Rollei 35 TE | Analogue camera

For sale is an original Rollei 35 TE – one of the best-known and most compact 35mm analog cameras ever.

Equipped with a high-quality Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 40mm f/3.5 lens, this camera delivers impressive image quality for its size. The Rollei 35 is fully mechanical and stands for precise German engineering in a pocket-sized format.

Highlights:

35mm analog camera (35mm film)
Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 40mm f/3.5
Compact metal housing
Manual exposure
Cult status among collectors and photographers

The last image shows that this piece indeed comes from this collection. Here, however, only the camera is offered; in my other auctions there will be more pieces from this collection. So please take a look at my other listings.

The later Rollei designer Heinz Waaske (1924–1995) decisively shaped the German camera industry. It all began at the Wirgin company in Wiesbaden with the first Edixa SLRs and the small Edixa 16, the precursor of the later worldwide success Rollei 35, which was built in the Braunschweig Rollei plants or in Singapore for seven years after Wirgin rejected this redesign in 1964. Later at Rollei, his pleas to focus more on electronics went unheard. This was followed by designs for Voigtländer, Minox, Robot, and Zeiss. In 1995, the two photohistorians Jörg Eikmann and Ulrich Vogt contacted the designer with the aim of writing a book about his life’s work. Unfortunately, Heinz Waaske passed away in the middle of the book project, which later was to bear the title "Cameras for Millions – Heinz Waaske, Designer." Now the two authors were supported by numerous employees of German camera manufacturers with important tips. The personal contact with Waaske moved Ulrich Vogt to assemble his own Waaske collection under his motto "best optics and best mechanics" (original quote from Waaske) to embody the spirit of his designs (see the last image). It should be noted that in the Braunschweig district Mascherode there is a Heinz-Waaske Way in honor of the Rollei designer.