2024 was a big year for film photography, with the introduction of 2 BRAND NEW film cameras. Many film photographers, myself included, thought that the day would never come that we’d see a new film camera hit the market (other than some glorified “re-usable” disposable camera). While the Pentax 17 with its half frame image size and zone focus was really a “meh” for me, the Rollei 35 AF from Mint looked intriguing. I managed to get in on the early orders for one, and eventually received mine on December 30th.

Over the last 2 weeks I’ve shot 3 rolls with the Rollei, and have some initial thoughts. While this won’t be a full report or extended review, I wanted to give my thoughts on the camera – especially regarding many of the likes/dislikes that are floating around out there about it on the interwebs. I’ll also pepper in some of the images I’ve taken with it.

Shot the same morning as I shot my QL19 for the Frugal Film Project, the Rollei 35 AF did well with this scene after I had to manually dial in some exposure compensation by way of the ISO rating. More on that later.

LOOKS/FEELS

I’ve never owned one of the original Rollei 35’s from back in the day. To be honest, they never really appealed to me for some reason. But the minute I took this one out of the box, it was love at first sight. It is a good-looking little camera. The weight feels good in my hands – its light, but not plasticky I’m-gonna-break-it light. It looks and feels like a quality tool. The controls feel good, and the layout of MOST of them make sense.

Rollei 35 AF, Cinestill 800T. Cincinnati Art Museum

LOADING FILM

I’ve watched early reviews where folks have complained about how difficult it is to load and put the back on.

I really don’t understand the problem – loading and putting the back on is a piece of cake. I did it quickly and correctly the first time, with no muss or fuss. Now, to be fair, maybe the only thing they’ve ever loaded is a Nikon F100 or F5 where one can just slam the film in, pull the leader over, and shut the door. If that’s all they’ve ever known, then ensuring the film is on the wind spool correctly, flipping up the backing plate, and sliding the back on might be a hardship to them.

AUTO-FOCUS

Rollei 35 AF, Cinestill 800T. For this image, I grabbed focus on the trees on the right @ f/16 and recomposed the shot.

Yes, its noisy.

I was shooting it in a museum the day after I received it, and people turned their heads to look at me when they heard the auto-focus do its thing. Is it a game-ender for me? Nope. The LIDAR focus nails it every time. The noise is almost nostalgic, as it reminds me of the 1980’s. It’s not any louder than the SLAP my Hasselblad 500cm makes when it fires, and I love that noise.

Plus, the bonus is that one of the people who heard the auto-focus in the museum walked up to me and asked me “Hey, is that the new Rollei AF?”.

Why yes, yes it is.

Even thought its new, it still had the same effect as many of my older film cameras in the fact that it attracts folks that just want to talk about it. Usually the only time anyone walks over to me when I am carrying a DSLR is to scold me and tell me that I can’t shoot there. :)

AUTO-EXPOSURE

Well, here’s where I have to be a bit critical.

Just an ever so slight amount of motion blur here, which happened in a few of my indoor shots at the museum that day.

Shooting in “A” mode, or Aperture Priority as most of us know it, has its issues.

First, there’s no way of telling what the camera thinks is the proper shutter speed. And no warning if its trying to shoot lower than possible when hand-holding. Even with Cinestill 800 in the camera during my museum walk and the lens set at f/2.8, there were images that were soft due to motion blur. I think the camera must have been shooting somewhere down around 1/15th of a second, and that’s just too slow to hand-hold and get good images.

Second, pointing the camera at the scene, then having to move it away from my eye to look at the little OLED read-out to see if its exposing correctly after I’ve half-pressed the button – what a pain. I’ve had to change my workflow with it by kinda holding the camera generally pointed at the scene and looking at the display while half-pressing the shutter button.

I guess humans can get used to anything, but it would be nice if on future versions you could see that read-out through the viewfinder. Or, maybe re-purpose that green autofocus confirmation light to go green when you are exposed properly and at a speed that a human can hold the camera without motion blur.

Third, using exposure compensation with the dial somehow eliminates the read-out as to whether its exposing correctly – or at least that’s how my 35AF is acting. My work-around for it is to just set the ISO to compensate and then go with it. Most of the time I don’t need exposure compensation, but when shooting in the snow it’s a must. For now I just have to monkey with the ISO to make it happen.

Rollei 35 AF, Kodak UltraMax 400 film with ISO dialed in at 100 instead of 400 to add some exposure compensation for the snow.

IMAGE QUALITY

The lens seems sharp when stopped down. When wide-open at f/2.8, there’s a bit of vignetting and softness in the corners, with decent sharpness in the center. Comparing it to other easy-to-carry cameras that I own – I think its not as sharp as my Canonet QL17 and QL19 cameras, but sharper than the Konica 35 Auto.

ADVANCING AND WINDING THE FILM

Both advancing and winding the film were whining points with some of the early reviewers. In reality, the experience isn’t that bad.

It’s true that the throw of the advance lever is a bit long, but its relatively smooth and there’s nothing about it that is bothersome to me. I also like that the shutter button stays down after the shot until you’ve fully winded on. No chance of double exposure. Forgot to wind on all the way? No trouble, the camera won’t let you shoot until you fully advance it to the next frame. So no worries about double exposures or overlaps.

After the roll has been shot, is the rewind experience the best it can be? No, I’ve had cameras that were easier/smoother. That said, once you’ve rewound a roll or two with it, you get used to the process and its fine. I didn’t feel like I was “tearing the film” like others have stated.

ISSUES THAT (REALLY) BOTHER ME

I really hope they have a fix for this. This bit of shoddy workmanship on a brand new $800+ camera does not instill confidence that the rest of it was put together correctly.

Scratches, scratches, scratches. Easy enough to remove in photoshop, but that’s not why I like to shoot film. I truly hope this isn’t going to be a trend with the rest of the rolls.

Yep, there’s my big glove-covered finger in the top right of the shot. Easily removed in photoshop on this image, but there were others that were worse. Also note the scratches - this was the second roll of UltraMax 400 with them in the exact same locations.

REWIND NOB ASSEMBLY - My 35AF came to me with the rewind nob not fully flush when shut. This means that it doesn’t sit perfectly flat, which isn’t ideal of you want to sit it on a flat surface to take a picture of something or a selfie with the timer. Others who recently received theirs have the same issue. I emailed Mint, the manufacturer, about the issue. Hopefully they have a fix.
FILM SCRATCHES – this may or may not be the camera’s fault, but I suspect that it is. The last two rolls of UltraMax 400 that I shot had the same identical sets of scratches running the entire length of the roll on the emulsion side. None of them can be attributed to anything I did in handling or the development process – they are well inboard of the reels I used to process them. There were no scratches on the first roll (Cinestill 800) that I shot thru it, so either both rolls had the same exact issues with their canisters, or something is now going on inside the camera. I checked for any obvious things (burrs, dirt, etc) in the camera that may have caused it, but couldn’t find anything. A 4th roll of a different film will hopefully reveal more on this.
GLOVES – yep, gloves. DO NOT wear big winter gloves when trying to shoot such a small camera that doesn’t have thru-the-lens viewing. Why? Because your big-ole gloved index finger gets in the shot. I ruined about 12 shots during my second shooting session with the camera. I didn’t realize it at the time until after I developed the rolls. More caution is needed in the future!
VIEWFINDER – What you see thru the viewfinder is not what you get. There’s a bit of parallax error, and its not just for close objects. Larger objects that are even more than 20 feet away could be an issue if they are close to the edge of the frame. Learn to frame your shots wider or taller than you think you should, and this should be manageable.
NO FILTER THREAD AND A CAP THAT JUST FALLS OFF - come on guys. Mint - yes I’m talking to you. You were so close with this one, but the lack of filter threads for a lens hood, filter, and a decent thread in lens cap is just complete and utter short-sightedness. Enough people have complained about this so I have nothing new to add. Hoping that a generation 2 of this camera rights this wrong.

In the viewfinder while composing, all of Jim Dine’s Pinocchio was in the frame, but the image on the film is missing the rest of his hand. This is a learning curve I guess.

CONCLUSION

Let’s face it – for most film enthusiasts, USD $800+ is a lot of money to spend on a camera, even if its brand new with a warranty. There are many other fantastic used cameras out there on the market that can be purchased for way less with extra money left over for trips, film, and processing.

It remains to be seen if the new Rollei 35 AF will replace my QL17 as my casual 35mm camera in my bag.

That said, I didn’t NEED this camera, but I bought it to support Mint and its efforts to bring a new film camera to market. It’s my hope the success of the 35AF spawns even more development.

Is it a keeper for me? Time will tell. It could very well be a catch and release in the future.

I’m still a medium format shooter at heart, but smaller rangefinder-type 35mm cameras often find their way in my bag for casual shots on day-trips and vacations. The question is whether or not the 35AF is good enough for me to leave my QL17 or QL19 at home and take it instead.

Stay tuned for a longer term review after I’ve had a few months with it. For now, here are my favorites from the 3 rolls I have shot with it so far. Click on the first image to view larger and scroll through.