Rolleigon 50mm f/4 (Rollei 6000)
Rollei · Rollei 6000 · 1984
Also known as: Rollei Rolleigon 50mm f/4 HFT · Rolleigon HFT 4/50 Rolleiflex 6006 · Rolleigon 50mm F4 HFT SLX · Rollei 50mm f4 Rolleigon 6000 · Rolleiflex 6006 Rolleigon 50mm · Rolleigon 1:4 f=50mm · Rollei Rolleigon 50/4 HFT 6002 · ローライゴン 50mm F4 HFT · ローライ ローライゴン 50mm F4 · ローライフレックス 6006 ローライゴン 50mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolleigon 4/50 HFT (Tokina-made economy line, 1984) | Rollei 6000 | 1984 | — | — |
- Elements and groups (8/8), f/4–32, closest focus 0.5 m, 88 mm diameter, 86 mm length, 715 g and the 77 mm filter are from the Wikipedia lens list, which draws on Rollei's own 6006/6002 literature; Rolleigraphy gives 8 elements, 75° diagonal and 57° horizontal field and an E77 screw-in mount; Japanese Wikipedia gives 8 groups, 8 elements, 0.5 m and a φ77 mm screw-in attachment. The eight-element count, against seven in the Zeiss Distagon 50, is what shows the Rolleigon to be a design of its own rather than a re-badged Distagon.
- Maker and year. Tokina manufacture is stated by Rolleigraphy (in the heading of its Rolleigon table) and by Volker Muth; neither cites a document, and no Tokina or Rollei source has been found. The 1984 date is that of the 6006, with which the Wikipedia lens list says the line was released; the Berkey lens sheet for the 6006/SLX of the same year lists only the Zeiss-designed lenses, so the Rolleigons may have followed the camera by some months. Japanese Wikipedia pairs the Rolleigon 80 with the 6002 of 1986 as a sales set.
- Exposure modes. As an original-generation lens it supports shutter-priority and manual exposure only. Muth, writing of the line on a 6008, lists what a Rolleigon disables: the automatic exposure modes, multi-spot metering, the aperture display and auto-bracketing, leaving manual mode with the stop-down button.
How to tell them apart
- Rolleigon on the front ring, not Distagon: Rollei's own name on an eight-element lens made in Japan by Tokina, with an E77 filter thread where the Zeiss 50 takes bayonet VI filters
- No PQ, EL or PQS mark beside the aperture figures — an original-generation lens with ten gold contacts, 1/500 s top speed and two exposure modes
- 715 g and 86 mm long, the lightest and shortest 50 for the mount; 88 mm across
- Not the PCS-Rolleigon 75mm f/4.5 shift lens of the SL66, the Rolleigon 80 and 150 of the same economy line, or the Rolleigon zooms of Rollei's 35 mm compacts
Rolleigon 4/50 HFT (Tokina-made economy line, 1984):
- Rolleigon HFT 1:4 f=50mm on the front ring, with no Zeiss or Schneider name and no PQ, EL or PQS mark: electrically it is an original-generation ('O') lens (Rolleigraphy)
- E77 screw-in filter thread (German 'Einschraub 77') in place of the Rollei bayonet of the Zeiss lenses; 88 mm across, 86 mm long, 715 g — the lightest 50 for the mount (Wikipedia lens list, from Rollei's tables)
- Two rings, aperture and focus
- Rolleigon 4/50 HFT (Tokina-made economy line, 1984): The only version. Rolleigraphy lists the three Rolleigons — 4/50, 2.8/80 and 4/150 — as 'O' lenses made by Tokina, with the same technical specifications as the original SLX lenses and best used on an SLX, 6006 or 6002; on the 6008 and later bodies they limit the camera to shutter-priority and manual exposure, and the Hy6 does not accept them. Released with the 6006 of 1984 (Wikipedia); Japanese Wikipedia records the 6002 of 1986 being sold as a set with the Rolleigon 80.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 8 elements in 8 groups — Rollei's own economy design, made by Tokina, not the Zeiss Distagon
- Construction
- 8 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4–f/32
- Shutter
- Electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s, diaphragm and shutter driven by linear motors; shutter-priority and manual exposure only
- Min. focus
- 0.5 m
- Dimensions
- 88 × 86 mm
- Weight
- 715 g
- Filter
- 77 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1984
- Country
- Japan
- 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 Rolleigon 4/50 was the wide-angle of the economy line Rollei introduced around the Rolleiflex 6006 of 1984, three lenses — 50 mm f/4, 80 mm f/2.8 and 150 mm f/4 — made in Japan by Tokina under Rollei’s own name and sold below the Zeiss-designed lenses of the system. It is not a re-badged Distagon: Rollei’s tables and Rolleigraphy give it eight elements in eight groups against the Distagon 50’s seven in seven, and it is lighter and shorter — 715 g and 86 mm long, 88 mm across — with a screw-in 77 mm filter thread, which Rolleigraphy’s ‘E77’ spells out as the German Einschraub 77, in place of the bayonet VI of the Zeiss lens. It has the same leaf shutter and diaphragm driven by linear motors through ten gold-plated contacts as every lens of the mount, HFT coating, f/4–32 and a closest focus of 0.5 m.
Electrically it belongs to the original SLX generation: no PQ, EL or PQS mark, a 1/500 s top speed, and shutter-priority and manual exposure only. Rolleigraphy says the Rolleigons share the technical specifications of the original lenses and are best used on an SLX, 6006 or 6002; on the 6008 and later bodies they still mount but hold the camera to those two modes, and Volker Muth lists what a 6008 loses with one fitted — the automatic exposure modes, multi-spot metering, the aperture display and auto-bracketing — and advises an EL or PQ lens instead. The Hy6 does not take them. The line was superseded for the economy role by the EL lenses, which are PQ lenses with a 67 mm filter thread, and Rolleigraphy lists only the one version of each Rolleigon. Japanese Wikipedia records the 6002 of 1986 being sold as a set with the Rolleigon 80.
No published review of the Rolleigon 50 was found, and the Tokina attribution, though repeated by Rolleigraphy and Muth, has not been traced to a Rollei or Tokina document. Left open: the lens’s own release date and price, production and serial data, and any test of its optics against the Distagon it undercut.
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 Rolleigon 50mm f/4 (Rollei 6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.