Advice to prospective Rolleiflex TLR buyers often warns against the Rolleiflex T for reason that its lens and build quality were inferior to other Rollei models, including even some Rolleicords and the earlier Automat models. The T's Tessar lens is soft compared with the Planars and Xenotars on other Rolleiflex models, the critics usually point out, and there were also weaknesses in the camera;s construction due to cost-cutting measures and the use of plastic components. Some critics have gone further, claiming that Yashica and Minolta TLRs might be a better choice.
If we look at production figures for all Rolleiflex TLR models, such as are shown in the Rolleiclub TLR model history pages, then a different picture emerges. Beween 1958 and 1961, 127,000 Rolleiflex T cameras were produced, and this easily exceeds the production figures for the 3.5F (81,500 units) and 2.8F (82,800) models. If we take production figures as an indication of demand, and therefore also as a measure of a camera's success in the market, then there can be absolutely no doubt that the Rolleiflex T was the most successful Rolleiflex model ever produced. Still more revealing, more Rolleiflex T cameras were produced than the total number of Rolleiflex 2.8A, 2.8B, 2.8. 2.8D, and 2.8E models combined. These facts should give critics reason to pause before dismissing the Rolleiflex T as a relatively poor camera compared with other Rolleiflex models.
Admittedly, the customer is not always right, but the fact remains that the much maligned Rolleiflex T was then the strong preference among Rolleiflex buyers. This should count for something in present comparisons, and we should give the Rolleiflex T its due. It was the most successful Rolleiflex model ever. I have one, and I never hesitate to recommend it.
Eddie Vaughan