Rolleiflex 2.8E / E2 / E3

Franke & Heidecke · Fixed lens · 1956

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Rolleiflex 2.8E · Rollei 2.8E · Rolleiflex 2.8 E · Rolleiflex 2,8E · Rolleiflex 2.8E Planar · Rolleiflex 2.8E Xenotar · Rolleiflex 2.8E2 · Rolleiflex 2.8E3 · Rolleiflex 2.8 E2 · Rolleiflex 2.8 E3 · Rolleiflex K7E · ローライフレックス 2.8E · ローライフレックス 2.8E プラナー · ローライフレックス 2.8E クセノター · ローライフレックス 2.8E2 · ローライフレックス 2.8E3 · ローライフレックス2.8E

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
2.8E (K7E)	Rolleiflex TLR	1956–1959	1621000–1665999¹	Over 45,000 by 1960; about 53,000 in all, 1956–65 (antiquecameras.net, citing Prochnow) — a span that covers the E2 and E3 years, so the figure may include them.
2.8E2 (K7E2)	Rolleiflex TLR	1959–1960	2350000–2356999¹	Not published; the 7,000-number block suggests the order of magnitude.
2.8E3 (K7E3)	Rolleiflex TLR	1962–1965	2360000–2362025¹	Not published; the serial block spans 2,026 numbers.

Serial blocks from ja.wikipedia, the E3 lower bound corrected from a typographical '23600000'; no page quoting Prochnow's full table was reached.
Production figures are antiquecameras.net's, citing Prochnow: over 45,000 by 1960 and about 53,000 total over '1956 to 1965'. Because the page does not mention the E2 or E3, it is not clear whether the 53,000 is the E alone or all three; the E block alone holds 45,000 numbers.
The meter is described as optional and uncoupled by en.wikipedia; the coupled meter is the 2.8F's innovation. The packet's description agrees. Nothing found gives a separate price or count for metered against unmetered cameras.
Bay III filter bayonet from the packet and from Camera Legend's note that every 2.8 takes Bay III; the ausgeknipst page that documents the bayonet sizes returned 429 and was not read.
The E2's removable hood is from the packet (ja.wikipedia); en.wikipedia's table says the removable hood arrived with the F 'and all subsequent models' and lists a self-timer for the E2 and E3.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Synchro-Compur on the shutter ring — the 2.8D and earlier read Compur Rapid (en.wikipedia)
Meter cell in the nameplate on metered cameras, read on a needle at the focusing knob but with no coupling to the exposure dials; a metered 2.8F looks alike from the front but couples the needle to the dials (en.wikipedia)
E: fixed hood and 162xxxx–166xxxx serial. E2: removable hood, 235xxxx serial. E3: removable hood, self-timer, 2360000–2362025 serial (ja.wikipedia; en.wikipedia)
Xenotar or Planar 80mm f/2.8 taking lens, five elements (antiquecameras.net); Bay III bayonet
Listing trap: dealers sell the E2 and E3 as 'F without the coupled meter' and the plain E as 'E Type 1'; the serial block is the clean test, and an E offered as metered should show the cell, not a blank plate

2.8E (K7E):

Synchro-Compur MXV shutter, 1–1/500 s + B, M and X sync — the first 2.8 with the Synchro-Compur name (en.wikipedia)
Selenium meter cell set into the nameplate above the viewing lens on metered cameras, with a match-needle readout on the focusing knob; the meter is uncoupled to the dials (en.wikipedia). Unmetered cameras carry a blank nameplate
Fixed focusing hood (the removable hood arrives with the E2 and F)

2.8E2 (K7E2):

Removable focusing hood (packet, from ja.wikipedia); self-timer (en.wikipedia)
Serial in the 235xxxx block, a new numbering series (ja.wikipedia)

2.8E3 (K7E3):

Self-timer (en.wikipedia); removable hood; 236xxxx serial (ja.wikipedia)
Sold alongside the 2.8F as the model without the coupled meter

2.8E (K7E): October 1956 to September 1959 by en.wikipedia's K-code table. The Xenotar camera was listed slightly below the Planar (antiquecameras.net).
2.8E2 (K7E2): August 1959 to March 1960 (en.wikipedia): an E with the F's removable hood, sold in the months before the 2.8F of June 1960 appeared.
2.8E3 (K7E3): March 1962 to January 1965 by en.wikipedia; camera-wiki gives 1962–65. The E3 is the unmetered or uncoupled-meter alternative to the 2.8F, which was in production throughout.

Serial-range notes

1621000–1665999: The 2.8E block in ja.wikipedia, continuing the 2.8D's 1600000–1620999. 45,000 numbers against antiquecameras.net's 'over 45,000 by 1960' agrees closely.
2350000–2356999: The E2 block (ja.wikipedia), in the 2xxxxxx series shared with the 2.8F's 2400000 onward and the 3.5 line.
2360000–2362025: The E3 block as corrected here: ja.wikipedia prints the lower bound as 23600000, one digit too many; 2360000 is the evident reading, and the upper bound 2362025 is given to the unit, which suggests it was copied from a Prochnow-style table.

Specifications

Format: 12 exposures
Finder (main): folding waist-level hood over a ground glass with flip-up magnifier; Heidosmat 80mm f/2.8 viewing lens; removable on the E2 and E3
Finder (sports finder): eye-level frame finder formed by folding the front panel of the hood
Shutter: Synchro-Compur MXV leaf shutter in the taking lens; cocked by the winding crank · 1–1/500 s, B · flash sync M and X at all speeds (en.wikipedia)
Film advance: folding crank; winding cocks the shutter
Meter: Optional selenium cell in the nameplate, uncoupled: the reading is transferred by hand to the light-value dials (en.wikipedia). On most surviving cameras the cell is dead (ausgeknipst buying guide, search result)
Country: West Germany

Where sources disagree

Years

March 1962 – January 1965 — en.wikipedia's K-code table
1962–65 — camera-wiki

Better supported: March 1962 – January 1965

Production

About 53,000 for '1956 to 1965' — antiquecameras.net, which does not mention the E2 or E3
Not given for the E2 and E3 — packet

The span quoted matches E through E3; whether the 53,000 includes the E2 and E3 is unresolved. The E's own serial block holds 45,000 numbers.

Id markers

Removable hood on the E2 — packet, from ja.wikipedia
Removable hood introduced with the F and all subsequent models — en.wikipedia's prose; its table credits the E2 with a self-timer

Better supported: removable hood on the E2

The E2 of August 1959 predates the F of June 1960, and the hood was an F-generation feature fitted to both; the statements are not really in conflict.

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The 2.8E of October 1956 is the 2.8D with two additions that defined the line’s last two decades: the Synchro-Compur MXV in place of the Compur Rapid, and a selenium exposure meter, offered as an option, whose cell sits in the nameplate above the viewing lens and whose needle is read at the focusing knob. en.wikipedia’s K-code table describes the meter as uncoupled — the photographer reads it and transfers the value to the light-value dials by hand — and credits the coupled meter to the 2.8F of 1960. The lenses are the Schneider Xenotar and Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8 of the C and D, five elements each by antiquecameras.net, the Xenotar camera listed a little below the Planar. Modern Photography’s 1956 test, quoted by the same page, put one Xenotar sample’s definition at f/2.8 above the older Tessar’s at f/3.5. The E ran to September 1959, over 45,000 cameras by 1960 and about 53,000 in all by antiquecameras.net’s count, and ja.wikipedia’s serial block, 1621000–1665999, holds 45,000 numbers.

The E2 and E3 are the same camera continued beside the 2.8F rather than replaced by it. The E2, August 1959 to March 1960, gained the removable focusing hood that the F would carry and a 235xxxx serial block; the E3, March 1962 to January 1965, has the hood and a self-timer and a block of 2,026 numbers from 2360000. Both were sold to buyers who wanted the F generation’s body without its coupled meter — or without a meter at all — and because ja.wikipedia’s E3 block ends at 2362025 to the unit, the figure looks copied from a Prochnow table that was not itself reached. antiquecameras.net does not mention the E2 or E3, and its 53,000 total spans 1956 to 1965, so whether it counts all three is unresolved.

No review devoted to the 2.8E as a camera to use was found, which says something about where it sits: the C has its ten blades, the D its price, the F its coupled meter and its reputation, and the E is bought as the F’s near-equal for less. The ausgeknipst buying guide, as surfaced by search, treats E and F as the choice of a working meter — the F’s an improved design, the selenium cells in either mostly dead by now — and calls Planar and Xenotar practically equivalent; a Photrio thread found the same way has owners advising a reputable dealer over a cheap auction camera that then needs expensive work. What distinguishes an E from a D in hand is the Synchro-Compur name on the shutter ring and, on metered cameras, the cell; what distinguishes it from an F is that the needle moves nothing. The serial block settles the rest.

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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.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Rolleiflex 2.8E / E2 / E3? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

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