The Rollei A110 is a small, solid, over-engineered 110 camera that is a lot of fun to shoot. It’s compact size and sliding action film-advance will bring out your inner spy. It’s hard not to feel like a covert agent with this camera. Advertised by Rollei as the smallest and most expensive instant-loading camera for “today’s spy”,[1]Check out this ad for the Rollei A110. the A110 features a 23mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Tessar lens (made by Rollei under license) with zone focusing from 1m (3.5 feet) to infinity and a 49° angle of view. The Zeiss-designed lens is supposedly very sharp, but you’d never guess that from my photos (could it be the film / developer combo?).
A couple of important things to note about the Rollei A110:
- It uses a now-illegal 5.6V PX27 mercury battery. You can find an equivalent battery or adapt the A110 to use three LR44 batteries plus an LR54 to create an equivalent voltage.
- It’s important to hold the shutter button down until you hear the click of the shutter closing, or you could underexpose a photo if you release the shutter button too soon which would allow the shutter to close prematurely.
One curious feature of the Rollei A110 is that it has a 1/4″ tripod socket, which seems crazy given the camera is so small. However, there is no self-timer or cable release socket, so forget about making self-portraits without using a mirror (or really long arms). The tripod socket is actually a bonus feature since it is meant to be used to attach a chain that loops through a small case so you can wear the camera on your belt. Personally, I removed the chain and attached a wrist strap.
Sliding open the A110 unlocks the shutter button and exposes additional orange recessed buttons that I found a little tricky to use. There are three such buttons: one to open the battery compartment, one to open the film back, and one to disengage the winding mechanism after a roll has been finished so that you can slide the camera open again. This last one is important or you could potentially break the camera trying to force it open after finishing a roll. The nice thing about these buttons is that there’s no way to accidentally open the camera back and expose your film.
I’ve been attracted to the Rollei A110 for a while, and when I found a working one online for cheap, I bought it. The first thing I noticed when I held it in my hand is how heavy it actually is for its size — not surprising since the A110 is made of metal. The viewfinder contains bright lines for framing your shot and displays the selected focus zone along the top. This threw me at first since I’m used to seeing such information along the bottom of the viewfinder window. But this in no way inteferes with your view since the viewfinder is big and bright and the focus zones sit above the bright lines. The viewfinder also displays a green light in the top right corner when you push the exposure test button (the Rollei A110 features auto-exposure). A solid green light means you’re good to go, while a flashing green light means the shutter speed will be between 1/30 and 4 seconds (time to use that tripod).
I loaded my A110 with a roll of Lomography Orca B&W 100 and took it on a photowalk. It worked, at first, but then I encountered two problems: the shutter sometimes didn’t fire and the film advance wouldn’t always wind on to the next frame. In fact, it was all I could do to nurse the camera along to finish the roll. I was very disappointed. This was the second camera to fail in a week (my first Olympus XA2 had died only a few days earlier). I debated opening up the A110 to try and repair it (I even bought a copy of the repair manual), but it soon became clear that I didn’t have “the right stuff”. So I shelved the camera and forgot about it.
Recently, about a month ago, I dusted off the Rollei A110 and decided to get it repaired. I found a reputable repair shop and sent them an email. When they didn’t reply, I decided to shoot another roll (this time color) to get a better sense of what was going on. The same problems were still there, but this time they didn’t occur as often and there was a pattern. It became clear that I could take maybe 3 shots (and sometimes more) before the shutter stopped responding. It was almost as if the battery only had enough juice for those first few shots and then needed to rest for a few hours to regain its strength, which is crazy since the battery was new.
I have yet to develop that roll, but when I do, I’m hoping it will confirm the sharpness of the lens. If those photos look good, I may spend the money on getting the A110 repaired. Or I might just keep it as is and take photos in bunches of 3 or 4. After all, no one suspects a spy with a broken camera!
Footnotes
2 Comments
I really enjoyed your article on my favorite 110 camera, and I have tried many. I keep mine in a cargo pocket most of the time. I like Lomo Orca the best for the sharpest pictures.
Mine, and many more of these beauties won’t work when you put a new battery in them. The problem is many/most of the new batteries’ electrodes don’t quite reach the contacts in the camera. The easy solution is to push the battery directly into the camera, cut off the holder part of the door and snap the door back in.
This text won’t allow pasted links. You can find an article on fixing the problem by going to “35mmc” and searching for “Rollei A110 – Bringing It Back From the Dead.”
Thanks Neal! I just read your Rollei A110 article and, like you, I’ve noticed the difference in the size of the PX27M battery terminals when compared to the original PX27. I thought I had managed to get it working despite that difference, but I guess I was wrong. I’m not sure I want to cut into my battery carrier just yet, so I’ve slid some foil into the compartment to bridge the terminals and now my A110’s shutter is firing consistently! Thank you!