Roland
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| Roland II no. W799, Compur-Rapid shutter. Pictures by eBayer Yalluflex. (Image rights) |
The Roland Kleinbild-Kamera is a coupled rangefinder camera for 4.5×6 cm exposures on 120 film, from 1931 onwards.[1] It is called the Roland Plasmat in some places[1], in reference to its lens, and McKeown gives its maker as Plasmat GmbH.[2] It has an uncoated 70 mm f/2.7 Plasmat lens by Paul Rudolph, mounted on a collapsing lens-tube. Focusing is by twisting a knurled collar at the body end of the lens; the camera focuses to about one metre. It has either a Compur or Compur-Rapid shutter, with speeds 1 to 1/250 or 1/400 second respectively, plus 'B' and 'T', and a delayed action (self-timer).
The camera is vertically-oriented; the film runs from the top to the bottom, and the coupled rangefinder, combined with the viewfinder, is at the top, across the shorter dimension of the body. There are also loops for a strap there.
Some examples have an extinction meter, with its window below and between the two viewfinder/rangefinder ones, and a calculator to interpret the reading on the right side of the body; this also incorporates a depth of field indicator, which specifies the circle of confusion on which it is based![1][3]
On some models, film advance is by a simple winding knob at the bottom, with two red windows. McKeown shows an example with an automatic frame counter on the side (and a taller winding knob).[2]; he states that there are two models of the camera, Model 1 with red-window film advance and an exticntion meter, and Model 2 with the frame counter and 'no' meter. However, the situation is clearly not that simple; the example picture here has neither a meter nor a frame counter.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Roland camera serial S1137 at Early Photography. The camera is listed here as the Roland Plasmat, in reference to the Rudolph lens, and indeed this name is on the attached lens cap.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). p786.
- ↑ Roland camera serial S1870, sold at auction (for €5520) in November 2011 by [Westlicht Photographica Auction in Vienna.
Links
In English and German:
- Roland among tigin's Classic Cameras at UK Camera
In Japanese:
