This is more of a comment than a question, and is off topic for Leica. I picked up a Rollei Prego 90 with a Schneider 28 to 90mm recently when B&H had a bunch of close outs. Price was a very cheap $139.00. I wanted to have a quality inexpensive camera that I wouldn't be afraid to leave in the car, etc. I just got the first few rolls back from this thing and I am startled by the image quality. Exposure is nearly perfect on every shot, and the lens quality is close to some of my better lenses. Very little fall off at the corners at 28mm, nice color, accurate AF, superb resistance to flare. I haven't even played with all the features yet(double exposures, exposure compensation, slow sync flash, etc) What surprised me the most were some indoor shots taken with only the light from a window with no flash. They must have been 1/30 or so, and they are clear as a bell. Anyone wanting a high quality,if somewhat chunky, point and shoot with an unbelievable lens, I think B&H still has some of these left.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 20, 2001

Answers

Andrew:

I own a Rollei Prego 35-70, which also has a Schneider zoom lens. My wife and I came back from an island holiday, and we were hard put to tell some of the Prego slides from those from my M6. I had bought it from Ken Hansen, and these Rollei P&S cameras with the Schneider lenses have something of a cult following.

They are unusually good for P&S zooms and give quite a few SLR type consumer zooms a run for their money. Contrast and color are outstanding.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), March 20, 2001.

We've seen the quality of your work, Andrew, so coming from you, this is high paise indeed.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), March 20, 2001.

I appreciate the compliment Bob. Its rare these days that something I buy exceeds my expectations, especially when it costs $139.00! If anyone is interested, I scanned a few prints made with the camera and they are here: Prego 90 images These don't do just to the 5X7's I have here, especially the Rainbow shot. I can't seem to get a decent scan of any rainbow shots I've taken.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 21, 2001.

A note about Rollei A group of Rollei employees had bought back controlling interest of Rollei from Samsung.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), March 21, 2001.

Wow, nice rainbow shot. Tell me, was there really a pot of gold?

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), March 21, 2001.

Nice rainbox shot, Andrew. It did look like familiar landscape to me-- do you happen to know of a place to get your hands on a Leica in the SF Bay Area?

-- Tse-Sung Wu (tsesung@yahoo.com), March 21, 2001.

Tse-Sung - in the SF Bay Area...

Adolph Gasser in SF (5733 Geary and 181 2nd St). Keeble & Shuchat in Palo Alto (290 S. California Ave). Reed's in Walnut Creek (1524 Locust St). There are others - depends on where you live.

These are places to touchy & feely - pricing & service vary however.

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), March 21, 2001.

I agree with you Andrew, those Rollei consumer P&S are pretty good. I had a chance to use a Rollei AF P&S (with the fixed 35mm lens, bulb and multiple exposure function) and the colors and contrast were pretty good. Compared to my Ricoh GR1, I would say that the Ricoh has more contrast, but the Rollei has better control of it. In fact, comparing my pictures taken with my Ricoh, Leica M6 (w/ 50mm S'cron), and the Rollei, I would say that my pictures from the Rollei (in terms of contrast) is closer to that of the Leica's 50mm. Not bad for a consumer P&S.

-- Ron Gregorio (rongregorio@hotmail.com), March 22, 2001.

A few people have contacted me about buying these cameras from B&H.If they still have any of the close outs, you need to call B&H at this special number 800 - 686 - 4188. This puts you in contact directly with their internet auction & used camera department. Last I checked they still had some for $139.00. Make sure to get batteries(2 lithium cells)as they don't come with them.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 23, 2001.

Rainbow shot... was there an M6 at the end of the rainbow? :)

-- Jason (jvicinanza@yahoo.co.uk), March 24, 2001.

Hi guys I read your thread with high interest, I do own a Rollei Prego 90 which I also bought from B&H at the same sale (I live in Chile). I am very pleased whit it because it is very handy and not as bulky as my F100 when I am at bussines travels. My point is that I miss the manual of the camera. Is any guy in this talk in a position of helping me about it?? I need the manual of the camera and I did not find it in the Internet yet. Any suggestions wellcome

-- Jorge Troncoso (jtroncoso_ruiz@yahoo.com), December 25, 2001.

Hi Jorge (and others who might be looking for a Rollei Prego manual)

The manuals to several Rollei Prego models (including 90) can be downloaded from: http://www.rollei.de/en/service/index.html, click the "download" link there.

I downloaded the manual for prego 90. The first 40 pages are in German and the rest 40 is the same data in English. I do not own Rollei Prego 90 (yet), so I don't know if it is exactly the same thing as a printed version that comes with the camera, but I guess it should be pretty close.

I have a question too: Does anybody know where I can buy a Prego 90 in a best possible condition ? I decided to buy it just recently, so I missed all those nice sales at B&H etc. I can't find it in "normal" stores since it is discontinued and I haven't seen it in a good condition on ebay or ubid either. Any pointers will be highly appreciated.

Thanks, Serguei.

-- Serguei Smirnov (serge_smirnov@hotmail.com), January 12, 2002.

i owned a prego 90 w/a Schneider 28-90 which i pd full price for from b&H about 3or 4 yrs ago. i loved it...but i just lost it skiing...if anyone has any leads to where i can find a replacement it would be much appreciated

thanx

-- debbie chace (ixscream@yahoo.com), February 08, 2002.