Rollei MiniDigi Upgraded
A Bigger Sensor And Autofocus For Replica Digital Camera
Rollei's palm sized replica is a real digital camera, fully functional and fashionable, suitable for all scenes including travel photography and candid street shots.
The Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF is a miniaturized digital replica of the Rolleiflex 2.8F, the famous German-made twin lens reflex (TLR) camera common in the middle part of the twentieth century, until the onslaught of the Single Lens Reflex (SLR) in the sixties. The new MiniDigi AF is now up from 2 to 5 megapixels, this is reasonable considering the small size of the Minidigi, and it now features autofocus.
The classic Rollei twin reflex camera became a favorite of professional photographers since its introduction 1929. The original camera's two lenses, one above the other; a hand crank lever; shutter release; hooded viewfinder; the coal-black casing, and the Rolleiflex logo set it apart. The new Rolleiflex MiniDigi has the look and feel of the original, but easily fits in the palm of your hand or pocket.
Importantly, the camera’s features are not only nostalgic, but also unique in the digital world. Take the hand crank. Like its parent, the hand crank is an integral part of the camera, but instead of advancing film (which it obviously does not have), the Rollei MiniDigi's crank prepares the camera for the next shot. Another unique feature is the classic pop-up hood and viewfinder. The hood means no stray light gets in the way.
Still another nostalgic design feature that has modern applications is the square format. The square format means no shutter opportunities or valuable seconds are lost having to choose between horizontal or vertical position. You simply look downward into the viewfinder at waist level, aim, and then shoot from the waist.
Why all the fuss?
The original full size Rolleiflex TLR provided a high quality compact portable camera system favored by many professional photographers. Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke designed a high quality camera and it was easy to handle. This made photography not only accessible to the professional but also to amateur photographers. In 1929, the legendary "twin-lens" became a common camera among professional photographers, and the dream of enthusiasts.
It use one lens for directing light to the film and another identical lenses for viewing and both lenses focused together. This gave it the twin lens name. The reflex came from the mirror used to direct the light from the viewing lens upwards to the large viewing display. The reflex action inverted the image coming from the lens so it appeared the right way up to the photographer. With the TLR design, the reflex mirror did not have to move while taking the photograph. This simplified the mechanical design and speeded up the picture taking process, overcoming an older version of shutter lag.
Eventually the Japanese manufacturers, led by Asahi Optical (Pentax), overcame the mechanical limitations of moving the mirror in the Single Lens Reflex cameras and this design took over from the twin lens concept.
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