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

Rolleiflex Automat (incl. X, MX / 3.5A, MX-EVS / 3.5B)

Franke & Heidecke · Fixed lens · 6×6 cm, 12 exposures on 120; 35mm film with the Rolleikin kit (an interchangeable back and counter), which later X models anticipate with a hood hook for the Rolleikin mask and a sliding pressure plate (Japanese Wikipedia). · 1937

Known as “Automat”, “MX-EVS”

Also known as: Rolleiflex Automat · Rolleiflex Automat 6x6 · Rolleiflex Automat RF 111A · Rolleiflex Automat X · Rolleiflex X · Rolleiflex Automat MX · Rolleiflex MX · Rolleiflex MX-EVS · Rolleiflex MX EVS · Rolleiflex 3.5A · Rolleiflex 3.5B · Rolleiflex 3.5 Automat · Rolleiflex Automat Tessar 75mm f3.5 · Rolleiflex Automat Xenar 75mm F3.5 · ローライフレックス オートマット · ローライフレックス オートマット MX · ローライフレックス MX-EVS · ローライフレックス 3.5A · ローライフレックス 3.5B · ローライフレックス X型

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Automat Model 1 (RF 111A) Rolleiflex TLR 1937–1939 568516–805000 (Japanese Wikipedia's block for the whole pre-war Automat, 1937–45) —
Automat Model 2/3 (K4B, pre-war and wartime) Rolleiflex TLR 1939–1945 — —
Automat K4B2 (post-war, 1945–49) Rolleiflex TLR 1945–1949 — —
Automat X (K4/50, 'Rolleiflex 3.5') Rolleiflex TLR 1949–1951 1100000–1116999 (early) and 1117000–1168000 (late) (Japanese Wikipedia) —
Automat MX (K4A, '3.5A', Automat Model 4) · [object Object] Rolleiflex TLR 1951–1954 — —
Automat MX-EVS (K4B, '3.5B') · [object Object] Rolleiflex TLR 1954–1956 1428000–1478999 (1954 block) and 1479000–1739999 (1955 block) (Japanese Wikipedia, which labels the two blocks '3.5C' and '3.5D') —
  1. K-codes, months and lens suppliers are English Wikipedia's model table (Prochnow-style numbering); camera-wiki.org's Model 1/2/3/X/4 names and the 3.5A/3.5B labels are from its year list.
  2. English Wikipedia's table as read gives the code K4B to both the 1939–45 Automat and the 1954–56 MX-EVS; which, if either, is a transcription slip was not resolved.
  3. English Wikipedia's table was read with its shutter column ambiguous across rows; the Synchro-Compur on the MX and MX-EVS follows Japanese Wikipedia (M contact added on the MX, Synchro-Compur MX-EVS on the 1954 camera) and the M/X sync the table itself gives.
  4. No weight, dimensions, production figure or list price was found in the sources consulted. Casual Photophile's figure of about 800 g is for the Old Standard, not this body.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • No red window on the back: the first Rolleiflex with feeler-roller film sensing, so the back is plain
  • Paired speed and aperture dials either side of the lens board, read in a small window between the lenses — not the rim-set Compur of the Standards (Brennan Probst)
  • Heidoscop Anastigmat f/2.8 viewing lens; the Standards and New Standard read f/3.1
  • Bayonet rims (the size collectors call Bay I) on the taking lens from 1937 and on both lenses later
  • Flash contact tells the generation: none before 1949, a single X contact on the X, an M/X lever on the MX and MX-EVS; an EV scale coupling the two dials means MX-EVS
  • Lens engraving dates post-war cameras: Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar, then Zeiss-Opton Tessar (Oberkochen), or Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar
  • Listing trap: '3.5A', '3.5B', 'MX' and 'MX-EVS' are North American and collector names; the cameras are engraved only Rolleiflex. Japanese sellers may head an MX-EVS '3.5C'

Automat Model 1 (RF 111A):

  • Zeiss Tessar 7.5cm f/3.5, Heidoscop Anastigmat f/2.8 viewing lens, Compur-Rapid 1–1/500 s
  • Bayonet rim on the taking lens only at first; the viewing lens gained one later in the pre-war run (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • No shutter-lock cover on the earliest cameras — it was added part-way through production (Japanese Wikipedia)

Automat Model 2/3 (K4B, pre-war and wartime):

  • Tessar f/3.5, Heidoscop f/2.8, Compur-Rapid 1–1/500 s, no flash contact

Automat K4B2 (post-war, 1945–49):

  • Taking lens from Zeiss Jena (Tessar), Zeiss Opton Oberkochen (Tessar) or Schneider (Xenar f/3.5), depending on supply — the first Xenar on a Rolleiflex (English Wikipedia)
  • Still no flash contact

Automat X (K4/50, 'Rolleiflex 3.5'):

  • X flash synchronisation added — the first flash contact on a Rolleiflex
  • Tessar 7.5cm f/3.5 marked Zeiss Jena on early cameras, Zeiss Opton later, or Xenar 7.5cm f/3.5 (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Late cameras add a hook on the hood for the Rolleikin mask and a pressure plate that slides for 35mm film (Japanese Wikipedia)

Automat MX (K4A, '3.5A', Automat Model 4):

  • M and X synchronisation: an M contact for flashbulbs added to the X contact (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Anti-reflection ring behind the taking lens (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Tessar or Xenar 75mm f/3.5

Automat MX-EVS (K4B, '3.5B'):

  • Synchro-Compur MX-EVS: shutter speed and aperture dials coupled through a light-value (EV) scale, so once an exposure value is set either dial moves the other (Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Tessar or Xenar 75mm f/3.5

Serial-range notes

568516–805000
Japanese Wikipedia's block for the pre-war and wartime Automat (RF 111A and K4B), 1937–45. The Standard of 1932 ends at 567550, and the New Standard block begins at 805000, so the boundaries are block edges shared with those models rather than dates.
1100000–1116999, 1117000–1168000
Japanese Wikipedia's early and late blocks for the Automat X of 1949–51. The 2.8A of the same years is given 1101000–1139999, so the two models' numbers interleave rather than run in separate blocks.
1428000–1478999, 1479000–1739999
Japanese Wikipedia's blocks for the MX-EVS, under the labels '3.5C' (1954) and '3.5D' (1955). Those labels clash with Prochnow's, where 3.5C is the 1956 Planar/Xenotar camera sold in the US as the 3.5E, so a Japanese listing headed '3.5C' may be an MX-EVS. No block was found for the K4B2 of 1945–49 or the MX of 1951–54.

Specifications

Format
6×6 cm, 12 exposures on 120; 35mm film with the Rolleikin kit (an interchangeable back and counter), which later X models anticipate with a hood hook for the Rolleikin mask and a sliding pressure plate (Japanese Wikipedia). · 12 exposures
Finder
Folding waist-level hood over a ground-glass screen, viewed through a Heidoscop Anastigmat f/2.8 lens coupled to the taking lens; sports-finder frame in the hood
Shutter
Compur-Rapid leaf shutter on the pre-war, wartime and X cameras; Synchro-Compur on the MX, with light-value coupling (MX-EVS) from 1954 · 1–1/500 s, B, T (Compur-Rapid); 1–1/500 s, B (Synchro-Compur). 1/500 must be selected before the shutter is cocked (Brennan Probst) · flash sync None before the X of 1949; X contact on the X; M and X on the MX and MX-EVS
Film advance
Folding crank; feeler rollers sense the film leader so the counter starts itself and the crank stops at each frame; one stroke advances the film and cocks the shutter; no double exposures (Brennan Probst)
Back
Hinged; the Rolleikin kit replaces it with a 35mm back and counter
Meter
None
Country
Germany
Accessories
Rolleikin 35mm kit: film-plane adapter, interchangeable back with 35mm counter and spool parts, with a mask for the screen (Brennan Probst); late X cameras carry the hood hook for the mask · Bayonet-fitting hoods and filters on the lens rims (the fitting collectors call Bay I)

The f/2.8 viewing lens replaced the f/3.1 of the Standards. Brennan Probst, shooting a K4/50, found the plain matte screen with grid lines dim and without focusing aids, and the inverted eye-level view through the hood's magnifier and sports-finder mirror "useless, but still a neat little party trick".

Where sources disagree

K4b-prewar (camera-wiki Model numbers)
  • RF 111A Aug 1937–Mar 1939, K4B Apr 1939–Oct 1945, K4B2 Oct 1945–Sep 1949 — English Wikipedia's model table
  • Automat Model 1 1937–38, Model 2 1938–39, Model 3 1939–49 — camera-wiki.org

Better supported: English Wikipedia's table

The month-level dates follow Prochnow's numbering; camera-wiki's Model 3 spans both the wartime K4B and the post-war K4B2, and a photographer's memoir found by search puts 'Model 3' at 1945–49, so the Model numbers are not used here for dating.

Last
  • March 1939 — English Wikipedia
  • 1938 — camera-wiki.org (Automat Model 1, 1937–38)

Better supported: 1939

What reviewers say

History

The Automat of August 1937 is the camera that fixed the twin-lens Rolleiflex in the form it kept for the next fifty years. What was new was the film transport: feeler rollers inside the back sense the film as it is loaded, the counter starts itself, and from then on one stroke of the crank advances a frame and cocks the shutter, with no red window anywhere on the body. English Wikipedia describes the counter as sensing the thickness of the film and backing so the photographer no longer reads numbers through a ruby window. The automatic start is what separated a Rolleiflex from a Rolleicord for the rest of both lines. Around it came the paired speed and aperture dials either side of the lens board, a Heidoscop Anastigmat f/2.8 viewing lens in place of the Standards’ f/3.1, and bayonet rims on the lens fronts, at first on the taking lens only and later on both (Japanese Wikipedia). The taking lens was the Zeiss Tessar 75mm f/3.5 in a Compur-Rapid to 1/500 s, as on the model 622 Standard, and Japanese Wikipedia notes a shutter-lock cover added part-way through the pre-war run. English Wikipedia’s model table, which follows Prochnow’s numbering, runs the pre-war camera as RF 111A to March 1939 and K4B from April 1939 to October 1945; camera-wiki’s Model 1, 2 and 3 do not line up with those codes. Japanese Wikipedia gives one serial block, 568516–805000, for the whole pre-war and wartime Automat.

Post-war production resumed in October 1945 as the K4B2, and the lens is the first thing to look at: English Wikipedia lists the Tessar from Zeiss Jena or from Zeiss Opton in Oberkochen, or a Schneider Xenar f/3.5, depending on what Franke & Heidecke could get — the first Xenar on a Rolleiflex. The Automat X of October 1949, sold in North America simply as the Rolleiflex 3.5, added the first flash contact (X synchronisation), and Japanese Wikipedia has early X cameras with Jena-marked Tessars and later ones with Opton glass or Xenars, plus a hood hook for the Rolleikin mask and a sliding pressure plate for 35mm on late examples. The MX of June 1951, camera-wiki’s 3.5 A or Automat Model 4, put a Synchro-Compur with an M contact for flashbulbs beside the X contact and an anti-reflection ring behind the lens. The MX-EVS of April 1954 to September 1956, the 3.5 B, has the Synchro-Compur MX-EVS whose two dials are coupled through a light-value scale, so that once an exposure value is set, turning either dial moves the other to keep it. Japanese Wikipedia gives its serial blocks as 1428000–1478999 and 1479000–1739999 under the labels 3.5C and 3.5D, which clash with Prochnow’s 3.5C for the 1956 Planar camera, and English Wikipedia’s table as read assigns the code K4B to both the 1939 and the 1954 cameras.

In use the Automats are the plainest Rolleiflexes. Brennan Probst, shooting a 1949 K4/50, found the twin dials beside the lenses easy to set and read, the one annoyance being that 1/500 must be chosen before the shutter is cocked; the release locks and takes a cable release, the crank stops itself at each frame, and double exposures are not possible. The screen is the weakness: a plain matte with grid lines and no focusing aid, which he found dim and which cost him sharp frames, and the inverted eye-level view through the hood’s magnifier and sports-finder mirror he called a party trick. He ran the camera with a Rolleikin, the 35mm kit of film-plane adapter, 35mm back and counter and spool parts, which composes only vertically and which he enjoyed as a diversion. His verdict is a fine twin-lens reflex for its time. For the MX and MX-EVS no published shooting review was found, only dealer and museum pages; the body is the same, with the Synchro-Compur and, on the MX-EVS, the EV-coupled dials as the differences a user meets.

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 Automat (incl. X, MX / 3.5A, MX-EVS / 3.5B)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $350 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half $250–$350). First day tracked.

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

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

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

Related: Rolleiflex 3.5E · Rolleiflex New Standard · Rolleiflex Old Standard · Rolleiflex Original (1929) · Rolleiflex T

Lenses for this body: Tessar 75mm f/3.5 (Rolleiflex) · Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Rollei)

Sources (4)

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.