.jpg "Rollei MiniDigi")
By Evan Ackerman
This little (3 inch high) Rolleiflex digital camera is a mostly faithful (albeit smaller) digital incarnation of the famous and retro-cool Rolleiflex 2.8F. It’s undeniably slick, and will certainly turn heads since (if you’re not familiar with these sorts of cameras) you hold it vertically at around chest level to take pictures, as the viewfinder is on the top of the camera rather than at the back. Once you get past the case, though, you’ll probably be disappointed, since it’s only 3mp (square format, nice touch) with controls that are completely automatic except for the hand crank, which “prepares” the camera for the next shot. The viewfinder is a 1.1 inch TFT and it takes miniSD cards.
The press release pretty much says it all: “it’s not intended to be a full-featured digital camera, [but] it takes good pictures and is an attention-getter and conversation piece.” So, if you’re gonna buy this thing, it’s going to be for the cool factor and nothing else, but at $400… Well… I don’t think it’s that cool.
