My Dad's Rolleiflex 2.8F

My dad, Paul, always had a camera with him. Photography and posing for pictures was an integral part of our family life when I was a child. Now that he is gone it’s wonderful to look at the photos with my sisters and remember those days long ago. I am so grateful he took so many pictures!

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As you can imagine Paul used many cameras over the years, but for special occasions there was only one camera. His prized Rollei 2.8F! Every birthday, Christmas or family vacation his Rollei was with us. I remember looking into that beautiful lens for many “watch the birdies” or “say cheese’s.”

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The Rollie traveled with my mom & dad all over the world making superb Black & White photos. Paul loved Kodak Tri-X film early on and transitioned to Ilford XP-2 in the later years because of XP-2’s ultra-fine grain, wide tonal scale and ease of processing. He considered himself a Pictorialist photographer recording the beauty of the scene, range of light and concise compositions. The Rollie with XP-2 were the ideal combo.

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In 2018 my dad gave me his Rollie camera. He wanted me to have it, use it and continue making memories with it. On that special day I made this photo of my father with his camera. I thought it was a fitting tribute to the man, the camera and the memories both have captured. I used my Nikon Z7 with 70-200mm 2.8 iso6400 f 5.6 1/250 with natural light to make the photo.

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The Rollei 2.8F was a popular camera with hobbiest and pros alike. The 2.8 F was manufactured between 1960 and 1981 in the Rolliewerk in Braunschweig, Germany and sold for ~$450. It uses 120 or 220 film and makes a 6x6cm (2.25 x 2.25”) square photograph. My dad loved the camera’s unique composition, waist-level viewfinder, compact design and superb picture quality.

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When was the last time you shot a roll of film? Break out your film camera, load it up, have some fun and make some photos in Paul’s memory!  The last Saturday each month (9am) we take a Film Photo Walk at Paul’s Photo. We invite you to join our crew of film shooters.  One month I’ll bring dad’s Rollie on the walk!