Rolleiflex 6008 professional
Rollei · Rollei 6000 mount · 6×6 or 4.5×6 on 120 or 220, set by the magazine fitted; the 6006 magazines fit (Greenspun) · 1988
Also known as: Rolleiflex 6008 · Rolleiflex 6008 Professional · Rolleiflex 6008 Pro · Rollei 6008 · Rollei 6008 Professional · Rolleiflex 6008 SRC 1000 · Rolleiflex 6008 SRC1000 · Rolleiflex 6008 Professional SRC 1000 · Rolleiflex 6008 6x6 · ローライフレックス 6008 · ローライフレックス 6008 プロフェッショナル · ローライフレックス6008 · ローライ 6008
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6008 professional (1988–92) | Rollei 6000 | 1988–1992 | — | Not published |
| 6008 professional SRC 1000 (1992–95) | Rollei 6000 | 1992–1995 | — | Not published |
- No body list price was found. Greenspun gives a 1989 Rollei system price of about $14,000 and, from B&H's July 1995 advertisement, Rollei lens prices against their Hasselblad equivalents (Zeiss 60mm f/3.5 $3,650 for Rollei against $2,200; 50mm $3,092 against $2,481), a Rollei film back at $1,000 against a Hasselblad back at $650, a spare battery at about $165 and film inserts at $85; Casual Photophile says a 6008 kit with a couple of lenses cost more than $10,000 new. None is a 6008 body price.
- No weight or dimensions were found in the sources read; the 6008 integral's figures, when added, should not be carried back to this body without a source.
- The self-timer is inferred: Japanese Wikipedia lists the self-timer among the things the 6003 SRC 1000 of 1994 omits relative to the 6008, see derived.
- Battery: a 9.6 V NiCd pack good for about 300 exposures, with a low-battery warning about 20 exposures before it fails; a swap takes about ten seconds and a fifteen-minute charge gives about 50 shots; the pack worked in sub-freezing temperatures (Greenspun).
How to tell them apart
- 6008 professional, with or without SRC 1000, on the nameplate; a main switch coaxial with the shutter-speed dial, which no SLX, 6006 or 6002 has
- Interchangeable magazine with dark slide on the back; a fixed back with inserts on a camera with the 6008's controls is a 6003
- Spot/multi-zone metering selector and exposure modes set by turning the speed dial or the lens's aperture ring to A (Greenspun); a camera with multi-spot metering and a meter reading to EV 0 is an integral (Greenspun; English Wikipedia)
- Rubberised edges on a metal body (Casual Photophile); hot shoe, PC socket, mirror pre-release button, mechanical cable-release socket (rolleigraphy.eu, describing the 6008i, whose control layout the professional shares)
6008 professional (1988–92):
- 6008 professional on the nameplate, with no SRC 1000 marking
- Top speed 1/500 with any lens; it does not drive the PQS lenses' 1/1000 (English Wikipedia; rolleigraphy.eu)
6008 professional SRC 1000 (1992–95):
- SRC 1000 on the nameplate (SRC: Shutter Range Control)
- Drives the PQS lenses to 1/1000; the top speed rises only with a PQS lens fitted (Japanese Wikipedia; rolleigraphy.eu)
- 6008 professional (1988–92): The body for which the PQ lens generation was introduced, its A and P modes needing the 6008's aperture-priority and program electronics. The meter reads down to EV 3 at ISO 100 and f/2.8 (Greenspun). Robert D. Cabana carried one with the 90° prism on Space Shuttle mission STS-41 in 1990 (English Wikipedia).
- 6008 professional SRC 1000 (1992–95): The 6008 with the electronics and current to run the PQS lenses of 1990 at 1/1000 s; otherwise the same camera. English Wikipedia's table starts it in 1992, Japanese Wikipedia in 1993 (see disputed). Replaced by the 6008 integral, which a Usenet contemporary described as a new body built on the SRC 1000.
Specifications
- Format
- 6×6 or 4.5×6 on 120 or 220, set by the magazine fitted; the 6006 magazines fit (Greenspun)
- Finder
- folding hood, standard, with the metering readout visible in it; interchangeable with the 45° and 90° prisms and magnifying hood of the 6000 system, and with its focusing screens (Greenspun; English Wikipedia's STS-41 caption)
- Shutter
- electronically timed leaf shutter in every lens, shutter and diaphragm driven by linear motors; no shutter in the body (rolleigraphy.eu) · 30 s–1/500 in 1/3-stop steps, and 1/1000 with a PQS lens on the SRC 1000 (English Wikipedia; Casual Photophile); B and T · flash sync all speeds, from the leaf shutter; hot shoe and PC socket; TTL flash metering off the film (Casual Photophile; rolleigraphy.eu) · self-timer
- Film advance
- built-in motor, single or continuous at about 2 frames/s (English Wikipedia; Greenspun); the motor advances only after an exposure, so there are no unexposed or doubly exposed frames (Greenspun). Multiple exposure by the ME switch, which disengages the transport (rolleigraphy.eu)
- Back
- interchangeable magazines with integral dark slide, the single-handle slide and ISO coupling in each back being among the features Greenspun singles out; the cheaper 6006 magazines also fit (Greenspun; English Wikipedia)
- Meter
- TTL, centre-weighted multi-zone and spot (English Wikipedia); shutter priority, aperture priority, program and manual, each engaged by setting the relevant dial to A, with exposure compensation, AE lock and automatic bracketing (Japanese Wikipedia; Casual Photophile; Greenspun). Lower limit EV 3 at ISO 100 and f/2.8, which Greenspun calls 'a pathetic performance compared to 35mm SLRs' and which the integral of 1995 took to EV 0
- Motor drive
- built-in — The motor is part of the body; the detachable handgrip puts the release, AE lock and main controls under the right hand (Casual Photophile)
- Country
- Germany
- Accessories
- Magazines 6006 and 6000 for 120/220, the 4560 for 4.5×6, the 70 mm bulk-film magazine and the 6000 Polaroid magazine (rolleigraphy.eu; English Wikipedia) · Waist-level, 45° and 90° prism and magnifying finders and interchangeable focusing screens shared with the SLX and SL66 · Detachable handgrip with release and AE lock (Casual Photophile); 9.6 V NiCd pack and charger; car-battery cable (rolleigraphy.eu) · Release cables and the ME-1 multiple-exposure unit on the 14-pin socket (English Wikipedia); extension tubes with full automation through the lens contacts (Greenspun)
Figures we worked out rather than found: self_timer: true is inferred from Japanese Wikipedia's statement that the 6003 SRC 1000 of 1994 omits the self-timer, the mechanical cable-release socket and the interchangeable back, all features of the 6008 it was cut down from; no source read states the 6008's self-timer directly.
Where sources disagree
- First
- 1992 — English Wikipedia's system table (6008 professional 1988–1992, SRC 1000 1992–1995)
- 1993 — Japanese Wikipedia
A Rollei brochure dated January 1993 is the earliest dated primary document known for the SRC 1000; it is consistent with either year.
What reviewers say
- Philip Greenspun (blog) — Several thousand rolls of hard use and a verdict he admits is from the gut: magazines with a single-handle dark slide and their own ISO setting, a motor that rules out double and blank frames, A settings on every dial, metered waist-level viewing and a 3 ms release with the mirror up, against a meter that stops at EV 3, loud-clicking old lenses, occasional frame overlap, $1,000 backs and lenses priced well above their Hasselblad twins. 'Expect to get reamed on the price, though.'
- James Tocchio, Casual Photophile (October 2017) (blog) — 'One of those rare cameras in which I've been unable to find serious fault': a body 'dense as a stone' beside a Hasselblad's 'hard cheese', top-tier Zeiss and Schneider glass, controls under the thumb on the detachable grip, metering that works in any light, and a battery that lasted sixteen months of intermittent use; the costs are bulk, weight, noise and the need for batteries at all. Kits that sold for more than $10,000 could be had for under $1,000.
History
The Rolleiflex 6008 professional of 1988 is the second generation of the 6000 system and the camera that gave it the features a professional SLR of the late 1980s was expected to have. Rollei Fototechnic kept the 6006’s body concept, with linear-motor leaf shutters in the lenses, the dark-slide magazine and the 9.6 V pack, and rebuilt the exposure system around it: centre-weighted multi-zone and spot metering, shutter-priority, aperture-priority, program and manual modes, exposure compensation, AE lock and automatic bracketing, with the motor raised to about 2 frames/s (English and Japanese Wikipedia; Greenspun). The main switch sits coaxially with the shutter-speed dial, and each automatic mode is engaged by turning the speed dial, the aperture ring or both to A, a scheme Philip Greenspun counts among the camera’s virtues. The PQ lens generation was created for it, since only the 6008’s electronics could use a PQ lens’s aperture-priority and program settings.
The meter’s lower limit of EV 3 at ISO 100 and f/2.8 is the one specification Greenspun holds against it, and the 6008 integral of late 1995 took it to EV 0. The other revision in the camera’s life was the SRC 1000 of 1992 or 1993, whose Shutter Range Control electronics drive the PQS lenses of 1990 to 1/1000 s; a PQS lens on an earlier 6008 is limited to 1/500. Otherwise the two are the same camera, and Casual Photophile groups the professional, the SRC 1000 and the integral together as the best of the series. One 6008 professional, with the 90° prism, went up on Space Shuttle mission STS-41 in 1990 with pilot Robert D. Cabana (English Wikipedia).
The reviews agree on the handling. James Tocchio found nothing seriously wrong in a camera he calls ‘dense as a stone’, with the controls under the thumb on the detachable grip, metering that worked in any light and a battery that went sixteen months without a charge; the price is size, weight, a loud shutter and dependence on that battery. Greenspun, after several thousand rolls, values the magazines with a single-handle dark slide and their own ISO setting, a motor that makes double or blank frames impossible, metered waist-level viewing and a 3 ms release with the mirror up, and dislikes the clicking diaphragms of the old 6006 lenses, occasional frame overlap, a $1,000 film back and lens prices well above their Hasselblad equivalents in B&H’s July 1995 advertisement. His 1989 figure for a Rollei system is about $14,000; no body-only list price has been found.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
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