The Highest Resolution Film Images I've Ever Seen
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- When it comes to capturing small details with high fidelity Rollei Retro 80S is one of the best. It's become one of my favourite black and white films stock thanks to its high sharpness, extremely fine grain and beautiful character.
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I used this film back 1987 for street photography. i was 22 years old back then. I remember the importance not to underexpose while taking photos. Kind regards from Copenhagen, Denmark. Back then the name of the film was kodak Technical Pan or Agfa Technical Pan. I remember it was a 80 Iso film
Kodak Tech Pan was a 25ASA copy film. It was not another name for what is now Rollei Retro 80s. I loved shooting with Tech Pan. There was almost no grain. It was great processed in Kodak Microdol-X.
There is no Rollei company anymore. After much turbulence and rough times, the camera producer Rollei finally seized to exist in 2009 for good (and this company never made film, btw). The only Rollei existing today is the brand, which is owned by several companies for several global regions and/or product ranges.
The brand-owner using it for Rollei films is a company near Hamburg in Germany, which, among other products in the camera accessory markets, buys bulk films it can find cheap across the globe, assembles it in different film formats, and labels and packages it with creative Rollei-based brands.
What I like most about the Retro 80S is its clear film base, which makes it possible to develop it as a slide film, making it one of the very few 120 b&w films available in these times which can be used to create slides.
Yes that’s true, I only really wanted to point out that the name might be familiar to some. Retro 80S is actually based on an AGFA emulsion, and isn’t connected to the camera maker at all, as you mentioned. And yes, the clear base is a fascinating feature, and offers rare opportunities like slide film development, which I agree is very neat.
For better or worse, Rollei now has a bit of a cult following for getting these aviation film stocks to consumers. Compared to the countless brands that died off or are ruined by low quality products with a name slapped on, I think Rollei's fate is a pretty nice one. Still in the photo business and still loved by a not insignificant bunch.
@Rabert's World - Apparently you haven't used their RPX films. "Cheap..bulk, film...across the globe" is pure nonsense.
@@michalisf1955 Where did I say that Rollei film is not good? Cheap film and good film is no contradiction. And - what is a "good film" is up for lots of controversial discussion.
@@Dahrenhorst But what do you mean, then, by "...which, among other products in the camera accessory markets, buys bulk films it can find cheap across the globe, assembles it in different film formats, and labels and packages it with creative Rollei-based brands..." if not a company looking for great offers ignoring quality? Their RPX 100/400 and Superpan 200 (haven't used the Retro 80S due to the reported very high contrast) are some of the best films out there. I'm not defending Maco here, but I have used those films extensively and was trying to correct what I perceived as misinformation. BTW I don't think calling any film "good" is controversial at all. "Best film", is.
Appreciate for your sharing. I tried the 80S and came out pretty good as well. The high contrast and fine grain are my cup of tea turelly.
Fantastic review, super helpful details and examples, thanks so much for sharing!
Fantastic review with lots of helpful information in it. Thank you for putting this together!
I broadly agree with what you have said. I have used this film on and off for a long while, and the results have been mixed. I am no novice in film photography, more than 45 years of experience in fact. This film is not suitable for beginners, nor does it suit a broad range of lighting conditions. It is an aerial surveillnace film, so high resolving power and extended red sensitivity are the required prerequisites. It is not a full tone emulsion even in the best of lighting conditions. The film has about 5 stops of dynamic range, so you can expect the shadows to go near black and the highs block up, although it does better with highlights depending on the developer. The best developer used for this emulsion are compensating developers, but I have had very good results using Pyro based devlopers @ iso 32. I think that I once used the now discontinued SilverMax developer with very good results. FWIW, I find Ferrania P30 much more manageable than this beast, which is not far off the Adox CMS20II in terms of difficulty of developing, though it has atleast a stop more dynamic range.
Nice. I need to try this film. You mention how it could be unique for portraits and skin tone rendering, I wish you could have shown an example.
That is amazing
Great presentation.
The base is clear because it is not dyed gray to prevent light piping. It was intended for aerial photography, not general use.
Try shooting it at EI 50 and developing in Rodinal 1:250 (2ml for 500ml minimum) semi-stand. 1hour with 1 initial and 1 additional agitation at 30 minutes. It’s one of my favorites. I know Rodinal doesn’t seem like a great developer for hi-res but this combo really works.
I like Rollei Retro 80S a lot and regularly use it, in both 35mm and 120 formats, for studio portraits. These days I generally process in Rollei Supergrain as ASA80, but I quite like rating at ASA50 and processing in Rollei RLS Low Speed.
Thank you! I've never looked at this one - as I didn't like the faster speed Rollei films too much. It seems that it could be what I'm looking for - especially for smaller formats like halfframe or 24x24.
Keep on your good work.
I used it for half frames quite a bit and loved it.
This is one of my favorite stocks! Especially with a green filter.
I ran a couple rolls of this film through my GW690ii and was initially blown away by the sharpness of the images. But once I looked at the scans on a large monitor I noticed a blotchiness in the lighter solid areas (the sky). Also, the last frame on both rolls had a mysterious, perfect circle imprinted on the image. The pro-lab I use (and with whom I've never had a problem) said they'd seen this before with rolls of Rollie 80S. Just a heads up.
Interesting, I haven't experienced that, possibly it will come up. Thanks for the tip.
It always upsets me to see a very well known trade name, like Rollei, with the same design, used in spite of the fact the company no longer exists !! But I trust the real Rollei products !😊
Bergger pancro films and lomography films are also notorious for the back paper imprinting
Beautiful images and nicely presented
Great video. Thanks
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching.
Good video. Thanks for sharing your images. Some may not know the PenF is half frame. I think that's what you were getting at when pointing out that "even those images were sharp" -- the small size of the negative.
Yes, that’s what I was referring to.
This is not a beginner film. Compared to most other B&W films on the market today it is unforgiving and has a steep learning curve. That being said, it is easily one of my all time favorite films. It is one of a kind and beautiful. Give it a try but be patient.
I've been shooting 80S in a wooden pinhole camera. Based on my results, I'd says it is very forgiving.
@@tomjanowski8584 That's awesome that it is effective in a pinhole. However, this film is not manufactured with that in mind and most people, myself included, are not exposing it that way. This film has a near infrared spectral sensitivity so I like to shoot it with a red 25 filter in bright sun to exploit that aspect. The highlights go off like a hydrogen bomb. I love this film and I will definitely give it priority if I start shooting pinhole. Thanks for the advice.
Props for proper Rollei pronounciation
Rollei Retro 80S it's an interesting film, but it's a very difficult one to shoot. I think the true speed of this film it's much slower, maybe 30-40 iso. You need to pull this film to get the best results, otherwise the shadows details will be almost gone. But that said, can be a very nice film. It can give very nice contrast but without loosing too much shadow detail if you expose it and develop it well.
That’s an interesting thing to note. When I’m getting to know a film I try to shoot it a box speed just to get a baseline experience with the film. But, I still have a bit of 80S left, so I might try pulling it to 40 ISO to see how I like that. Thanks for the idea!
@@noahvonhatten just remember to reduce development time when pulling the speed down.
@@noahvonhatten According to the Flavr film guide book (an excellent resource all film shooters should have), Rollei Retro 80S, 400S & JCH 400 all get best results @ 40ISO & 200ISO for the 400 speed films. Tests were done on hundreds of films using a colour palette tester in a studio using a model. I must say that I agree with that assessment.
Sounds very interesting. I've been using HP5 and FP4 for ages now, I'd also love to try the Ortho 80, but the results of the Retro 80 do indeed look more than convincing. I'll definitely give it a go. Thx for the recommendation...
Clear and concise review
Thank you!
This is a great film, in my top ten film stocks of all time. One key note to add in an otherwise lovely video, is you need to nail focus in order to get the most of the films resolution that will affect the sharpness, just as you stated it does tend to get muddy in the shadows. Another cool option for both Ferrania P30 and Rollei 80S is because of the clear base and very high silver, it can be developed as a slide reversal film if one chooses to do so.
What are your top picks?
@@killpop8255 Obviously this is for film that you can still get, and develop or else Kodak Kodachrome 64 would be at the top of the list....lol
1. Rollei Ortho 25 Plus
2. Ferrania P30
3. Kodak Ektar 100
4. Kodak Gold 200
5. Adox Scala 50
6. Rollei 80s
7. Rollei RPX 25
8. Fujifilm Velvia 100
9. Fujifilm Velvia 50
10. Fujifilm Neopan Acros I or II
Rollei RPX 25 is also very clear based. Sharp as a tack.
It would be interesting to see examples of your portraiture.
The base of the retro 400s is clear too. I never saw that before and i thought that a mistake happend while developing 😂
Great review. You should try out Adox CMS 20 II - also a clair base film. Love it exposed at 12 iso. Retro 80s has been on my list of films to try, so I cannot compare, but seeing this it moved up on the list of films to try. When scanning these kinds of films, it is hard to do them justice, since you arent using the whole spectrum of greytones in the camera, and the resolution of the film is higher than what the camera can resolve. With the cms 20 I get better tonallity with my dedicated film scanner (nikon) and vuescan. And even with 2x macro on an xh1 I am not able to extract all the details....
Do you have any experience developing it in Rodinal? It's the only economically viable one where i live. I've seen recommendations to use 1:25 dilution but im trying gather as much information as possible before developing myself.
Great video em photos :)
Not yet, I’ve started experimenting with Rodinal myself, and am going to try this with it soon. I may report my findings in a future video if it makes sense. Sorry I can’t be of more help yet.
Your talking head setup looks great, very clean and natural looking. Would you mind sharing how you set it up?
Thanks you! Sure, no problem. It's a Fuji XT-2 with a 23mm F2 lens on. The lens is set to f2.8. I have a key light just off camera to the left of the frame which is lighting me. I have it set to a low output. There is a second light off camera behind me to the right of the frame pointed at the ceiling at a higher output to provide a background fill plus the desk lamp. I shoot in FLOG and grade the footage using Fuji's FLOG wide dynamic range LUT. Thats it.
@@noahvonhatten thank for the detailed explanation. May I ask what your keylight setup looks like? Type of light and diffusion etc.
Are you familiar with the Adams Zone System? It was based around Adams’ preference for making all his prints on #2 grade paper which requires adjusting negative development times in accordance with the scene range from solid highlight to dark objects in shadows.
The baseline calibration test was putting a portrait subject wearing white and black clothing in direct cross-lit sunlight on a clear day, shooting 4-5 sheets or rolls of film, developing each for different times then seeing which development time produced a lifelike range of tone on the #2 print which was always developed for a standard time. The scene if measured with a 1° spot meter would have a range of ten stops and that was the “normal” baseline.
The same subject photographed on an overcast day would have a shorter range when metered the same way and require more development time in order to perfectly match the range of the #2 paper. Testing would be done to determine the ideal development times for scenes ranging from 8 to 12 stops difference between detailed highlights and shadows so it would be known before the shot was taken how it would need to be developed back in the darkroom.
The situation is similar when digitally scanning negatives because like #2 print paper the scanner has a fixed dynamic range. Do the same baseline “normal” sunny day test to find what development time produces a full range of detail in the scans. If you encounter lighting with more contrast, such as a snow covered landscape, the normal development will result in some loss of detail in the scan so you might also do a development time test for those lighting conditions.
Something else to consider is that negatives and print paper have toes and shoulders on their response curves. When exposing for print making we would expose for shadow detail just above film base + fog for the best tonality in the shadows. Your digital scanner likely has a linear response curve and better shadows may be obtained by exposing a bit more to put the shadow detail up on the straight line part of the curve. The great thing about negative film is that the dynamic range was much longer than that of the print (or scanner) so you can err on the side of overexposure by a stop or more and still produce a print with normal tonal range if the film is developed to match the range of the paper or scanner.
The shadows look blocked up on many of the images. Is this a conscious decision you made in the conversion and post? Is there actually detail on the negative?
There’s usually no free lunch. For film this low grained and highly resolving, it’s usually slower than indicated. I suspect you’ll get more recorded dynamic range if you give it a stop moe light and pull development by same.
The near IR sensitivity should be really nice for portraiture though. Should be a blast in studio, controlled lighting and 6X7.
I use primarily Acros. Worth a shot with this in my rb67 next shopping cart with b&h.
I've used Acros too and quite like it. Yes, the shadows are pretty blocked up here and there, there's little to no detail left in the negative in these areas. It's the result of a combination between creative intent and error. As I mentioned in the video, my first roll of Retro 80s didn't handle quite as I expected so some of the images turned out with black shadows. I still have some of the film, and intend on pulling it to 40 ISO to see how that looks.
It gets best results @ 40 ISO.
Rollei R 80 S do very well in Foma Excel 1+1 = Kodak Xtol ? , Atomal 49 1+1 and Rodinal 1+100 at 40/50 ISO . This is for darkroom printing .
After all that mentions of portraiture, I'm surprised that you included no examples, nor any that would tend to indicate the extended red sensitivity.
Retro 80s is a really nice film, but I recomend you to try CMS 20 II. In my opinion this is the king uf B&W fotography
I'll have to give it a shot.
Sorry you didn't actually show any portrait examples, especially as to talked about it so much.
Did you forget? .. or did you flash a portrait on the screen so quickly that I blinked and missed it.
Please don't clip your edit so much between sentences. It's stressful and made me feeling relieved when it was finished.
It's a pity because I am very interested in the film.
Thanks for the video.
I admit some mistakes made there way through into the final version of the video. I’m still learning UA-cam video making and am working to improve my Videos any way I can. Thank you for your feedback, I do appreciate your thoughts, I’ll be sure to incorporate in future videos.
@@noahvonhatten Your content is worth it, and really you do present well. 👌 I will delete my post soon.
The film base is PET - extremely tough, it will break your camera before it tears. Gives excellent results with rodinal or caffenol semi-stand or with Ilfosol3.
That makes a lot of sense, I didn’t know. Thanks!
@steveandthedogs For Rodinal semi-stand do you meter or rate the film ISO any different? I would expect to have to give it a little more light?
@@mynewcolour No, just do everything as normal. Seems to work fine. If I remember correctly, the highlights develop first and exhaust the local developer, the shadows develop more slowly but continue for some time, giving better detail.
@@steveandthedogs thanks
I'am a darkroom printer in 120 format and I like the clear 120 base very much because you will only get a good tonal scale with clear based negatives . I have a Contax IIIA and some Kiev's that I can only use with the clear base Rollei R films for realy good results . The normal medium to dark grey based 135 films are just a lost effort and very difficult to get a good fiber print from , it is allways a kind of muddy tonal scale . So a 135 Ilford , Fuji or Kodak is not my cup of tea .
No clear base 135 ?
@@killpop8255 There are a very few 135 black and white films with a clear base like the Rollei R80S R400S RPX 25 and Superpan 200 . If you want a rich tonal scale on you darkroom prints you must use a film with a clear base . Prints from Delta 100 from 120 film can be beautifull , but get the same result from Delta 100 135 film is imposseble .
How does it do with time exposures?
Have you shot with coloured filters?
A little yes.
Try Adox CMS 20ii. Cheaper and better.
Not film stock, it's film.
Is it possible to expose this film on 100 ISO?
In theory yes, you'd just need to adjust your development accordingly. I haven't tried it, so I can't say what the results would be. It's only a third of an f-stop difference, which isn't that extreme.
Acros 100 and Ilford Delta 100 are the most resolute film today .
That's true. Delta 100 is incredible.
Besides CMS-20. And maybe agfa copex rapid. But those are high contrast microfilms.
Remember Technical Pan
Nothing ever beat TechPan + Technidol as far as resolving power. Quite a shame it’s forever gone.
Used TP2415 for photographing human chromosomes using a light microscope in the 1980s. It required methodical handling.
This is an informative video, however the flashing subtitles feels like spoonfeeding statements at the viewer, also please dont cut audio so much especially mid sentence
" 10 Rolls of Film " has proven that Rollei Retro 80S and Rollei RPX 25 are the same film. Retro 80s is just pushed.
You didn't tell me a lot I didn't know, and I don't love your face talking at me. But, you made a good video, I can't not give that a thumbs up.
Thank you, I guess….
@@noahvonhatten lol I mean my main critiques are your composition is a little tight, you crowdin me. But you made a good video nonetheless.
Please don’t flash titles in front of your face while you’re speaking: it’s jarring and extremely distracting. It makes this video nearly unwatchable. Note: Retro 80S is a repackaged Agfa Aviphot Pan 80 , FWIW.
Yes correct, and along with other so called Rollei and Adox repackaged films, once the master rolls from Agfa or Efke have been exhausted, so are the supply of these films. Persoanlly I am sick of these two companies putting products out that do not last more than 3~5 years. Perhaps they have mistaken film potography with digital!!!!
Was fine for me.