Rolleiflex 4.0FW
Rollei · Fixed lens · 6×6cm on 120 film · 2002
Also known as: Rolleiflex 4.0FW · Rolleiflex 4,0 FW · Rolleiflex 4.0 FW · Rollei 4.0FW · Rolleiflex FW · Rolleiflex FW 4.0 · Rolleiflex 4.0FW Super-Angulon · Rolleiflex 4.0FW W-Apogon · Rollei Wide FW · ローライフレックス 4.0FW · ローライフレックス4.0FW · ローライ 4.0FW
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0FW | Rolleiflex TLR | 2002–2014 | — | — |
- Years: Japanese Wikipedia gives a September 2002 announcement and May 2003 sale; camera-wiki 2002–2014; collection-appareils (via search) 2003. The 2002 announcement is used as the first year.
- Weight: 'about 1,400 g' (Japanese Wikipedia). No dimensions were found.
- Lens name: Super-Angulon 50mm f/4 HFT (Japanese Wikipedia; English Wikipedia's body text) against W-Apogon 50mm f/4 (B&H set listing, search snippet). The same lens under Schneider's name and Rollei's.
- Body basis: B&H's listing says the FW is built on the 2.8FX body; a UK Rollei site reached only through search called it essentially the 2.8GX body. The GX and FX share one body, so the two statements do not conflict.
- Shutter and meter are described from the FX, which the FW shares; no data sheet for the FW itself was reached.
- No list price in EUR, USD or yen was found in a fetched source.
How to tell them apart
- The deeper lens panel of a wide-angle Rolleiflex with two large 50mm lenses, on the black-leatherette FX body with internal meter LEDs and the battery in the focusing knob
- Front ring engraved either 'Super-Angulon 1:4/50 HFT' with the Schneider-Kreuznach name or 'W-Apogon 4/50'
- The 1961 Wide-Angle Rolleiflex it reissues has a Zeiss Distagon 55mm f/4 and no internal meter — the lens name separates them at once
4.0FW:
- 'Rolleiflex 4,0 FW' nameplate; Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 50mm f/4 HFT taking lens with a matching Heidosmat viewing lens (Japanese Wikipedia; English Wikipedia)
- Some cameras carry the Rollei-brand name W-Apogon 50mm f/4 on the lens instead of Super-Angulon (B&H set listing, search snippet)
- 4.0FW: The only model. Launched under Franke & Heidecke GmbH, the 2002 successor to Rollei Fototechnic's medium-format business, and built from 2009 by DHW Fototechnik until that company's end in 2014 (English Wikipedia on DHW). Japanese Wikipedia: announced by Komamura in September 2002, on sale May 2003, about 1,400 g. A French collector database also has the wide-angle camera reaching the market in 2003.
Specifications
- Format
- 6×6cm on 120 film · 12 on 120 exposures
- Finder
- folding waist-level hood with magnifier over a Heidosmat 50mm viewing lens; metering LEDs above the screen; interchangeable screens and prism finders as on the FX
- Shutter
- leaf shutter in the taking lens · 1s–1/500, B (as on the 2.8FX; no maker's sheet for the FW was reached) · flash sync X sync · self-timer
- Film advance
- crank, manual film start against two red dots, as on the 2.8GX and FX
- Back
- hinged
- Meter
- TTL, centre-weighted, LED readout in the finder, shared with the 2.8FX (Adorama listing, search snippet)
- Weight
- 1400 g
- Country
- Germany
- Accessories
- Interchangeable focusing screens, 90° and 45° prism finders · SCA flash adapter
Where sources disagree
- First
- 2002 (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia announcement, September 2002)
- 2003 (Japanese Wikipedia on-sale date, May 2003; collection-appareils via search)
Better supported: 2002 (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia announcement, September 2002)
Announcement and sale fall in different years; the first is used.
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 4.0FW reissues the Wide-Angle Rolleiflex of 1961 on the body of the 2.8FX. Franke & Heidecke GmbH, the company that took over Rollei Fototechnic’s medium-format cameras in 2002, announced it through Komamura in Japan in September 2002 and had it on sale in May 2003 (Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki runs it 2002–2014). Where the original Rollei-Wide carried a Zeiss Distagon 55mm f/4, the FW takes a Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 50mm f/4 with Rollei’s HFT coating and a Heidosmat viewing lens to match (Japanese and English Wikipedia); B&H’s listing names the same lens W-Apogon 50mm f/4, the Rollei-brand name that Schneider’s glass also wore on the FX-N (S-Apogon) and FT (Tele-Apogon). Japanese Wikipedia puts the camera at about 1,400 g, 125 g more than the FX.
Everything behind the lens panel is the FX: a leaf shutter to 1/500, the TTL centre-weighted silicon meter with LEDs over the screen, crank wind with the red-dot film start, Bay III bayonets, a battery in the focusing knob that only the meter needs. No data sheet for the FW itself was reached, so those figures are carried from the FX and GX rather than measured on this camera. B&H sold the FX, FW and 4.0FT as a numbered trio with serials 0000001–0000003, which is how the three are most often described: one body, three lens pairs.
DHW Fototechnik, founded by former Franke & Heidecke staff, continued the FW from 2009 until its own insolvency ended production in 2014 (English Wikipedia). No published review was found; owners on the forums report no complaint about the Super-Angulon, with the leather covering’s tendency to scuff the usual grumble, and the original 55mm Distagon camera is the one collectors compare it against. No list price in any currency was 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.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Rolleiflex 4.0FW? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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