Rollei35・Rollei Sonnar 40mm (L39)

A review and Photo example of Rollei Sonnar 40mm/F2.8 with Digital and Film camera.

Gallery
Review
Specification and more
Reference links

Gallery

The sample photos were taken with EPSON R-D1, HEXAR RF +FUJIFILM PROVIA100F and SONY NEX-3.

Review

Overview
Usability
Summary

1．Overview

The Rollei Sonnar 40mm was released in 2002 as a lens for the Leica L39 screw-mount rangefinder camera.

It appears that Japan’s Cosina supplies the lens barrel and other major components, such as the finger grip on the barrel and the shape of the aperture ring. The lens configuration is the same as the original Sonnar 40mm, and although it is unclear whether the lens is made in Japan or Germany, the barrel says “Made in Germany,” so the final assembly took place in Germany. The optional viewfinder and hood are branded Rollei but are completely OEM from Cosina.

The lens comes with a standard M/L conversion ring, so it can also be used as a Leica M mount lens.

The barrel is available in two colors, black and silver, which is the same as another Rollei LSM lens, the Planar 80mm F2.8.

The barrel, which appears to be an OEM from Cosina, is not particularly distinctive, but the red HFT letters and green feet distance notation add a nice accent to the design.

2．Usability

The lens size and barrel quality of the Rollei Sonnar 40mm are almost the same as Cosina’s early Color Skopar 50mm.

Like the Color Skopar 50mm, it is made of brass and is heavy.

In the film era, the Rollei brand lens had many fans for its lens depiction, and when used with a 35mm film camera, it can produce images of sufficient quality.

Digital cameras can show distortion in the peripheral areas even when looking at images taken with sensors of APS-C size or smaller, so there is a possibility that roughness will be more visible with a 35mm full-size sensor.

When rangefinder lenses were easy to obtain, I used both the black and silver lenses, but both had lost the helicoid grease, so the focus ring was light and loose, and I didn’t have a very good impression of them.

Some English reviews have stated that the lens hood is fixed, but the standard cylindrical hood is screwed in and can be removed. You can remove it and attach the optional land truck-type hood.
This hood has an elaborate attachment, and the hood position can be adjusted after screwing it onto the lens.

The silver lens I got was a lens that had been left unsold at Yodobashi Camera Shinjuku store for a long time, and I bought it at a clearance price along with the Rollei 35 RF. At the time, it was the end of the film camera era, so the clearance price was quite low. As of 2024, the price has increased significantly, so unless you have a lot of money in your wallet, you probably won’t buy it.

When this lens was released, I thought Cosina would also acquire the Rollei brand, but they only supplied three products, the Sonnar 40mm, the Planar 80mm, and the Rollei 35 RF camera, and nothing else followed. It seems that the release plan was for the Planar 50mm / F1.8, and there was a document that listed the specific specifications of 6 groups and 7 elements, so it seems that talks were progressing, but it never actually came to market.

In 2024, MiNT Camera released the Rollei brand film camera “Rollei 35AF”, but the focal length of the lens was 35mm. I’m happy that film cameras are coming back in 2024, but the change in focal length doesn’t feel right.

3．Summary

In conclusion, to sum up the Rollei Sonnar 40mm, it is a lens that has been modified to work with the Leica L39 screw mount rangefinder of a 35mm film camera. If you are considering using it in conjunction with a rangefinder on a rangefinder, this is a good purchase.

The lens design follows the past, so with digital cameras the image quality is a bit poor in the peripheral areas, making it a lens suited to film cameras.

Specification

The film camera Rollei 35 used four types of lenses with a focal length of 40mm, the most expensive of which was the Sonnar 40mm. As time passed, when the rangefinder camera Rollei 35RF was released, the Sonnar 40mm was adopted as the standard lens, which was natural from a marketing perspective, as the other three lenses had a low-cost image.

Leica also released 40mm lenses, such as the Summicron 40mm F2 for the Leica CL film camera and the Summarit 40mm F2.4 for the Minilux film camera. Perhaps because of its newer design, it is brighter than the Rollei lens.

Regarding the focal length of 40mm, the diagonal length of 35mm film (36x24mm) is 43mm, and the opinion that this value “gives a natural perspective” can be seen on the following site. In addition, there are many other descriptions that associate the diagonal length with a 40mm lens.

https://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/products/lens/k/standard/hdpentax-fa-43

The 40mm focal length became popular in film cameras with built-in lenses that could not be interchanged because people preferred the results of the shots to be close to their memories of the time they were taken. However, in the film era, there was a time lag between taking the photo and seeing the printed results, so I think it’s questionable whether people’s memories can recognize the degree of consistency.

Also, in the past, there weren’t many 40mm lens lineups for interchangeable lens cameras, but since the 2010s, various companies have been releasing lenses with a focal length of 40mm. It will be interesting to see how well this lens sells and what photographers’ intentions are behind choosing it.

Lens name	Rollei SONNAR LSM	TORIOTAR *
Focal length	40	40
Max aperture	2.8	3.5
Min aperture	22	16
Leaf blade	10	6
Lens Construction	5 elements in 4 groups	3 elements in 3 groups
Min distance(m)	0.7	0.7
Lens length(mm)	30.5(lens only)	39(with hood) hood length12.5
Max diameter	51	51
Filter Size(mm)	39	–
Weight(g)	172	103
Release date	2002〜2006	–

Reference links

Update history

2025.6.23
2024.11.17
2024.02.21:Update the article
2023.04.18:First draft

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