Rolleiflex 6008 Batteries

Look what came!

The two black oblong rectangular things in the lower part of this picture, one still in its plastic bag, are Rolleiflex 6000-series rechargeable batteries. Originally they contained NICAD cells of something like 700 mAh (milliampere hour) capacity, but the batteries are no longer made and most of the existing ones are getting pretty old now. I have five, but as of five years ago only two could still hold much of a charge. The two batteries you see here have been expertly re-celled with brand new hand-selected modern NiMH cells. They provide about 1100 mAh of power when fully charged.

You know you're a gearhead when you get all excited over batteries. But then, the Rollei SLX, 6002, 6003, 6006, 6008, and my 6008AF—unlike the mechanical TLR seen in the upper left here—are useless without batteries.

The thing on the upper right, on top of its box, is the new Type D charger sold by Eric at Rolleiflex USA. It's made by DW Photo GmbH in Braunschweig, Germany, which is carrying the torch of the old Rollei medium format tradition (although it no longer owns the rights to the Rollei name). Type C and N chargers made back in the day by Rollei will work with the new NiMH cells, but won't charge them all the way. The Type D charger will charge them fully.

The part of this in short supply are the battery housings, i.e., the fused black outer casings (sometimes called "cassettes") you see here. Those are no longer being made. They're getting rare—a quick check of eBay usually turns up no loose ones, just those being sold as parts of camera outfits.

I would have loved to get out with the 6008AF today—glorious day—but I still have a few issues with the camera to work out. But the batteries were the biggest issue. Now solved.

$20 picture
I stopped to "scout" a picture yesterday. Taking a tip from Carl Weese, I've been scouting locations with digital and returning with a medium-format camera if what I find looks promising. Unfortunately, yesterday I pulled all the way off the road—forgetting momentarily that it had been raining for three days straight.

I was reminded very quickly. The earth by the roadside turned into oozing black mud under my wheels, and in no time I was dead stuck.

But I'll tell you, people are great around here. It wasn't two minutes before a black pickup truck pulled up in front of me and a local man hopped out and asked if I needed help. After exploring the situation, he hooked a tow strap to the back of my car—he didn't have a chain—and, with my car helping, pulled me right back on the roadway. Didn't take five minutes. He didn't ask for money, but I gave him a twenty for his kindness. A bargain for me—after all, he'd saved me a tow fee, and probably more than an hour of my time.

Wasn't that kind of him? Very nice guy. Name of Cody. I hightailed it to the car wash to get all the mud off the undercarriage.

Fizzle
Wouldn't you know it, though, the picture possibility was a dud—as I suspected, there's no way to get a clear view of that particular chasm and waterfall by the roadside because of the trees in the way. You never know until you get out and check it out on foot, though.

Fortunately, that doesn't usually cost $20.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

ADDENDUM from Eric Hiss (Rolleiflex USA): "Mike, Thanks for the shout out! I have a few comments to add: DW Photo GmbH are the same people who have been at the Rolleiflex factory for decades, really not holding the torch so much as carrying on as usual but under a new business name and with a smaller product offering (no TLR's), and smaller staff. They are currently making the Hy6 Mod2 cameras and lenses as well as servicing them. It's the same platform as your 6008AF but two design generations newer.

"With regards to the batteries—there's just a lot of information to share and I'll do that on a separate post on my website. However for now let me just tell people that the NiMH [nickel metal hydride] cells now almost always have higher capacity than the C-type and N-type chargers were designed for, and they will only reach 1100 mAh no matter what. G and M chargers are not compatible with the NiMH cells. The big enemy of the batteries is heat—don't let your batteries get hot in the charger. Higher capacity cells take longer to charge, don't reach full capacity (even if you put them in twice), and get hotter than the originals during charging—even when the rebuilder leaves in the temperature sender (most don't). When you have a G or M charger you can still rebuild your batteries with modern NiCad [nickel cadmium] cells—the modern ones do not suffer from memory issues like the older ones did. If you are using higher-capacity NiMH cells, then the D-type charger will charge them fully without generating excess heat.

"There are a lot of people rebuilding their own Rolleiflex 6000-series batteries which is fantastic! There are battery internals for RC models that fit (although they're a little tight), so someone with modest skills can do it. The problem is that many fail—it's eight cells in series, and only one bad one will take out the whole thing. Each cell needs to be load tested, then the whole thing tested again after assembly and then again after fitting into the pack. Time-consuming! I use Key Camera [1428 Main St., Longmont, CO 80501, 303/772-7690] now to do the rebuilding, and I supply them with 1300 mAh internal cells from the factory. I offer a service from my site to rebuild, but it's also the same price to send your batteries to Key Camera directly.

"I don't deal with any lithium rebuilds because of the liability, and most all I've seen do not come with chargers that monitor each cell individually—with the exception of the ones from Wiese Fototechnik (which are great). But for some reason I've never seen a Lithium solution that works for all 6000 models, so check first.

"Lastly, if you have any dead 6000 battery packs, I'm in short supply ( I don't even have a battery for my own 6008AF!) and would be willing to buy up any that aren't being used for $25 each."

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Niko X (partial comment): "Mike, the Rolleiflex 6xxx series is a beautiful system, but the scarcity of batteries makes acquiring such a system seem like a risky proposition."

Mike replies: I'm not investing in the system now, except to bring it up to working order as described in this post. I bought the Rolleis when they were at their cheapest—I had reviewed a 6008 for Camera & Darkroom and had always coveted one. I don't recall the year I bought them but it was in the first half of the 2000s, when digital was all the rage and film cameras—especially professional film cameras—were going begging. I've never shot with them outside of a few handfuls of rolls. I didn't have access to a darkroom, and it was too frustrating to shoot and develop the film but not be able to print.

Hasselblad had long dominated among professional studio photographers in North America, and Rollei was similarly dominant in Europe. After such long reigns, the downfall of the formerly proud pro marques turned out to be swift and severe. (See this post.) The Rollei stuff seemed almost impossibly cheap to me when I bought it. It was not a wise purchase, but for a few dimes on the dollar I couldn't resist. Well, I didn't, anyway.

Fortunately, though, back then I bought five batteries and two Type C chargers along with the other equipment. I traded in one of the Type C chargers for the new Type D—Eric gives you an $80 credit. The other one is new in the box, still in its shrink wrap...as was one of the bodies and backs I bought. They were advertised as used but they were unsold store stock. It's unfortunate that I only bought one AF lens...those have gotten very expensive now, due to rarity. An 80mm Xenotar AF lens alone now sells for more than I paid for the lens, a body, and a 120 back.

Mark Sperry: "Very nice! Eric encouraged me to get the 6008AF since I'm an all-film guy. However I could not resist the temptation of the Hy6 Mod2, and I haven't regretted it one bit! Fabulous system, the 6008 included."

Sara Piazza: "The same thing happened to me about a year ago. I pulled onto the side of the road, onto what appeared to be solid ground, and was quickly up to my gunwales in mud. Strangers stopped to help, to no avail, so I did end up calling AAA. After three trips to Ireland in the last year-and-a-half I have gotten much better at judging where to pull off on the side of the road—looking for soft spots, hidden ditches, blind curves, and planning carefully for easy re-entry—made slightly more challenging when the traffic is coming from the opposite direction than you're accustomed to. Even now, back home in the US, I am still second-guessing myself when I'm pulling back out onto the roadway. Am I on the right? Or the left?

"And yes, there's the familiar disappointment of discovering that the shot does not turn out to be as imagined. The other side of that coin is seeing a potential photo and saying to yourself, 'I'll come back later for that one,' and then of course every single thing is different. Or gone.

"I've always appreciated your writing, even more so now when we all have more time to think, tinker, and read. Stay well. Sara from Martha's Vineyard."

Mike replies: I think the only reason I don't live in the British Isles is that I know I'd become permanently confused over left and right on the roadways! I've always been slightly dyslexic—when I was six, I formed a club with my friends which was proudly labeled "Mike's Clud." I have fond memories of Ireland, but if I lived there I'd soon be run over, while looking the wrong way for oncoming cars.

Gerard Kingsma: "I can't resist—your adventure immediately reminds me of one of my biggest takeaways from the week-long workshop I was honored to attend with Jay Maisel. He sent us one our merry ways each afternoon with one single assignment: Go Out Empty. Clear your mind and don't think beforehand of the pictures you're going to take. Don't plan. Because the pictures you're looking for won't be there (disappointed!) and you'll likely not recognise the wonderful opportunities that are staring you right in the face. Instead of scouting locations—what if you had had your wonderful Rollei with you, all set and ready to go? You might have had a wonderful portrait of Cody."

Mike replies: Wise words. Jay is a wise man.

Robert Hudyma: "Ifixit has detailed instructions on how to re-build your Rollei battery pack. Just the thing when you are stuck indoors for an indefinite period. Ifixit Rollei 6000/6008 Battery Re-Build."

Mike replies: That's the very page that convinced me to hire somebody else to do it! But I'm sure people who are handy with electronics and soldering would get along okay.

Comments

[Dave Van de Mark]

It is just so great to see an example of a lone business continuing to provide support for a way-out-of-date item, allowing it to be still used rather than just admired sitting in a display case or, worse yet, buried in a land fill. It is particularly shameful to me when a still prosperous company just willfully chooses to discontinue support for something. It is one of the worst aspects of current industrial behavior world over. Funny that we can "store" data but can't store spare parts. Admittedly, I don't know if they still do this, but Audio Research was an audio firm that proudly maintained the tradition of servicing anything they ever made, no matter how old. It was one of the reasons I purchased their products. I know not everything can be sustained forever but no way should obsolescence come as quickly as it does for many very fine things.

[hugh crawford]

“ there's no way to get a clear view of that particular chasm and waterfall by the roadside because of the trees in the way”

This very morning on another website that I pop up on from time to time I was mentioning how great a used tv station news van would be for that situation. A van with all the accoutrement for going to wherever news is happening, and perhaps roads are not happening, plus they usually come with a 52 foot telescoping mast with a pan tilt mount at the top of it. They are usually well equipped for the sort of creature comforts one would like when waiting for people to do something stupid - I mean newsworthy.

Taking care of my 90 year old mother makes things like antique racing cars and big ass camera stands kind of superfluous at the present time, but those old news vans turn up really cheap from time to time.

Also - If you want to retrofit some modern batteries into an old NiCad powered device, the folks at your local radio controlled cars, airplanes, and drones hobby shop will usually have all sorts of batteries and chargers that will work.

Yet more also: Nice Rolleiflex, but aren’t you a Xenotar man?

[sebastian]

happy for your batteries.
and of course, to see that there are still nice people on the world :-)

[Richard Alan Fox]

If only that SLR Rollei was digital, the TLR is so elegant in comparison.

[Pieter]

> The part of this in short supply are the battery housings

Seems like a prime candidate for some 3d printing!

[Roger Bradbury]

I see these great compositions when I'm out on the road, but when I park up I can never find the shot again. It's at least partly because it involves going down on one knee in the middle of the road, on a blind bend.

The last time I tried this (on a road I know quite well), I couldn't find the shot as usual. But I did find a few good images, each completely different from the one I'd stopped for.

Perhaps this is the way to do it; park up somewhere where I never usually stop, and see what I can find at a place I have never given more than a fleeting glance to.

[P J Dodds]

Once again your anti-tree sentiments come to the fore :)

Just kidding. Glad you got out ok.

[Niko X]

Mike, the Rolleiflex 6xxx series is a beautiful system, but the scarcity of batteries acquiring such a system seem like a risky proposition. With the proliferation of 3D printers, I wonder if one could print (or has already created a model-for-3D-printing of) the battery housing.

[Dan Khong]

Looks like you are going put some film through the 6008 and TLR very soon. That also means getting closer to darkroom printing. That's real progress.

[Michael Potter]

Glad you have the battery and charger situation taken care of, Mike. Looking forward to seeing some pictures! Stay safe.

[Paul in AZ]

I expect that you will be dazzled by the photos you get with your 6008AF.

I had a 6008 for a while. Optics were as good as it gets. Incredible B&W and color negatives. Built like a tank. Unfortunately I found the ergonomics a bit cumbersome and never bonded with the camera. The only thing I miss is the image quality.
Bought used for a great price and sold for even less -but that's life.

Subsequent drift was into Rollei and Yashica TLRs. Fully manual everything appeals to me more.

Have fun.

[BERND REINHARDT]

I am not being accusatory, Lord knows I have too many cameras myself, but my question is why the Rolleiflex 6008 over that Exakta 66 you bought a while back?

[In my little back-to-film project I hope to try out all the film cameras I have. --Mike]

[Andrew]

It's interesting to me that the battery housing is the limiting factor. Given that I imagine the "smarts" for these batteries (in terms of current regulation, overvoltage protection, yada, yada) would be in the circuit board on the charger, this seems like a prime opportunity for 3D-printing to come to the rescue.

The housing should be easy to model in CAD, and 3D printing doesn't have high set-up costs (just high marginal costs) so someone could be up and running selling them in very short order without any real investment. The internal metallic contacts that connect the NiMH cells together should be easily assembled from standard electronics. I would imagine that that the only tricky thing might be if there are proprietary contacts that mate the battery with the camera side, which would be a lot more of a hassle to fabricate if they need to be custom made.

I wish I knew more about the ins and outs of electronics, this seems like it would be fun stuff to get involved with...

[Tom Duffy]

I have a Contax 645. Beautiful camera but the thing would go through a 2CR5 battery every 10 rolls of 120 film. I bought an external battery grip for it that takes rechargeable "AA" batteries. While it adds considerably to the bulk of the camera, it really helps to keep the cost of operation down. You still have the option of taking the battery grip off and travelling lighter when you wish.

[Steve Rosenblum]

Three rolls of film are hanging to dry on my shower rod this morning. Two were shot with my Mamiya 6MF+50mm in beautiful light in a rural cemetery I discovered with graves dating back to the 1830's (no Social Distancing necessary!). The third shot with my Voigtlander Bessa R3A and a 50mm Summicron in downtown (deserted). I've been using some of my infinite time at home to finally learn digital camera based negative scanning with Negative Lab Pro LR plugin, and hope to make some prints. Both of those cameras are a pleasure to use. Lemonade from lemons.

[Eric Rose]

I love my Rollei SLX! If I could afford one of the better 6xxx series bodies I would jump at one. I too got my batteries repacked but find one set doesn't hold a charge very well. That really sucks but the other one lasts and lasts. I bought a 150mm lens for my SLX but it won't fire. The 80mm and 50mm are stunning lenses. Have fun with yours Mike! I'm jealous lol.

[Paul in AZ]

A regular frustration when I lived in New England was desirable shots obscured by trees.
Hugh's mention of a TV van as an elevated shooting platform brings Dorothea Lange to mind. She shot from the roof of a pickup truck.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Dorothea_Lange_1936_portrait.jpg

[Gordon Lewis]

>>Go Out Empty.

Wisdom indeed. Might I also suggest that if you plan to shoot medium-format, have a tripod in the trunk or back seat just in case? Your work does not seem to require a lot of spontaneity, which would be difficult anyway if you're using a waist-level finder, so why take the time and effort to shoot medium-format film, only to have to shoot at a wider aperture than you'd prefer or risk camera shake (or both)?

[Roger Bradbury]

Further to my comment above, I happened to drive along the same bit of road today. I could sort of see what I'd stopped for last time, but the shot had gone.

The light was different, I was different. You can't go back.

[John Camp]

Don't pull off the road. If you're only going to stop for a couple of minutes, put out orange cones. You can get them on Amazon. Just don't do it if you have lots of cops around.

I once had a Chevy Tahoe that I really didn't care about, except that it would carry everything. I also had a fold-up step ladder that would collapse to about 4 feet, and I'd use the ladder to get up on the roof of the truck. It's amazing what you can see from six feet above the road. If you put up a tripod, you have to be really careful not to fall off the truck backwards.

[marcin wuu]

Oh. I was considering the 6xxx series for my portraiture work, mostly because of the one-of-a-kind 180 2.8 lens. It's the only 180mm les for medium format with 2.8 aperture and leaf shutter. Most other leaf shutter 180's don't go lower than 4 or 4.5, with the notable exception of the Fujinon 180 3.2.
But the price scared me off. While the cameras can be had for cheap these days, the 180 2.8 is still expensive.

[wts]

If a railroad photographer is lucky, an active railroad will take down the trees every 40 years or so. The area west of the famous Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, PA, is a prime example.

[George Janik]

Mike, looking at those Rolleis brings back memories of my friend's Rollei SL2000 (a modular 35mm camera). Also it's successor SL3003.
They were great cameras, super comfortable to use, and quite ingenious. You could switch to BW film from color in mid roll.
I never understood why they weren't more popular.

[Geoff Goldberg]

Started with the 6003 back in 1993, and eventually moved into a 6008 and have been with Hy6 for some 8-9 yrs. Largely shoot with a digital back, the Leaf Credo 60 and love it. Bought lenses over the years when folks didn't want them, and have enjoyed them all. Still use the Schneider 60 bought in the mid-90s, and its just lovely with the digital back. The Hy6 offers some real advantages over the 6008, about another stop for handholding (better mirror dampening) and ability to go digital, but its not quite as charming. Oddly, the Hy6 is closest to an electronic Hassy V, but takes all those lovely Schneider lenses. And with a very good manual focus confirmation (which you can adjust for each lens differently) your old manual lenses are spot on.

[Evan Dong]

Eric Hiss Of Rollei USA has allowed us to continue to use our electronic Rolleiflex medium format cameras as long as possible. I'm also with Mike in purchasing a system when the prices were down due to the introduction of digital cameras.

If you get a deal on these lenses, ge it service to prolong its use, same with battery rebuild too.

[Tim Bradshaw]

DW Photo GmbH are clearly to camera making what Heritage are to guitar making. Heritage make guitars at 225 Parsons Street, Kalamazoo, an address that many guitar players will recognise. The people who make Heritages are the same people (or were the same people in 1984) who used to work for the company that formerly occupied that building. They are (were, in 1984) using the same tools that they used when they made guitars for that former company.

But the guitars they make don't have the name of that other company on their headstock. And, although many people don't understand this, it's the name which makes the difference in how a guitar sounds. Unless it has those particular six letters on the headstock, in the right order, it's just never going to be as good as a guitar which does.

(Disclaimer: I own two Heritages. I also own a guitar made by the former occupants of 225 Parsons Street.)

[David Bateman]

Why don't you just take photos of the battery from all angles and submit it for 3D printing.
Seems like a plastic case could easily be printed if there was enough demand.

There are specs for the internal sigma filter holder for a SDQ camera. That might have less demand than this.

[Mark Sampson]

Why manufacturers don't support batteries is a real mystery. c.1999 my group at Kodak was issued a Kodak DCS620 (SOTA then with its 3mp sensor) and a few of its proprietary NiCad battery packs. We used that camera for a long time, far past its obsolescence, and the lack of replacement batteries finally killed it. The company had discontinued the batteries and the camera at the same time; we could never find any more and our maintenance crew couldn't help.
A colleague of mine, a working pro, found a similar situation with his Leica DMR (the R8 with both film and digital backs). Proprietary batteries, no longer supported. He found a 3rd-party supplier for them, but cost and intermittent availability finally sent him to Nikon.
I'm glad you've found a way to keep your Rollei working!