Bessa R2 Random 35mm Roll Challenge

Nightmare photography with a random roll of film on my Bessa R2… let me know what you think went wrong 😑
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Before I lost my passion it was all about the mega pixels and sensor size, and I became all consumed with getting "the shot", instead of enjoying the location, the walk, the company, this time however its different, its about the adventure and going back to the beginning, relearning film in 35mm, 120mm medium format and 4x5 large format.
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[@lensman5762]

OK, one problem at a time. Rollei 400s is coated on to a clear acetate base. This is because these were originally AGFA Aviphot areal reconnaissance film. Clear acetate acts as a light pipe, in fact Rollei suggests that the film should be loaded and unloaded in very dim light. So I think a lot of your edge brightness on the film is due to this. Cover that peep window at the back of the camera too to avoid light leaking through there. You know what film you already have in there. There is ample evidence of uneven development in your photographs. This is something that you have to sort out by trial and error. More agitation, a different developer, different dilution or even soaking the film prior to pouring the developer in might help. Now the biggest problem from my point of view. For the sort of street photography that you do/we do under the horrible UK light, the choice of Rollei 400s is a bad one. I am not gonna get too technical here, but these films were designed with extended red to near infra red sensitivity to penetrate the atmospheric haze when doing areal photography. They are not really true 400 speed films. Technically they are around iso 160 for pictorial purposes. So when you push it to iso 800, you are actually pusing the film over two full stops. I would choose either the HP5 plus, or better still the Kodak TmY-2 Tmax 400. This one can easily be pushed to iso 800 using something like Ilford Microphen and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. On the odd ocassion that I have used Rollei 80s, I have had the best results fromusing Atomal 49 1+1 @ iso 50. I have never tried Tmax 400 @ iso 1600 so no comments there. Other than these , the photographs were great themselves.

[@tedphillips2951]

When I have these problems I shoot another roll & use stand development with Rodinal to eliminate developing as the problem. The light in some photos looked pin holes in the curtain & others light leaks. It really was an interesting combination of problems.

[@florian_kopr]

i shot that film so far only in medium format, so i am quite astonished how much grain in comparison it has in35mm. i think the 800iso decision wasn't ideal as it is normally at boxspeed quite contrasty in my experience. the light leaks, I think are either form a back leak, but more probably from loading in enough light to get the transparent base to interfere. i would not say its a total write of, I would use most of these todo lofi-cyanotypes for example. anyway thx and hope u are to demotivated by that little hickup.

[@chriscard6544]

the big stain, my assumption, is because of loading the film onto the reel badly (so developer didnt develop that part)and the other problem is a back leak for sure. (sorry for my bad english)

[@andyemmett9930]

Your English is great 👍 I definitely agree, I don’t think the film was loaded properly on the reel so the developer didn’t reach all parts of the film

[@chriscard6544]

@@andyemmett9930 I had the same issue recently with a 120 roll and it was a great shot of a tree

[@monkeysausageclub]

Always feels like you've forgotten to grade your videos. Dark and flat.