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Rollei Hy6 available again

P

Photon

Guest
carstenw

carstenw

Active member
Very good news! If I ever buy an entirely new MFDB system, this would be at the top of my list. Especially if they ever release the 6x6 film back :)
 
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Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Who would buy a system when it could go belly up - again - with nothing you could do about it? I'd wait a bit longer, like a couple of years..
 
G

Graham Mitchell

New member
Ben Rubinstein said:
Who would buy a system when it could go belly up - again - with nothing you could do about it? I'd wait a bit longer, like a couple of years..
Click to expand...
People have been buying Contax 645 for years after that system was put to rest. I'd buy a Hy6 because none of the competition interests me very much. Just my $0.02.
 
carstenw

carstenw

Active member
Same here. I am a Contax 645 owner, by the way. I would of course much prefer a living, breathing system rather than one on artificial life support (third-party repair centres), but this preference is not so strong that I would buy either a Hasselblad H or a Phase body :) The Hy6 is very neat though, and the 6008AF is a gorgeous camera.
 
S

Schmiddi

Member
Some notes from a German guy: Franke & Heidecke is gone, no second chance. There is a new company, DHW Photo GmbH. They sit in the same rooms, CEO is Hans Hartje, who also was CEO at Franke & Heidecke. So it's something like a successor, but legally it's simply a new company.

This new company is up with some 30 people now, they provide service for Rollei products, also Hy6 bodies and lenses. They also produce some Rollei 35, twin-eyed Rollei cams and slide projectors.
Additional they sell again Hy6-bodies and Tele-Apogon 4/150 mm AFD, both obviously taken from the remains of Franke & Heidecke (so up to now there is no new production). Body and lens are updated to the last and newest hard- and software. So far I understand, there is no chance for them to build the body again, because the rights belong to Leaf Imaging now (part of Phase One -> partly owner of Mamiya). I fear that Phase One won't have interest in an additional system on a small market...
Also you only get the body - no digital backs. There were statements that allow to hope that the 6x6 film-back will be available in future.

There is no homepage up to now, I only could find an Ebay-shop...

Andreas

PS: I rented a Hy6 with Sinar 75 - a dream. If I "find" some money then that's my system :grin: But with Leaf back only - Sinar needs Mac (no way for me because of software and costs).
 
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Paratom

Well-known member
Ben Rubinstein said:
Who would buy a system when it could go belly up - again - with nothing you could do about it? I'd wait a bit longer, like a couple of years..
Click to expand...
I would buy it (if I did not allready own it) because I like rotating back, exchangable viewfinders and Schneider glass.
And I bought a Sinar back because I liked the idea of a sensor with good high ISO but still without micro lenses and in the larger size.
Maybe its only because I am a german guy and like german craftmanship ;)
 
U

Uaiomex

Member
When did they sell the rights to Leaf? I wasn't aware of that. If true, the rights belong now to P1. What can we expect from that?
Excellent news anyways!
Eduardo


Schmiddi said:
Some notes from a German guy: Franke & Heidecke is gone, no second chance. There is a new company, DHW Photo GmbH. They sit in the same rooms, CEO is Hans Hartje, who also was CEO at Franke & Heidecke. So it's something like a successor, but legally it's simply a new company.

This new company is up with some 30 people now, they provide service for Rollei products, also Hy6 bodies and lenses. They also produce some Rollei 35, twin-eyed Rollei cams and slide projectors.
Additional they sell again Hy6-bodies and Tele-Apogon 4/150 mm AFD, both obviously taken from the remains of Franke & Heidecke (so up to now there is no new production). Body and lens are updated to the last and newest hard- and software. So far I understand, there is no chance for them to build the body again, because the rights belong to Leaf Imaging now (part of Phase One -> partly owner of Mamiya). I fear that Phase One won't have interest in an additional system on a small market...
Also you only get the body - no digital backs. There were statements that allow to hope that the 6x6 film-back will be available in future.

There is no homepage up to now, I only could find an Ebay-shop...

Andreas

PS: I rented a Hy6 with Sinar 75 - a dream. If I "find" some money then that's my system :grin: But with Leaf back only - Sinar needs Mac (no way for me because of software and costs).
Click to expand...
 
carstenw

carstenw

Active member
Jenoptik apparently owned the rights, and licensed the body to Francke&Heidecke, who manufactured the body for Sinar and Leaf, as well as under their more traditional Rolleiflex name (without digital back in the latter case). When Jenoptik sold off the various bits and pieces, Sinar went without the Hy6 rights (other than the right to market, sell, support and maintain the bodies they already had on their shelf; apparently enough for several years), but somehow Phase bought the rights with Leaf.

If Phase never does anything with the Hy6, I will never forgive them. At least they should open up the possibility of further marketing and development, this time with an optional Phase/Mamiya mount.

All this is as far as I understand it. Parts may be wrong.
 
G

Graham Mitchell

New member
I was mislead by the title of this thread. The Hy6 never stopped being 'available to purchase', while existing stocks last. I am still hoping for continued production of the camera and accessories. Phase One is crazy to sit on it like this.
 
S

Schmiddi

Member
carstenw said:
If Phase never does anything with the Hy6, I will never forgive them. At least they should open up the possibility of further marketing and development, this time with an optional Phase/Mamiya mount.
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Well, from what I have read here in Germany Leaf/Phase bought the rights on the body just to have the technics inside. They consider to use technical solutions inside - but I doubt they will restart production of the body.

As I understood, when Franke & Heidecke was closed the available things were divided: Sinar wanted to continue selling the body and the backs, so they got obviously most of the bodys (and maybe lenses) already produced, Sinar still offers the system as new. Leaf was taken by Phase, stopped AFI immediately, so no interest in hardware - but the knowledge was interesting. There are only a few demo AFI and AFI-II available on the market.
Second problem: all machinery needed to build body and lenses are gone. Franke & Heidecke, as far as I know, did not own those, they were rented. So they are away. Also the people qualified to build the things are gone - they all were fired when F&H closed. I hope for them, that they have new jobs now... So bringing the system back to life will be really expensive - and with economy as it is and banks doing decisions...

So for all those reasons I really don't have much hope for the system to come back to life. Very sad, as in my opinion it was the best designed one on the market... As I wrote: I used it one weekend, and I was really happy with it :D And with the money available I would not hesitate a second to step in!

Andreas - now going to bed, may not miss my flight to Tallinn tomorrow...

PS: at least Leaf has some AFI-II 10 backs left, they offer a trade-in for the backs (only back to back, no body!) - so if someone is interested, take a look at Leaf-Germany website :D
 
PeterA

PeterA

Well-known member
Sinar have been repairing and optimising Hy6 bodies for quite a few months now. It is good news for those who wish to purchase a Rollie TLR model. the pity for the Hy6 platform is that ( as of now) there are no new higher megapixel backs on the horison.

Still I expect to get many years good use out of the 75LV and my Hy6. the old Schneider manual focuses lenses have a certain way of drawing not better but different to the V lens line from Zeiss both these lens types shine in natural light situations.
 
D

David K

Workshop Member
From what I can gather from the posts I've read, those of us who own the Sinar/Hy6 are quite satisfied with it... I know that I am. It's got it's quirks and may not be as up to date as some of the newer systems but it's got some great features that are still not available on many of the later offerings. I think the release of this system was unfortunate from an economic timing standpoint. That, coupled with less than stellar marketing are, IMHO, the reasons this system never gained traction.
 
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Uaiomex

Member
The Hy6/Afi debacle is everybody's lost. This was a camera that was "needed", but came at a very difficult moment. Back in the 80's I bought my first (and only ever) MF system. A Hasselblad 500CM, 2 backs and 3 lenses. It was painful back then to spend $6kusd for the set. But I was mesmerized by it. It helped catapult my career to a higher level too. In my opinion no current DMF camera/system is worth this kind of "sacrifice"
I think the Hy6/Afi was, briefly. :-(
Eduardo
 
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Jack

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
I agree, great camera, great concept. But... The mistake Rollei made was not allowing Phase to build a back for it. IMO that's what sealed it's fate, and suspect that by now it's too little too late...
 
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Paratom

Well-known member
I believe that the Hy6 marketing was overhyped in the beginning and bad at the end.
Also customer relationship/service/sales seemed to make a bad job in some countries (like the US).
How can it happen that potential customers did not get answers to e-mails? Thats silly. The response I received in Germany was much better.

Anyways, I think Rollei/Sinar/Leaf was not able to really "sell" their system, they were not able to explain people the positive sides, flexibility and quality of glass. It is also a typical example how german tradional companies rely too much on their technology and quality and underrate customer relationship (all this is just my opinion and theory)

Ahh-and I am mad too when I see how much money Leica wastes with the S2 just to proove that they can do something innovative instead of offering a R10 or producing enough M9s for their customers (and to make money)
 
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Graham Mitchell

New member
t_streng said:
It is also a typical example how german tradional companies rely too much on their technology and quality and underrate customer relationship (all this is just my opinion and theory)
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Absolutely true. On the other hand, I could say too many photographers are swayed by marketing hype rather than finding out which system works best for themselves!
 
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