Rollei 80s and XTOL

[whojammyflip]

I am venturing into new territory and looking at some Rollei 80s 135 film for my next order at Ag. Anyone have any opinions on 80s in XTOL please...I've been using XTOL lately with Acros with excellent results, but like the sound of the extra red sensitivity of 80s for use with a red filter to cut through haze and see whether I can get these dark skies and bright clouds I have seen in pictures on Flickr. Ideally, I'd be getting really high resolution/low grain, without losing tonality....is Rollei 80s XTOL 1:1 ok for this? As an additional film, what is APX100 like in comparison....I read that Rollei film is rebranded Agfa....are the two very similar? Thanks.

 

[John Wiegerink]

It's nice to see these "so called" new brands of film starting to emerge, but I have a feeling it's starting to get like it is with some other products. By that I mean a company goes belly-up and somebody else uses the name of one of that "belly-up" corp. best known products to put on their own junk or inferior product. All the time, we as consumers, think we're buying the "real McCoy" when instead we're buying less and always paying more. I haven't seen enough to get me to pay more for the "re-branded Rollei" film or Adox over Kodak, Fuji Acros(great stuff) or Ilford. I guess I'm just trying to figure out why I'd want to pay more and really get less. I could be wrong, but I'll stick with things like Acros, TMY2, PanF, and FP4+ until somebody proves me wrong. JohnW

 

[declark]

Can't say how it looks in XTOL, but I found it really contrasty @ 80 in sunny conditions using Rodinal 1:100 40m. Probably should rate much lower and reduce development a bunch. I have a shot in my gallery for reference titled "High Voltage". Definitely much different than APX100.

 

[sandermarijn]

I tried Retro 80s (35mm and 120) in some different developers, Rodinal and Xtol among them; it worked out well in all of them. Contrast builds up quickly, you'll have to watch that.

This film is very different from APX 100- different tonality (not as nice but that's just me), grain (less of it), sharpness (sharper), and a different base as well (polyester vs. acetate, watch out for light piping). Just a completely different film.

 

[thomas l]

Rollei80s does not have anything to do with Agfa APX, Rollei80s, Rollei Superpan, Rollei 400S is rebranded aerial film of Agfa Gaevert and is different to "normal" photographic films.

 

[piu58]

Rollei 80s is a useful film for pictorial photography. As metioned before it tends to build up contrast fast - please avoid overdevelopment. I tried it in different developers - Rodinal 1+50, Microphen and Calbe A49. The last developer, diluted 1+1, gave the best results for me.

Retro 80s has a very fine grain, much finer as 25 ASA film. It is worth getting to know. It is a bit of quirky, but one you can manage this.

 

[whojammyflip]

In the end I have opted for TMAX 100 over the Rollei 80s...I dont have a IR filter at the moment, and the more I look at posts on IR, the more it seems hit and miss.

 

[Ed Bray]

I visited Harbertonford village to try out some Rollei Retro 80S, rated at ISO80 and then developed in Caffenol CL (my now go to Developer with Semi-Stand technique).

Film developed in Caffenol CL using the semi-stand technique for 65 minutes at 21 degrees Celcius.

Formula: In 500mls distilled water:

8g Sodium Carbonate (anhydrous)
5g Asorbic Acid
0.7g Pottasium Bromide
20g Tesco Classic Rich Roast Coffee

Agitations: First 30 seconds, then 3 inversions after a further: 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 8 minutes, 16 minutes empty tank after a further 34.5 minutes.


Image was taken using my tripod mounted Fuji GX680 a 125mm Fujinon lens at f22 with a Yellow Filter to keep a bit of colour in the sky.

What has astounded me is the amount of detail this film can hold. Whilst pictorially it is very good, when I started looking at the shadow detail at 100% I could see there was more than just some blocked up dark tones, once I had selected my shadow areas at 100% I then lifted the exposure by 2.5 stops to see what was actually there, what can I say, it really surprised me. It is quite contrasy though and has a very pronounced curl.

It was also good to see the resolving power of the lens/film, again when searching at 100% I found these two little birdies sitting in a tree, I don't know if they are Peter & Paul but they didn't fly away.


Harbertonford Church 125mm Lens Rollei Retro 80S by Ed Bray, on Flickr


100% crop lower LH side by Ed Bray, on Flickr


100% crop lower RH side by Ed Bray, on Flickr

Peter & Paul???