F-Distagon 30mm f/3.5 (Rollei 6000)
Carl Zeiss · Rollei 6000 · 1993 · F-Distagon (full-frame fisheye), 8 elements in 7 groups
Also known as: Rollei F-Distagon 30mm f/3.5 HFT PQ · Zeiss F-Distagon 3.5/30 PQ Rollei · Rollei 30mm f3.5 Fisheye PQ · F-Distagon 30mm F3.5 HFT PQ 6008 · Carl Zeiss F-Distagon 30mm f/3.5 Rolleiflex 6000 · Rolleiflex 6000 Fisheye 30mm · Rollei Fisheye F-Distagon 30mm · ローライ Fディスタゴン 30mm F3.5 PQ · ローライフレックス 6008 魚眼 30mm · Fディスタゴン 30mm F3.5 HFT ローライ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F-Distagon 3.5/30 HFT PQ (cat. no. 64 866) · Electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s (PQ) | Rollei 6000 | 1993 | — | — |
- Elements and groups (8/7), aperture range f/3.5–22, closest focus 0.3 m, 108 mm diameter, 122 mm length, 1,550 g, 180° diagonal and 112° horizontal field and the built-in M24 × 0.5 filter mount are from the System-6000 lens table in Rollei's 'Lenses and Dedicated Accessories' brochure (05.03) and are repeated by Rolleigraphy and by the Wikipedia lens list. Japanese Wikipedia gives the same 7 groups, 8 elements, 0.3 m and φ24 mm P=0.5 rear filter thread.
- Launch year. No source dates the Rollei-mount fisheye. It is absent from the 1984 Berkey lens sheet (range 'from 40mm to 350mm') and present, as a PQ lens, in the January 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure; the PQ line itself dates from the 6008 professional of 1988. The year given is the earliest dated document, not a launch date.
- Weight against the Hasselblad lens. Zeiss's F-Distagon 3.5/30 for Hasselblad weighs about 1,370 g; the Rollei lens's 1,550 g includes its own electronic shutter, diaphragm motors and electronics.
How to tell them apart
- A Rollei-mount fisheye: ten gold contacts on the mount flange and a bayonet with no shutter cocking or aperture coupling, unlike the Hasselblad CF lens with its Prontor shutter and the SL66 lens with no shutter at all
- Engraved Carl Zeiss F-Distagon 3,5/30 with a red HFT, and 'PQ lens' beside the aperture figures; the aperture ring has an 'A' setting
- Built-in petal hood and no front filter mount; the rear filters thread into an M24 × 0.5 mount behind the front group
F-Distagon 3.5/30 HFT PQ (cat. no. 64 866):
- 'PQ lens' engraved or printed on the barrel to the right of the aperture figures; the aperture ring carries an 'A' position for the body's automatic modes (Rolleigraphy)
- Bulbous front element under a fixed, built-in petal hood; no filter thread or bayonet in front — the filters sit behind the front group on an M24 × 0.5 thread (Rollei 2003 brochure, Rolleigraphy)
- Ten gold-plated contacts in the mount and no mechanical couplings at all; the 1/500 s top speed is set on the body
- F-Distagon 3.5/30 HFT PQ (cat. no. 64 866): The only version recorded. Rolleigraphy lists the F-Distagon 3.5/30 as PQ alone, with catalogue number 64 866, and no SLX-generation, EL, PQS or AF fisheye appears in any Rollei list consulted. The Berkey lens sheet of 1984 gives the 6006/SLX range as running 'from 40mm to 350mm', so there was no 30 mm before the PQ line of 1988; the 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure is the earliest dated document that lists it (item no. 64866).
Specifications
- Formula
- F-Distagon (full-frame fisheye), 8 elements in 7 groups
- Construction
- 8 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5–f/22
- Shutter
- Electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s, diaphragm and shutter driven by two linear motors (PQ)
- Min. focus
- 0.3 m
- Dimensions
- 108 × 122 mm
- Weight
- 1550 g
- Filter
- 24 mm (0.5 mm pitch), built-in filters on an M24 × 0.5 thread behind the front group; built-in hood
- Years manufactured
- 1993
- Country
- Germany
- Coating
- HFT multicoating
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 F-Distagon 3,5/30 is Carl Zeiss’s full-frame 6×6 fisheye in the electronic bayonet of the Rolleiflex SLX and 6000 series: the same eight-element, seven-group construction Zeiss published for the Hasselblad and SL66 versions, here fitted with Rollei’s own leaf shutter and diaphragm, each driven by a linear motor under the body’s control through ten gold-plated contacts. Rollei’s brochures describe it as covering the full square with 180° across the diagonal and 112° across the side, with the typical fisheye distortion away from the centre, and recommend it for creative, advertising, interior, astronomical, geophysical and meteorological work. The System-6000 lens table gives f/3.5–22, focusing to 0.3 m, 108 mm across, 122 mm long and 1,550 g, which is about 180 g more than the Hasselblad lens because the shutter and its electronics travel inside the barrel.
It was only ever a PQ lens. The Berkey lens sheet of 1984 lists the 6006/SLX range as running from 40 mm to 350 mm, so there was no Rollei-mount fisheye in the SLX generation, and no EL, PQS or autofocus version followed; Rolleigraphy and both Rollei brochures consulted give one entry, catalogue number 64 866. The earliest dated document to list it is the Rolleiflex 6008 professional brochure of January 1993, so the year given here is a documentary floor rather than a launch date; the PQ line began with the 6008 professional of 1988. As a PQ lens it offers shutter-priority, aperture-priority, program and manual exposure on the 6008, 6003 and 6001, works with limited modes on the SLX, 6006 and 6002, and mounts on the Hy6 as a manual-focus lens, its top speed staying at 1/500 s.
Filters are the fisheye’s usual compromise: the bulbous front and fixed petal hood leave no room for a front mount, so the filters screw into an M24 × 0.5 thread behind the front group. No published review of the Rollei-mount lens was found; the entry rests on Rollei’s own literature and Rolleigraphy. Left open: a launch year, a production figure, serial-number data and any price.
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 F-Distagon 30mm f/3.5 (Rollei 6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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