Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Rolleiflex 2.8GX

Rollei · Fixed lens · 6×6cm on 120 film (Emulsive) · 1987

Also known as: Rolleiflex 2.8GX · Rolleiflex 2,8 GX · Rolleiflex 2.8 GX · Rollei 2.8GX · Rolleiflex GX · Rolleiflex 2.8GX Planar HFT · Rolleiflex 2.8GX Expression · Rolleiflex 2.8GX Gold · ローライフレックス 2.8GX · ローライフレックス2.8GX · ローライ 2.8GX · Rolleiflex 2.8GX 60 Jahre

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
2.8GX Model 1 Rolleiflex TLR 1987–1994 — —
2.8GX Model 2 Rolleiflex TLR 1995–2000 — —
2.8GX Edition '60 Jahre Rolleiflex 1929–1989' (gold) Rolleiflex TLR 1989–1989 — —
2.8GX Expression '75 Years' edition (gold) Rolleiflex TLR 1995–1995 — 900 made (Emulsive spec table)
2.8GX Royal Rolleiflex TLR 1996–1996 — —
2.8GX '80 Years' edition Rolleiflex TLR 2000–2000 — —
  1. Launch year: Japanese Wikipedia and camera-wiki say 1987, English Wikipedia 1989. The 60 Jahre edition of 1989 shows the camera existed by then; 1987 is used here.
  2. Model 1 / Model 2: camera-wiki's split at 1994/95. No fetched source says what changed.
  3. Weight and dimensions are Emulsive's spec table (without battery); Japanese Wikipedia gives the same 1,275 g for the 2.8FX, which shares the body.
  4. TTL flash control is attributed to the GX in general accounts, but Emulsive lists only X sync and the SCA 356 adapter; it is not recorded as fact here.
  5. No list price in DM, USD or yen was found in any fetched source; Emulsive says only that the author's unused 75 Years camera cost less than used examples he had seen.
  6. The 'Expression' edition with coloured leather is widely mentioned by sellers but reached no fetched source except as part of the name 'Rolleiflex 2.8GX Expression 75 years edition' (Emulsive).
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 'Rolleiflex 2,8 GX' on the nameplate; Planar 80mm f/2.8 taking lens engraved HFT, Heidosmat 80mm f/2.8 viewing lens; Bay III bayonet on both (Emulsive)
  • Two red dots inside the back for the film start line and no feeler rollers — the surest way to tell a GX from a 2.8F at a glance inside (35mmc)
  • Battery compartment in the focusing knob; two-stage release that wakes the meter at half press (Emulsive; 35mmc)
  • Markings printed rather than engraved, per a commenter on 35mmc
  • Five LEDs visible above the focusing screen with the hood open

2.8GX Edition '60 Jahre Rolleiflex 1929–1989' (gold):

  • Grey body covering with a gold-plated nameplate, despite the 'Gold' name (Japanese Wikipedia)

2.8GX Expression '75 Years' edition (gold):

  • Gold-plated metal parts — Aivaras Sidla calls it 'a gold-dipped version' (Emulsive)

2.8GX Royal:

  • Partial gold finish, supplied in a wooden case (Japanese Wikipedia)

Serial-range notes

coded serials from the mid-1990s
Geoff Chaplin reads his camera's coded serial as 1997 while camera-wiki's model years put it at 1995–96; no serial table for the GX was found.

Specifications

Format
6×6cm on 120 film (Emulsive) · 12 on 120; 35mm with the Rolleikin 2 adapter (Emulsive) exposures
Finder
folding waist-level hood with magnifier over a Heidosmat 80mm f/2.8 viewing lens; central split-image and microprism collar on the standard screen; five metering LEDs above the screen
Shutter
Synchro-Compur X leaf shutter (Emulsive) · 1s–1/500, B, with half-stop settings on the dial (Emulsive) · flash sync X sync at all speeds; SCA 356 flash adapter listed among the accessories (Emulsive) · self-timer
Film advance
crank, with manual film start: the start line is aligned with two red dots, the automat feeler rollers of the 2.8F having been dropped (35mmc; English Wikipedia)
Back
hinged, lock on the base plate; film spool knobs on the left side (Emulsive)
Meter
TTL, centre-weighted, two silicon photocells reading through the viewing lens; five LEDs (red/yellow/green/yellow/red) above the screen, lit for 30 seconds by half-pressing the release; ISO 25–6400; 6V PX28 battery in the focusing knob (Emulsive; 35mmc)
Weight
1275 g
Dimensions
109 × 147 × 108 (Emulsive, approximate) mm
Country
Germany
Accessories
Rolleinar II and III close-up sets (Bay III) · Rolleikin 2 35mm adapter · Five interchangeable focusing screens · 90° and 45° prism finders · SCA 356 flash adapter · Pistol grip, tripod head attachment, hard and soft cases

Emulsive lists five interchangeable screens and 90° and 45° prisms as accessories. Geoff Chaplin found the GX screen "much brighter" than an unmodified 2.8F's. Both reviewers note the split-image only works at the centre, so off-centre subjects are focused and recomposed.

Where sources disagree

First
  • 1987 (Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki Model 1 1987–94)
  • 1989 (English Wikipedia)

Better supported: 1987 (Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki Model 1 1987–94)

The 60 Jahre edition of 1989 presupposes a camera already in production.

What reviewers say

History

The 2.8GX is the Rolleiflex that came back. Rollei-Werke Franke & Heidecke went into insolvency in 1981, and the successor company, Rollei Fototechnic GmbH, put a twin-lens camera back into production in 1987 (Japanese Wikipedia and camera-wiki; English Wikipedia says 1989). Japanese Wikipedia calls it a revival of the 2.8F, which is what it looks like: the same cast body, crank wind, folding hood and Bay III bayonets, with a Planar 80mm f/2.8 taking lens now carrying Rollei’s HFT multicoating and a Heidosmat 80mm f/2.8 above it. What changed was inside. The exposure meter moved from the uncoupled selenium cell of the F to two silicon cells reading through the viewing lens, with five LEDs above the focusing screen that light for thirty seconds on a half-press of the two-stage release (Emulsive); and the Automat film start with its feeler rollers was dropped for the Rolleiflex T’s method, in which the paper leader’s start line is set against two red dots inside the back (English Wikipedia; 35mmc). Japanese Wikipedia counts the loading as a step backwards; Geoff Chaplin counts it as a cure, since his 2.8F’s automatic start fails on thin modern film.

Emulsive’s spec table gives the rest: a Synchro-Compur X leaf shutter from 1 second to 1/500 and B, with half-stop settings on the dial, X sync, self-timer, a 1 m minimum focus, ISO 25–6400 set by hand, a 6V PX28 or lithium 28L battery in the focusing knob, and 1,275 g without it. Only the meter needs the battery. Accessories were the ones the F had used — Rolleinar close-up sets, the Rolleikin 2 for 35mm film, prism finders, five screens — plus the SCA 356 flash adapter.

camera-wiki divides the run into a Model 1 of 1987–94 and a Model 2 of 1995–2000 without saying what separates them, and no fetched source fills the gap; Chaplin’s camera, which camera-wiki’s years would make a 1995–96 body, carries a serial he decodes as 1997. The editions are better documented than the models. A “60 Jahre Rolleiflex 1929–1989” camera of 1989 has a grey covering and a gold nameplate (Japanese Wikipedia); the “Expression 75 years edition” of 1995 is gold-plated, 900 made (Emulsive); a “2.8 Royal” of 1996 is partly gold and boxed in wood, and an “80 Years” camera of May 2000 came with a booklet (Japanese Wikipedia). Sellers also speak of an Expression edition with coloured leather, but no page read here describes one apart from the gold camera’s name. No list price in any currency was found.

In use the GX divides owners along the line of its reviewers. Chaplin ran thirty rolls with “zero camera errors”, calls the finder “wonderful” and the meter accurate, and finds the HFT lens sharper and more contrasty than his F’s; the F, his commenters reply, feels more solid, has a smoother release, and carries engraved rather than printed markings. Aivaras Sidla, using a gold 75 Years camera as an everyday machine, finds the metering area almost a spot, the release stiff enough to risk shake, and the results such that “2.8GX delivers everything with excess”. The FX of 2002 replaced it with the same mechanism under 2.8F-style trim.

Expand Collapse

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 2.8GX? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €3,700 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half €3,000–€3,700). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Rolleiflex 2.8F · Rolleiflex T · Rolleiflex 2.8FX / 2.8FX-N · Rolleiflex 4.0FW · Rolleiflex 4.0FT

Lenses for this body: Planar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex)

Sources (6)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.