2026-04-11 Rollei E15B Electronic Flash

This Rollei E15B electronic flash was made from 1971 to 1978 as the most basic of the many flash Rollei made for their Rollei 35 line of compact cameras. Camera and flash were distinctive together as the camera’s accessory shoe was on the bottom of the camera so the flash projected from the bottom. To avoid shadows being cast above the subjects you would have had to hold the rig upside down.

   When you see the camera has its accessory shoe at the far left end of body, you can see the method to this design. The flash ends up above the lens!
   The E15B and some of its larger, more automatic and powerful flash shared this wide shape—following the thickness of the camera body— at a time when almost all flash were built perpendicular to the camera body.
   The original Rollei 35 camera made its debut in 1966 and was still being made in 1998 (although that last model—and that model only—had the accessory shoe on the top!). The production number for the E15B (Electronic—15—Battery) flash is 659,000.
   The flash covered the angle of view of a 35 mm lens. All the Rollei 35 camera models had 40 mm lenses. The flash has a guide number of 19 in meters, 60 in feet for ASA 100 film. It uses two AA batteries and recycles in 8.5 seconds. Its Rollei product number is #440010.

The battery door is pretty unique as it “catches” at both ends and is held in place by the batteries holding it tight. Without batteries, the door can fall off and get lost.
The PC cable for this flash—supplied as an accessory in your choice of three camera fittings—locks into the flash with a release that doubles as the open flash switch.

Rollei35S image from McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique & Classic Cameras—2001-2002

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2026-03-14 - History and Evolution of the Kodak Logo

While working as a junior clerk at the Rochester Savings Bank, George Eastman first began commercial production of dry photographic plates in a rented loft of a building in Rochester, New York in April 1880. In the next few years, Eastman became very successful and expanded the company several times. His company started as the Eastman Dry Plate Company in 1881, later became the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in 1884, and soon after the Eastman Company in 1889. The last name change occurred in 1892, when the Eastman Kodak Company of New York was organized. The company has been called Eastman Kodak Company ever since. The word "Kodak" was first registered as a trademark in 1888. The letter “K” had been a favorite of Eastman’s, he is quoted as saying, "I devised the name myself. The letter 'K' had been a favorite with me; it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made word...

2026-03-20-Manfrotto monopods

Sometimes collecting is a matter of persistence. The Manfrotto “GRUPPO” 434SSB monopod (shown top) showed up one day at my local thrift store. They had a price tag of $25 on it. I had bought the lower Manfrotto Compact MMC3-01 monopod at the same thrift store for $3. So I asked, “Why so much?” They answered their “expert” had found it sold for $200 on the internet. I find experts—who almost never clerk in the thrift store, so are unreachable—hard to deal with. There is also the matter someone might actually pay them $25 for a 2.27 kg (5 pound) aluminum pole, so I decided to let the Gods-of-Collecting decide if I was going to ever own it. For weeks I would pick it up, check the price tag to see if they had come to their senses, and return it to the shelf. I did try various clerks to see if they would lower the price, but they said they were not authorized to change prices. I plodded on, week after week without much hope. ...

2026-03-25 The Kiron 70-150 mm F/4

This Kiron 70-150 mm f/4 Macro1:4MC zoom was made by Kino Precision, Japan in 1980. The same company made both 1.5x and 2x extenders for this lens. It is a lovely design featuring a 52 mm filter size —common to many normal lenses—and a constant f/4 at all zoom positions. The f/stops are full stops from f/4 to f/5.6 and from f/16 to f/22 while the other apertures are half stops apart. FOCAL LENGTH RANGE: 70mm - 150mm [2.1X zoom ratio] DIAGONAL ANGLE OF VIEW: 34.3° @ 70mm - 16.4° @ 150mm LENS CONSTRUCTION: 13 elements in 9 groups WEIGHT (Olympus OM Mount): 460 g (with hood, front and rear caps) The macro range sets in below the three foot (0.9 m) marked distance at all zoom positions but you only get to the minimum 1:4 ratio at 150 mm. Macro starts around a 1:8 macro range at 70 mm. This is the only lens I have ever collected that has the original price sticker on the rear cap. At least I assume it is the original price sticker… It ha...

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