Last Updated on 04/28/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
Launching today on Kickstarter is the new Rollei Instant Kamera, a collaboration between Rollei and Mint
I honestly never thought I’d see another Rollei camera made, but the Rollei Instant Kamera seems be the real thing. A collaboration between Rollei and Mint, this new TLR camera will shoot Fujifilm Instax Mini film and also have a much brighter ground glass screen for easier viewing and composition. By and large, Mint already makes one of the best cameras out there for Instant film usage, and working with Rollei only intrigues us even more.
Before you go on, I should heavily clarify that this campaign and the camera are created by Rollei, and Mint has only assisted in its creation. To that end, the new Rollei Instant Kamera has a lens that opens up to f5.6–which is pretty shallow for a film plane that large. It can be stopped down to f22 and can focus as closely as 48cm. From the looks of it, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of manual shutter speed control, but instead there is aperture control and a +/- 1 EV setting. Combine this with the ambient light meter and the built in flash and you’ve got your exposure settings. Otherwise, you’ve got a Bulb mode and a multiple exposure mode.
In many ways, the new Rollei Instant Kamera seems to be an upgraded version of Mint’s TL70 2.0. Those upgrades include a new and brighter screen for the viewing angle. Since this is a TLR camera, you’ll be looking down and into the ground glass. Of course, this wouldn’t be a TLR without manual focusing. Included is also a focus magnifier to make it even easier to achieve more critical focusing.
Additionally, they’ve redeveloped the lens so that there is even sharpness throughout the film plane. More tech specs and product images are below. For what it’s worth, I hope this is a better product than the Mint TL70 2.0 – I wasn’t a fan of the way the light meter worked although I adored the soft look of the images even when accurately and sharply in focus. What I really wanted though was manual controls. To me, this would hold up to Rollei’s history even more and would garner interest from photographers who have never experienced Instax before. I honestly think the Rollei Instant Kamera is going to be a success. However at this time, what I hope is that the future will still give us a camera with full manual controls. Why these companies aren’t taking the leap and doing that is beyond my understanding. It’s really all I want, and I’d be happy to pay near $1,000 for it.
Be sure to back the project on Kickstarter too.
Rollei Instant Kamera Tech Specs
Aperture: f/5.6, f/8, f/16, f/22, Bokeh
Lens: Aspherical lens with 3 elements, f=61mm
Focal Range: 48cm ~ infinity
Shutter Speed: 1/500 – 1 second (Mode A) | max. 10 seconds (Mode B = slow shutter)
Viewfinder: Twin lens reflex viewfinder with an eyepiece magnifier to lift up
Exposure Control: EV+/-1
Flash: Integrated, electronic flash with automatic light emission control
Power Supply: 3AA Batteries (1.5V)
Film: Instant film magazine 54 x 86 mm (w x h)
Dimensions: 141 x 102 x 80mm
Weight: 525g
Box set includes: Rolleiflex™ Instant Kamera, lens cap, user manual, warranty guide, and 3 AA batteries.