1954 |
Click here for the Practical Accessories 1954 (pa_5401_991002.pdf, 1.5 Mbytes, last updated 02-Oct-99) |
| Rolleiflex MX-EVS Type 2 S/N 1,480,000 - 1,739,999 |
I do not have a copy of the Rolleiflex MX-EVS Type 2 user's manual available. I'm not even sure that there ever was a manual specific to the Type 2. Instead, download the Rolleicord MX-EVS Type 1 user's manual and the MX-EVS Type 2 addendum. With these two documents you will have information that covers operation and use of the Rolleicord MX-EVS Type 2 (the Type 2 allows the user to lock the EVS release button in the released position). Work in Progress -- Document not yet available. |
| Rolleiflex T 1 S/N T 2,100,000 - T 2,199,999 Rolleiflex T 2 S/N T 2,220,000 - T 2,313,999 Rolleiflex T 3 S/N T 2,314,000 - T 2,320,298 |
This document is a manual for the Rolleiflex T Type 1, and appended to it
is an appendix one for the Rolleiflex T2 and Rolleiflex T3. Thus, this one document
covers all three cameras. Work in Progress -- Document not yet available |
| Rolleiflex 4x4 (Grey Baby) S/N 2,000,001 - 2,064,999 |
This document is a manual for the Rolleiflex 4x4 Grey Baby camera. Work in Progress -- Document not yet available |
Here are notes about the documents and other information of interest.
The documents are in PDF format. You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view and print these documents. If you don't have Acrobat Reader you can get it by clicking here.
To ensure that only need to download documents once, save the file on your hard disk, rather than just viewing it and printing it (without saving it). If your browser jumps right to Acrobat Reader without asking if you want to save the file, then within your viewer/reader use the selections FILE then SAVE-AS to save the file somewhere on your local file system.
Once you have saved the document to your hard drive, you can either print later or print now. Whenever you print be sure to use the highest resolution offered by your printer if you want the graphics to print as clearly as possible. I found that for my B&W LaserJet printer there was quite an improvement by printing at 600 dpi instead of the standard 300 dpi.
The documents are formatted such that each physical paper page contains two smaller logical image pages (about 4x6 or 6x4 inches each) of the recreation.
For landscape logical pages (4" high, 6" wide) image pages 1 and 3 are shown on the front side of physical paper page 1 while image pages 2 and 4 are shown on the back side of physical paper page 1. If your printer will print double sided then you will get image page 1 on the upper half of the front side of the paper and image page 2 will be on the upper half of the back side of the paper, directly behind image page 1. The same thing will apply with image pages 3 and 4, but they will be in the lower portion of the physical paper page. The only problem with double sided printing is that the registration of most printers (at least my printer) is such that there is an offset of about 1/8", and I would guess that that varies from printer to printer. Because of that variation, included on the front side of each physical page is a larger cutting border around the border of the image pages. If you cut down each paper page using the front side outer cutting border as your guide, then the standard size logical image page on the back side of the paper should always fall within your cut lines. If you don't print double sided then just cut each page on the standard border lines. If your printer can only print single sided, you can probably still get double sided output. To do this print one page at a time, doing only the odd pages. Then take the printed pages, reorder them if necessary, and put them into the printer's paper feed tray again to print on the back side. Now, again, print one page at a time, but do only the even pages. You may need to experiment with a just a few pages at first to learn how you need to reorder the pages before continuing on with the remainder of the job.
These documents are of good quality due to the manner in which they were constructed. First an original manual was scanned on a flat bed scanner in order to record the pictures and graphics. These images were stored in TIFF format for later incorporation into the new electronic document. Next, the text was enlarged on a photocopier and then scanned into an OCR (optical character recognition) program to produce an MS Word file. The file was then checked and edited to clean up the OCR mistakes as well as problematic areas of the original text. Then VISIO was used to recreate any table information. Finally, VISIO was used for page generation by importing the text, tables and images onto each page to build the electronic replica of the manual. The completed manual was then "printed" to a file from VISIO using Acrobat Writer to form the more universal PDF files. Acrobat Exchange was then used to assemble in individual PDF files into one composite file.
I'd like to acknowledge the generous support of Mr. Ulrich Barthel for the loan of many original manuals that were used to create these reproductions. Mr. Barthel offers for sale original manuals for several Rollei cameras as well as providing camera repair services. You can contact Mr. Barthel at [email protected] to learn more about his Rollei services and products.
I've been told by people in Germany who are familiar with the bankruptcy of Franke & Heidecke that the copyrights for these TLR users manuals have been abandoned. When F&H went bankrupt, under German law the German government became owners (or assumed the rights) of the assets of the F&H company and the government ran a receivership company for 10 years to support servicing those products that F&H sold prior to the bankrupcy. At the end of the 10 year period the government receivership company was dissolved. That's the situation as it's been told to me, by people that I think have first hand knowledge of the situation. If you feel that this is not the situation, please let me know (and provide details). I consider the derivative work product (putting the document into electronic form, editing the images, cleaning up the text, formatting the pages, etc.), to be a copyrighted work.
My main reason for generating these manual re-createations was to increase interest in, and usability of, medium format twin lens reflex cameras. Regarding usage of these documents, these are my current views:
- Individuals are welcome to make use of these re-created documents for their own personal use.
- Used camera dealers are welcome to point customers to these web pages, and are welcome to give electronic or paper copies of these documents to their customers, but they may not sell these documents.
- Any other uses, including selling electronic or paper copies of these document files, are not generally permitted.
These re-creations take a long time to complete -- best done on cold winter nights. I think that the next manual to be worked will be the Rolleiflex T and then the Baby. I probably won't have any new documents until January 2000.
For more information contact: [email protected]