Rolleiflex has been one of the most revolutionary cameras in Photography history, along with Leica, Nikon and Hasselblad, just to name a few.

Born of the idea of Franke & Heidecke, it was conceived in 1928 for the production of bi-optic medium size cameras.

Extremely solid, almost spartan – lenses have never been interchangeable – Rolleiflex is currently one of the most valued cameras among those who dedicate themselves to film photography, especially in black and white.

Rolleiflex is also well-known for a considerable and articulate series of accessories, such as filters, close-up lenses, hoods, flash, tripod sockets and panorama heads, just to mention a few.

Both cameras and accessories were produced with proverbial care, as well as all types of cases that were provided along with the accessories, in order to store and carry them.

On second-hand market, it is still possible nowadays to find both cameras and accessories, but the cases or, more often, the cases that have been used for decades, are not always in good conditions, since they are mostly stitched leather products: sometimes the cases become unsewn and difficult to repair or they are very worn; sometimes the accessory is available, a lens for example, but without its original case.

You can find below some of the essential Rolleiflex accessories and their original cases.

Let’s start with hoods, both the rigid metal and the collapsible rubber ones: they keep front lens away from flare rays, which reduce the quality of images, and at the same time hoods protect the front lens from impacts and from photographer’s fingers; a hood is essential either if you shoot on colour or black and white film or if you shoot with a digital camera, even though digital has nothing to do with Rolleiflex.

Then let’s talk about filters: Rolleiflex produced protection filters for the front lens, again essential for those who shoot both in colour and in black and white; polarizing filters, useful in both cases; conversion and compensating filters, for colour photography; soft focus filters, to soften faces in portraits; yellow, orange and green filters for black and white photography.

All these filters are essential to obtain perfect negatives and, consequently, perfect prints.

Since the camera doesn’t have interchangeable lenses, Rolleiflex produced additional lenses with three different dioptric adjustment levels in order to shoot at close range, made up of a filter and a second part that, together with the vision lens, allows the framing of the scene or of the exact detail that will be then exposed on film. This other component is called Rolleinar: very desired, it is available, as well as the above-mentioned filters, for Rolleiflex Group III, II and I.

As said above, Rolleiflex produced also fast sockets, panorama heads, pistol grips and flash. Except for flash, which was sold in a soft plastic container, fast sockets and panorama heads didn’t come with cases.

This kind of accessories (filters, additional lenses), besides being very fragile, are small and need an adequate protection and a suitable case for carriage, in order not to lose them in the bottom of a bag or when falling out from the pocket of a jacket.

It is necessary to highlight that each of these items is essential to get perfect negatives and to obtain the best from your Rolleiflex, while taking full advantage of the quality of Zeiss lenses assembled on Rolleiflex.

As said, shooting in black and white without the suitable filters means that you take advantage of the potentiality of the film for less than 50%. It’s very difficult, sometimes impossible, to recover this lack during printing. Carrying these accessories around, allows to obtain exceptional shots and improves considerably the quality of both black and white and coloured prints.

Koece accessory holds two Rolleinar additional lenses, one rigid hood and five filters. The style featured below is very worn and its flap is irremediably broken.

CESIX: this is one of the most beautiful Rolleiflex cases; it holds 6 colour compensating filters, stored in two slots, one for light blue compensating filters (tungsten-daylight) and the other for the amber one (daylight-tungsten).

This disposition has been realized so that, even in case the items fell on cement, they would emerge unscathed (without tumbling out from the case).

Rolleiflex used to produce 8 filters (both colour compensating and conversion filters), they could be purchased separately or along with CESIX case (in this instance, the filters provided were 6).

Below, you can find the case suitable for a single filter. The case were sold separately from the filter, proposed in its circular Plexiglas pack along with a carton box.

The main Rolleiflex black and white filters. These filters are quite hard to find and they go from the light yellow one to the Infrarot. The best one, used to darken clear, cloudless skies, is the Orange; in order not to lose brightness you can use the medium-yellow filter, even if this provides a less dramatic result.

Rolleipol filter has a graduated scale and a red land mark. It has to be assembled on the vision lens and rotated, while sighting the waist level finder, until you can find the correct polarization, then you need to assemble it on the camera lens without rotating it, so that the land mark is positioned on the top of the camera lens, as for the assembly on the vision lens; at this point it is possible to shoot.

The Infrarot is a unique filter: it absorbs all the radiation of the visible and allows the passage of the wavelength from 750 to 1000nm. It is used with infrared films. It is quite rare and currently it can be used with the few infrared emulsions available on the market like, for example, the Rollei Infrared 400. In the images here displayed it is possible to see that it appears completely black if put between the camera and a visible image while, if it is put between the camera and the Sun, it allows the vision of the infrared radiation emitted by the Sun. Here, it is compared with the Red Rolleiflex filter 25A that cuts the part of radiation of the visible and that can be used with hyper panchromatic films, like the Rollei Retro 400S

Rolleisoft filter is available in two different intensities, Rolleiflex 0 and Rolleiflex 1. It is useful especially for portraits: it softens the image without losing definition; when the contrast between very bright and dark areas is high, it can produce a pleasing halo effect. It can be assembled with another filter: it has a double bayonet, an upper one to be put on the camera lens and a lower one to be matched with another filter. Differently from other diffuser filters, which have a chemically etched surface that creates a gradual sensation of scattered hazing of the image, to the detriment of sharpness, Rolleiflex Softfocus have a series of concentric circles on the external surface of the filter, capable of softening the image without removing sharpness; for a more marked effect they can be assembled together, the final result can be modulated by keeping the diaphragm completely open to obtain the maximum softness and decrease it by gradually closing the diaphragm.

Filters came with a Plexiglas case: the pouch was optional; while additional lenses were sold along with their standard pouch.

Rolleinar additional lenses can be used singularly or assembled serially to increase the enlargement power; if assembled serially, it is necessary to study the specific tables to evaluate the framed area and the correct focal distance.

Rigid hood with its case and collapsible rubber hood. The first one is also a valid protection for the frontal lens, the collapsible one can be left on the camera lens and closed when unused, in order to close the camera leather case properly.

Tripod quick connector: it allows to both firmly fasten your Rolleiflex on the top of the tripod and unfasten it quickly. It is always a best practice, when you work with a tripod and you need to move over between one shot and the next, to unfasten the camera from the top of the tripod in order not to keep it in critical conditions during the transport of the tripod, especially if the legs are completely open and run the risk of getting caught on.

Rolleiflex Extension Hood: this is one of the most original and probably the less sold item in Rolleiflex history. It is a kind of huge collapsible leather hood that can be inserted in the place of the waist level finder to have an adequate view of the focusing screen without the problem of the light that may hit the photographer’s eye during focusing; there are 2 collapsible lenses inside, with enlargement power of 2x, to have a clear and binocular view of the focusing screen. Personally, they call to my mind those gunnysacks with a handful of hay that hung on the face of the horses hobbled to carriages. And the image of whom uses it is not much different…

The Rolleiflex bag is a real masterpiece of saddlery and leather industry. To pull out the camera you almost have to “twist” the case. It has a portable lateral protection in leather to defend the focusing ring.

The front of the bag can be removed. While inserting the case, you have to make the control level pass through the specific hole, so that it can be used also when the camera is into the case.

Many collectors of Rolleiflex cameras and accessories own the original Rolleiflex cases, that sometimes are in very good conditions and some other time are very worn or partly unsewn. But Il Bussetto, besides proposing cases similar to those originally designed, offers also some unreleased cases, in which it is possible to store your own set of accessories, choosing what is necessary for the shooting that you are going to realize.

Photography means also method, tidiness and cleanliness. The cases are the perfect way to always bring with you the suitable accessories for shooting, perfectly stored and protected from grease and dirt.

An Italian leather manufacturer, Il Bussetto, found a way to solve the problem of the lack of cases for Rolleiflex accessories by creating and producing a new dedicated line. There are 6 cases currently available, but the range will be expanded in the next few months for sure.

The cases are designed to carry the accessories both of Group III and of Group II,  that define two categories of Rolleiflex cameras, the former with a lens socket with a larger diameter than the one of the latter. Il Bussetto cases have an innovative closure compared to that of the original ones: they come with magnetic buttons that allow an easier opening and closure than the original ones, which had a buckle closure, a zipper or snap buttons. The leather is Italian and it is vegetable tanned and hand painted following an ancient technique. The manufacturing is completely artisanal and many of the cases proposed are made on wooden moulds, on which the leather is softened with the help of steam and hot water and gradually takes the shape of the mould. Most of the cases are completely seamless and this ensure durability over time.

The collapsible rubber lens hood has a diameter of 66 mm; that means that the specific case designed by Il Bussetto, which we are going to examine in detail later, can carry also big size filters, such as those for Hasselblad.