I bought a bulk roll on impulse and quickly realized I was going to have to do bunch of testing if I hoped to see usable results. Long story short, shooting at EI 100 and developing in pyrocat 1:1:100 for 14min at 21c with reduced agitation got me where I wanted to be.
Your channel is a rare gem on UA-cam. Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge!! That out of the way, I shot this film recently and developed it in Xtol to the manufacturer's specifications. It does have a strong character at that speed and development time, a landscape drama film with high contrast and milky shadows, but the grain of well-exposed regular ISO 400 B&W stocks. I can see why Rollei markets that film as an ISO 400 stock. However, I think that its sweet spot is at ISO 100-200 with a slightly reduced dev time. That way, the shadows will be a tad more forgiving, but the overall distinctive look remains, as I learned when exposing a few shots a stop or two fatter.
I’m a rookie, so please excuse my ignorance. Does this mean I get less hot highlights when using iso 200? My understanding is that shooting it at 200 I’d get hotter highlights? I’d have to underexpose the film (so shoot it @800) to avoid those hot highlights, right? I’m just sending the film to a lab, not developing it myself.
I noticed on Rollei's website the other day that Superpan is meant to have a slower speed under flash lighting, could this also be the case with Retro 400s?
I had a bunch of this but had to sell almost all of it as my wife lost her job. The couple I kept I really liked despite it being a challenging film to self-dev and get the best from. Mind you, I'm relatively new to self-dev so I may well have messed up a bit. Thanks for this, stop posting for now and enjoy the break 😉 and thank you.
I toyed with bulk rolls of Agfa ASP 400S (aka Aviphot something), a traffic surveillance film, and found Rollei Retro 400S to perform/develop pretty much the same. That is to say, nice results (with mostly good enough shadow detail) at ISO 125 in Rodinal 1+49. Very sharp and interesting tonal character. At higher ISOs the images fall apart in Rodinal. But in dull weather the film can be pushed a little to 200 in HC-110 . Beyond that it's an acquired taste. JCH 400 may well be the same emulsion.
I think this film has extended red sensitivity, which theoretically allows it to be rated at higher isos, like the 80s which is an iso 25 film. Rollei does not make films, they just rebadge old frozen stuff from donkeys yeats ago or have someone in Germany rebadge existing stock for them. Personally, I am sick of all this deception.
@@TheNakedPhotographer that would be amazing! Looking at this one and the jch 400 one and listening rumours it's pretty easy to believe they are both agfa aviphot but just with different dev times
The Kentmere-sque one, similar (if not identical) to APX400 is Rollei's RPX400, not Retro400s. Their naming convention is quite confusing. RPX100, RPX400 are Kentmere-like films (not sure if rebranded Kentmere, but definitely similar characteristics) RPX25, Retro80s, Superpan200, Retro400s, Infrared are Aviphots, or their close relatives.
I bought a bulk roll on impulse and quickly realized I was going to have to do bunch of testing if I hoped to see usable results. Long story short, shooting at EI 100 and developing in pyrocat 1:1:100 for 14min at 21c with reduced agitation got me where I wanted to be.
Your channel is a rare gem on UA-cam. Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge!! That out of the way, I shot this film recently and developed it in Xtol to the manufacturer's specifications. It does have a strong character at that speed and development time, a landscape drama film with high contrast and milky shadows, but the grain of well-exposed regular ISO 400 B&W stocks. I can see why Rollei markets that film as an ISO 400 stock. However, I think that its sweet spot is at ISO 100-200 with a slightly reduced dev time. That way, the shadows will be a tad more forgiving, but the overall distinctive look remains, as I learned when exposing a few shots a stop or two fatter.
I’m a rookie, so please excuse my ignorance. Does this mean I get less hot highlights when using iso 200? My understanding is that shooting it at 200 I’d get hotter highlights? I’d have to underexpose the film (so shoot it @800) to avoid those hot highlights, right? I’m just sending the film to a lab, not developing it myself.
I noticed on Rollei's website the other day that Superpan is meant to have a slower speed under flash lighting, could this also be the case with Retro 400s?
I had a bunch of this but had to sell almost all of it as my wife lost her job. The couple I kept I really liked despite it being a challenging film to self-dev and get the best from. Mind you, I'm relatively new to self-dev so I may well have messed up a bit.
Thanks for this, stop posting for now and enjoy the break 😉 and thank you.
I toyed with bulk rolls of Agfa ASP 400S (aka Aviphot something), a traffic surveillance film, and found Rollei Retro 400S to perform/develop pretty much the same. That is to say, nice results (with mostly good enough shadow detail) at ISO 125 in Rodinal 1+49. Very sharp and interesting tonal character. At higher ISOs the images fall apart in Rodinal. But in dull weather the film can be pushed a little to 200 in HC-110 . Beyond that it's an acquired taste. JCH 400 may well be the same emulsion.
happy holidays 🧀
Hey, I just mest up a film using plastic reels . I was wondering if stainless steel reels could solve that roblem
That depends, I suppose, on how you messed it up.
Well the reel was a little bit wet, and the film stuck
@@HaraldCsavdari there is your problem, never use wet reels, whether plastic or stainless or the film will stick.
@@HaraldCsavdari That is a problem specific to plastic reels, yes. Steel reels can be loaded even if they're a little wet.
I think this film has extended red sensitivity, which theoretically allows it to be rated at higher isos, like the 80s which is an iso 25 film. Rollei does not make films, they just rebadge old frozen stuff from donkeys yeats ago or have someone in Germany rebadge existing stock for them. Personally, I am sick of all this deception.
It's supposed to be the same film as Rollei Infrared.
I really want to get the raw data so I can compare different films to each other directly without flipping between videos
I may compile all the data into a pdf once all the videos have been released
@@TheNakedPhotographer that would be amazing!
Looking at this one and the jch 400 one and listening rumours it's pretty easy to believe they are both agfa aviphot but just with different dev times
i think rollei 400s can get better results with rodinal
@3:30
Its contrasty :)
I thought this one was supposed to be identical to apx 400
The Kentmere-sque one, similar (if not identical) to APX400 is Rollei's RPX400, not Retro400s. Their naming convention is quite confusing.
RPX100, RPX400 are Kentmere-like films (not sure if rebranded Kentmere, but definitely similar characteristics)
RPX25, Retro80s, Superpan200, Retro400s, Infrared are Aviphots, or their close relatives.