Lets Celebrate a New Product Announcement! Two new Rollei films announced

[GeorgK]

Retro 100/400 is APX
RPX is Ilford/Kentmere.
But to Caffenol "experts" this should be all the same anyway, so who cares...

 

[dr5chrome]

The news we have is these 2 films are NOT happening.

regards.

 

[Klopstock]

Did you say they started announcing and selling these films in their blatant style - and now it's already gone?

In that case it was the shortest lifetime of a family of films I ever heard of.

 

[aldevo]

Should this really by that hard to verify?

Aren't these just the Ilford-prodcued Kentmere 100 and 400 films, anyhow?

 

[Alex Bishop-Thorpe]

Ilford's statement was that they don't participate in rebranding their products any more, after the 2005 restructuring - this is something they reaffirmed when Kentmere 100/400 came out. But there's no reason they cant contract out their production line for other manufacturers, or even formulate new emulsions for them. They've done this in the past. It makes sense, they have a top of the line facility that's sitting idle between their own production runs. Just because its made on Ilford's machinery doesn't mean they're an emulsion that's already on the market.

That said, I have no idea what it is or where it comes from, so who knows.

 

[Adrian Twiss]

I was given a couple of complimentary rolls to test by AG Photographic in the UK. I am mainly a 120/5x4 shooter so am eagerly awaiting it in 120.

 

[Marco B]

Let's stick to the doom and gloom, I've just tried Four Rollei Retro 400, developed in Rollei RHS, precise timing and temperature and drew out four almost clear strips, Then processed an Ilford Delta 100 in the RHS and all came out good. Two of the Rollei films using a different camera, still almost clear, very faint image. So, went back to my favorite film Ilford HP5, still in RHS developer, and all good negatives.Could be me!! As my previous communication says, I'm returning to my darkroom, but have processed many films before, never almost clear negs.
I have one more Rollei film to go, not sure what else to try, during the last film I increased the time by two minutes but no real improvement.
I do accept that this is part of the fun of this hobby, all digital are perfect but thats why I'm back in the darkroom.
Any information on this film would be very wellcome or I may have to pull out "The Beginners Guide to Photography"

This entire story smells like something went wrong during exposure time. It sounds like the film was underexposed by two stops. The only way for that to happen, except user error, is if the film is actually a 100 ISO film wrongly packaged as as the 400 ISO variant in a 400 ISO canister.

Now that is unlikely too, although manufacturers do screw up once in a while. However, to be sure, could you verify your exposure times next time, and make absolutely sure you are exposing for 400 ISO. In addition, you may wish to have your HP5 run along doing exactly the same exposures at the same F stop / time settings. In addition, shoot one of your supposed Rollei Retro 400 films at 100 ISO setting. If it turns out good after development, I guess you have definite proof you have a wrongly packaged ISO 100 film.

 

[canuk]

rphenning, I too stumbled around for years getting what I thought were ok results until I decided I would try calibrating as described by many photographers far more knowledgeable than me, Ansel Adams to name but one. It is time consuming and sometimes tedious, but well worth the effort in my opinion. Manufacturers data is a starting point, that's all. Some manufacturers are better than others in this regard and one can be relatively close.

 

[dr5chrome]

We were finally sent some film to test RPX100 & 400. The initial word was this film was not happening. The situation seems to have changed. We have tested it in dr5 but not yet in our neg-line. It is not like any other film in our current line-up. http://www.dr5.com/blackandwhiteslide/rpx100.html http://www.dr5.com/blackandwhiteslide/rpx400.html

regards

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

We were finally sent some film to test RPX100 & 400. The initial word was this film was not happening. The situation seems to have changed. We have tested it in dr5 but not yet in our neg-line. It is not like any other film in our current line-up. http://www.dr5.com/blackandwhiteslide/rpx100.html http://www.dr5.com/blackandwhiteslide/rpx400.html

regards

Some good news that these films come in 35mm and 120. I'm particularly interested in the RPX100 in 120 with the recent withdraw of Plus-X for medium speed medium format fans.

As for availability in the US, I hope this is a turn in a positive direction.