Rollei 35AF: About the Project & First Impressions

MiNT’s Rollei 35AF (also available in black) is one of the most anticipated film photography products of the year.

Only a few months behind the camera maker behemoth Ricoh, which released its Pentax 17 back in June, MiNT’s product aims to please photographers seeking a modern premium compact camera with a warranty.

Rollei 35AF is an incredibly ambitious project. MiNT’s founder, Gary Ho, took many risks while designing and producing this camera. But have they paid off? In this article: A brief history of the Rollei 35AF film camera project. The challenges of building a premium film point-and-shoot in 2024. Modern technology powering a 135-year-old photographic film format. Rollei 35AF’s design and ergonomics. Rollei 35AF’s 35mm 𝒇2.8 Rollei lens. Camera specs and instruction manual. Price, warranty, and where to buy. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Thank you, @bigheadtaco (Take Kayo 嘉陽宗丈), for letting me play with his copy of the MiNT Rollei 35AF, and Gary Ho and Augustus from team MiNT for answering my questions about the project!

A brief history of the Rollei 35AF film camera project.

This camera was years in the making. But it’s not the first to come from the MiNT shop, where Gary and his team began their journey over a decade ago by restoring and modifying Polaroid SX-70 cameras.

After years of successful production, MiNT released their (and maybe the world’s) first Instax TLR, which they followed up by building a brand-new foldable rangefinder for Instax Wide film. This is roughly when Rollei, a legendary camera maker (or what’s left of them today), approached Gary for a possible collaboration.

The mid- and late-century photographic industry was incredibly competitive. It wasn’t enough to be good or even best at making cameras — you had to be lucky. But despite decades of building outstanding products like the Rollei 35 S, the company gradually ceased production of their famous cameras. Today, the business makes money by licensing its brand for products like the Rollei PRX 400.

However, not all technical talent had left Rollei, as some of their camera production and support jobs still exist today. In fact, they were able to advise Gary’s team on how to improve the finder on MiNT’s InstantFlex cameras (which were briefly branded with the Rollei name at the time).

This wasn’t the last time MiNT collaborated with Rollei.

As you know by now, a premium compact point-and-shoot was in the works soon after. The market squarely pointed to the need for such a camera, and MiNT took the hint. The likes of Minolta TC-1 and Contax T3 were already fetching multiple thousands of dollars, despite being twenty to thirty-year-old cameras with no warranty and electronics bound to fail unexpectedly at any time. There had to be a better way.

The challenges of building a premium film point-and-shoot in 2024.

Building a film camera in 2024 is not at all like building one in the 1990s or 1970s. When I spoke to Take about Gary’s project, he explained the challenges of making such a camera, which are far beyond creating a digital point-and-shoot or any modern gadget today.

If you followed Pentax’s video updates about their ‘17 camera, you may’ve noticed that the lead designer spent a lot of time explaining how difficult (and important) it was for them to implement manual film advance. In short, they, a modern electronics and digital camera manufacturer, had to consult retired veterans to get it right, whereas Gary’s small team had to do the same but on their own.

An even bigger issue was the lack of actual components that could make such a camera. Modern gadgets have fewer moving parts and are assembled from many readymade boards, processors, and elements that need only slight adaptations. This is how cameras were made back in the day: Pentax and Rollei chose suppliers that specialized in electronic components such as film DX code readers and adapted the off-the-shelf pieces for their designs. MiNT had to build everything in-house.

Modern technology powering a 135-year-old photographic film format.

But along with the challenges of redesigning vintage components for the modern world came big upsides. Certain technologies, like advanced microprocessors and exceptionally accurate sensors, were just a distant dream in the analogue heyday — but now they’re everywhere.

— Augustus, team MiNT.

One such technology is LiDAR. Invented in 1961, this laser targeting system was designed for tracking satellites and later for military applications. Needless to say, it was exceptionally expensive and absolutely beyond the reach of civilian tech. But as the technology matured, got cheaper, and smaller over the past eighty years, it eventually spread to consumer electronics. Today, a single LiDAR sensor can be bought for just a few bucks.

LiDAR is more accurate than the sonar system used in certain Polaroid SX-70 models and still better than the autofocus rangefinders in vintage point-and-shoots. LiDAR even tops modern autofocusing systems that rely on infrared signals or contrast detection from digital image sensor data. It works in all light and weather conditions without issues. While vintage cameras, like the Olympus Mju I, can miss focus and ruin a frame or two if the light isn’t right, and modern SLRs struggle to find the right contrast ratio in subdued light, LiDAR grabs focus instantly.

The LiDAR system isn’t flawless, of course. It may have some trouble focusing through glass, which is why I asked team MiNT to elaborate on this point:

— Augustus, team MiNT.

If you’re shooting with your Rollei 35AF through a glass while the pane is perpendicular to your gaze, you’ll need to listen to your camera. The motor will drive the lens further when it focuses on close-up objects, so you want the sound to be short.

Complex modern technology is powered by software and Rollei 35AF is not an exception. The components that drive the lens motor, set the exposure, and provide an interactive interface are coded in-house, which opens up the possibility of an upgrade in the future. You will have to send your 35AF back to MiNT for the job, but once you get it back, it may have a new feature or two: “Firmware updates are… possible on the manufacturer’s side” — Augustus.

✪ Note: By the “135-year-old photographic film format,” I mean 35mm film, which was introduced in 1889 for motion picture purposes. The 135 film format (i.e., 35mm film cartridges adapted for still photos) was introduced in 1927 and named “135” by Kodak in 1934. Photography itself, as a chemical process, was invented around 1826, nearly 200 years ago!

Rollei 35AF’s design and ergonomics.

MiNT’s Rollei 35AF was designed and built decades after the original Rollei cameras were made, including the refined Rollei 35 S and the affordable Rollei 35B versions. The new 35AF looks similar to the original S and B versions, but, as discussed above, it uses newer technology and materials, which have their own advantages and drawbacks.

— Augustus, team MiNT.

Feel in hand. The new Rollei feels lighter than the vintage cameras — it weighs nearly 100g less than the vintage S, but it’s also a little wider and thicker. The camera does not feel like a brick that can knock a foe over (as many vintage cameras do), which, in this case a sign of the more environmentally friendly materials. However, some camera aficionados will miss the weight of heavy metal components.

The Rollei 35AF is made with a mix of plastic and metal components. Much of the external shell, including the winders, lens tube, and the film cover, is metal.

Faithful to the original Rollei 35 design. Aside from the initial look, this camera uses the same removable camera back design for film loading as the original Rollei 35s. It takes a little time to get used to, and some testers did not appreciate that fact, but I really enjoyed reliving the experience in 2024. Besides, it’s the only sensible way to fit the film into such a small box without complex hinges and over-engineered solutions.

The controls. I love how MiNT stuck to the original dual-wheel design on the face of the camera. It was a genius idea then and remains such today (plus a stylish choice). The shutter speed and aperture controls will be the most used settings on this camera, especially if you plan to use an external light meter or the Sunny 16 rule, so it’s very nice to have them remain as tactile gears.

Design drawbacks. There is a slight design flaw in 35AF’s film rewinder lever: it tends not to stay put. This can be fixed with tape or a rubber spacer at home. And yes, the camera feels a little cheaper (by virtue of weight) compared to its older siblings. Its lens also does not retract into the body as far as it did on the vintage S and B versions reviewed on this blog. Another downside to this camera’s construction is the tiny OLED display that houses a powerful but hard-to-navigate interface for advanced settings.

Reviewers who got to play with this camera a little longer complained about the film winder, which needs to be turned more than 180° with your left hand to advance to the next frame and the hard-to-grip control wheels on the front face. But I found these features, along with the film-loading experience, to be nearly identical to that of the old Rolleis. This is a very small camera, perhaps the tiniest full-frame autofocus in production; thus, some sacrifices are expected. Other complaints include the shutter button’s travel distance, which I felt is slightly worse than that of the vintage Rolleis, and the lack of filter thread. I also realized that this camera has no accessory shoe.

Autofocus. This is completely new on the Rollei 35 body, and as far as I can tell, the system is very well implemented. Whereas many vintage point-and-shoot cameras demand complete trust in their flawed technology, the 35AF will engage autofocus with each half-press of a button, indicate whether the focus is acquired with a green light, and the full press will engage the shutter immediately. The flow is similar to the one of the Minolta TC-1 — a much more expensive vintage camera, even today — which is a big advantage over the likes of Olympus Mju I, which captures the focus on a complete button press (and thus causes a delay between the intended and actual shutter release).

The viewfinder, as specified below, has a strong negative magnification factor, which some users may find a little straining. It also shows no detailed exposure or focus information (unlike TC-1) — other than the light bulbs that indicate flash charge and focus lock. But that’s on par with most point-and-shoot cameras. Shooting film requires the photographer to have some understanding of light conditions. You can use this tool to help select an appropriate film stock for your weather/location (consider that the minimum shutter speed for your camera should be around 1/60s unless you plan to use a tripod).

Rollei 35AF’s 35mm 𝒇2.8 Rollei lens.

MiNT managed to build a sharp and contrasty modern lens for their Rollei 35AF camera. It’s all-glass with modern coatings.

There’s no noticeable chromatic aberration and I only noticed slight softness in the corners. Other reviewers suggested a minimal decrease in sharpness when shot wide open. It’s safe to say that this lens is a quality product, at least by the standards of the original Rollei 35s and their time. However, it does not seem to render the soft Sonnar bokeh you’d find on the top-tier vintage Rollei cameras (though it is capable of a pleasant background separation effect).

Despite being somewhat wide, I noticed no barrel distortion in the sample photos from the 35AF. Perhaps it’s there if you push it, but in normal use, this MiNT camera renders natural-looking images.

An 𝒇2.8 lens may sound slow by modern standards, but that’s absolutely not how I’d think of it, especially in such a small package and a full-frame format. It’s fast enough to shoot an ISO 100 film in deep shadows — 𝒇2.8 was the fastest speed available on the vintage Rollei cameras — but the AF also comes with a built-in flash.

I will update this article once I get more samples.

Camera specs and instruction manual.

MiNT Rollei 35AF features a 35mm 𝒇2.8-16 five-element coated glass lens that can focus as close as 0.7m/2’3½”.

This is a full-frame camera for 35mm film, with manual and automatic film ISO selection (ISO 25-3200).

The body includes a built-in flash with a maximum usable distance of 3.5m/11’5” and a tripod hole for long exposures. The camera uses a single CR2 battery.

The shutter can fire as fast as 1/500s or as slow as 60s (a full minute). The exposure can be set to full Auto with compensation (+/- one or two stops) or full manual. The built-in coupled light meter uses a center-weighted average reading. There’s an option for a 10-second delay timer. An OLED display on top of the camera will guide your exposures based on the built-in meter readings.

The viewfinder has a 90% coverage and .5x magnification factor.

The camera uses a LiDAR autofocus system.

Dimensions: 104mm × 75mm × 56mm (4” × 2.95” × 2.2”). Weight: 242g/8.5oz (without battery).

➜ Free Download: MiNT Rollei 35AF Instructions Manual (PDF)

Price, warranty, and where to buy.

The MiNT Rollei 35AF comes with a two-year warranty. You can’t get this with a vintage Rollei. Even if you get insurance, there’s no guarantee that your mid-century camera can be repaired. A brand-new MiNT camera will be repaired or replaced by the manufacturer should there be any issues.

Rollei 35AF is available for pre-order today for $799 in duotone or $828 in black.

(Rollei 35 S sold for more than $1,700 in today’s dollars back in 1966.)

❤ By the way: Please consider making your MiNT Rollei 35AF camera purchase using this link so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!