Facing the success of their
Rolleiflex original camera, Franke & Heidecke
decide to develop a low cost range of 6x6 cameras with reflex viewfinder.
It is done in 1933 with the production of the Rolleicord range which
remained until 1977.
The first model of this
long series was the Rolleicord 1 nickel-plated. At that time, the
sober forms of the Bauhaus did not yet supplanted the Art-Déco design.
As an evidence of this, the thin nickel plate which decorates of a
trompe-l'oeil grid all the faces of this camera.
Having the same size as the Rolleiflex Original, the
Rolleicord does not have a handle but a knob used to ensure film advance.
Its optical characteristics are less
performing than its brother as its lens is a Triotar 1:4,5 f=75mm (3
lenses).
The shutter is a Compur giving speeds from 1 sec to 1/500 sec, B,
T but no synchro.
