Iron Bridge, RPX100

Historic Bridge between Cremona and Castelvetro.

Camera: Pre-War Rangefinder Voigtländer Bessa, Heliar 3,5
Film: Rollei RPX100
Development: in Studional (also known as Rodinal Special, R09 Special) in 1+31. 7 minutes, 20°C. The results look quite good, just perhaps thin, but still rich in shadow and light details.

I love this Heliar lens, I think it has a wonderful smooth rendering, while remaining sharp.
The RPX100 looks like an old-school but quite interesting film.

If you like this image with its vintage touch, you can buy it as print (also finely framed), poster, home decor, even as elegant pouche or phone case on Fine Art America.

R80S Stand

My first experiment about Stand development with normal film rolls. Previously, I did it only with sheet film and alternating results.

Film: R80S, 35mm. Exposed 50/18° ISO
Development technique: Rodinal 1+100, agitation for the first 30", then 1hour full stand
Subjects: Shots in sun and shadows of a bright, sunny day with strong contrasts

The results seem very promising!

Bergamo, Santa maria Maggiore. Rollei SL35, Distagon 35/2.8

I think the image speaks by itself when I speak about highlight detail (sky) and shadow detail (framing arch). Rollei R80S is a difficult film in the shadows, so it a good test.

You can buy this image as fine art print on Fine Art America; available also framed, as home-decor and even bags and pouches!

Rollei R80S - Studional agitation experiments

Development in Rodinal Special or Studional, 1+30, 8'30"

First 30 seconds, continuous. Then agitate (3 inversions) every second minute, with the other minute giving just a slight swirl to the tank. Except the first minute, where I agitate.


In other words:
Then at 1', agitate
At 2', agitate
then, the next minute, just give a slight swirl at 3', then agitate again at 4' and so on.


I think the results are less harsh and show better depth in the shadows, it looks quite promising. Eposed, as usual at 50/18° ISO

Lovere, Zeiss pre-war Super-Ikonta Tessar 80/2.8

Also when the clouds covered the sun, the Film retains a remarkable depth in tones. Look at how well the clouds retained texture (no filters, no post-processing) and the shadows retain detail: look at the windows and arches.

Lovere, Zeiss pre-war Super-Ikonta Tessar 80/2.8 

Rollei RPX100, first medium format experience

The Rollei RPX100 was presented as a Agfapan APX 100 successor. Is it really? I don't know. It is a traditional film and it is coated ona classic base instead of polyester like many modern Avio-derived Rollei/Agfa offers.
I already used the film with success in 35mm, yielding results which are similar to the mythical AgfaPan, but which also reminds me a bit of the Ilford FP4+.
I found it to have very nice tones and exceptional shadow detail and richness. The grain is present, not disturbing, but not exceptionally fine grained. A bit less than FP4, but still visible, not on par with Tmax or Acros, however pleasant. This is why I thought that in medium format the film must give its best.

This is my first experiment in Medium Format. The 120 Rollfilm appears to use the same base as the 35mm film, so it is a bit thicker and darker than one is accustomed. However, the final results are very good. I am still working with developers, testing between Rodinal and Studional (and its modern alilkes with different names).
Here ad development with standard Rodinal. 58x72mm coming out from the Linhof are a beauty of tones, richness in detail (thanks to the exceptional Tessar lens too). Definitely a combination I will use again

H&D F-Head, Linhof, Tessar 105/3.5 RPX100

Rollei R80S

The Rollei R80S is a very interesting and promising film, however I found also that it is a difficult film, especially in the shadows. I have seen many articles on the internet, however they  accounted mostly for very artsy results. My interest however is to be able to use this film as a high-fidelity film, since it appears to have potential for excellent tonal rendition and separation coupled with an incredible resolution and grain structure.

Current attempts use Karl Bielser suggestion to use Studional, alias Rodinal Special, alias R09 Special diluted 1+30 and developed 8 minutes in tank.

This combination improves the shadows a lot, I rate the exposure at 50/18° ISO.

Here an example from a 35mm frame, Leica M6, Elmar 50/2.8

The tonal range looks exemplar to me. More to come.