Rolling into 2025 with the Rollei 35AF
Photos taken with MINT's new compact 35mm film camera
Hello friends, happy new year! It’s been a little while but I have plenty of Substacks lined up for 2025.
I’ve already published 2 videos on my YouTube channel this year, with the latest being my 2 roll review of MINT’s Rollei 35AF. Thank you to my friend Antony Hands for lending me the camera.
I’ve featured some of my favourite photos from the 2 rolls I shot with it in this post, all taken in Australia’s capital, Canberra. The first roll was Kodak Ultramax 400 which I rated at ISO 800, I then asked my lab to push the roll one stop.
I love the shot of the sculpture above, you can see how sharp the lens is.
When I was out and about, I snapped this photo of birds overhead. I love the colours here, but this frame exhibits quite a strong vignette in the corners of the image.
The Rollei 35AF does have a few quirks, I shot these images in auto mode and never knew what the shutter speed was. I came to regret this with some images, like the one above, as the shutter speed was too slow. Looking back, I wish I’d dialled in 1/60 second and shot this in shutter priority mode.
I rated the film at a higher ISO so I could take handheld shots at night. I love this pub image shot at f/2.8.
The next morning I loaded up a roll of Kodak ColorPlus 200 and shot it at box speed.
I had to shoot the whole roll that morning, but I really like the results.
There were a few fails though - I learned the hard way that the camera’s minimum focus distance is 70cm. The quickstart guide didn’t mention this, and I had no camera manual when I shot my 2 rolls. A few photos like the flowers above were not in focus.
I’ll finish off with this frame that I love - a mid-20th century building in Canberra in the early morning light.
Watch My Review on YouTube
This was just a taster of the Rollei 35AF, you can find a lot more info in my video below.
I’ll give you the TL;DR version:
it’s a nice compact camera
super fun to use
I love the design and the strap
the manual and quick start guide need improvements
the lens has some vignetting but is sharp
auto mode is good until it starts using slow shutter speeds where shutter priority would be better
it’s hard to justify the price tag if you already have nice compact film cameras.
Free Japan Travel Photography Guide
My first video of the year was ‘12 things you must photograph in Japan’. I’ll be doing a post or 2 about this soon, but in the meantime, you can check out the video and download my free 94 page Japan travel photography guide on my Japan Pics Substack.
See you next time!
Cheers
Matt
That was my first serious camera, the original. Tempting but expensive and not at all necessary. Strange the flowers photo, leaves are sharp and nearly at same distance
The first review I’ve read of the new Rollei and feel informed. Photos look good, shame about that vignetting (has that been correlated with other users experiences?)
I signed up for the pre sale, but it’s an expensive item and am sure it won’t offer much more than my cheaper collection of compacts. Also not sure if it shipped to the UK on release.
It looks lovely though, and having a box fresh 35mm camera is something I’d feel confident in owning. None of my collection have failed me yet, but it is something to concern me, especially when some would be several hundred pounds to replace.
Have just taken part in a survey on behalf of Pentax, ahead of another new camera from them I expect. Also, I signed up for the Analogue AF-1 which looks good in description and a good price.
Exciting times ahead it seems for film fans.