Rollei CR 200 slide film?

[trondsi]

I like Fuji, but I thought this Rollei film might be good for a change. But then, I hear rumors that it's really re-packaged expired film, while others think it's a good product. Any info on this?

 

[ME Super]

The Fuji offerings are excellent. I shot a roll of the Rollei CR200 a couple years ago and found it to have a heavy yellow cast. Supposedly not all batches of this film have this problem. It's easy to fix when scanned, but I shoot for projection. The Wittner Chrome 200D does not suffer from the dreaded yellows in my experience, and its the same emulsion, Aviphot Chrome 200 made by Agfa-Gevaert in Belgium.

Note that Agfa-Gevaert has recently announced the discontinuation of this emulsion, so when it's gone, it's gone.

 

[Slixtiesix]

I tried it once but the lab completely messed up the development and I ended with a cross-processed film. Never used the film again. I continue using 400X (which seems still in production in Japan) and awaiting Ferrania to appear on the market.

 

[Meyer Trioplan]

I have shot this in 120 and I REALLY like it as an alternative to the Fuji stocks. When processed in E-6, it provides a very nostalgic palette that does tend towards a golden hue, but which works very well if you pair it was appropriate subject matter suitable to this tendency. Do note that it is fairly grainy and this is likely to be more noticeable in 35mm against a more cutting edge emulsion like Velvia.

I did a little write up of my experiences scanning the film in 120:
http://quirkyguywithacamera.blogspot.com/2015/03/fun-with-film-agfa-crossbird-200.html
and I used one roll of it which gave some really nice results at night when shooting some classic neon signage:
http://quirkyguywithacamera.blogspot.com/2015/04/portland-or-after-dark-film-photo.html

 

[trondsi]

Thanks for your feedback Meyer. Is this a case of the scans looking even more yellow, or is this the natural look of the film? For instance, Provia has cooler colors of course, but it looks even cooler when scanned than my original slides did (so I often fix the color balance a little)

 

[Pioneer]

The price at Freestyle on the CR200 is certainly attractive. I ordered 5 rolls from them to give it a try. I really hope it works out.

I am in on the Ferrania product as well but based on the recent update their production is still a ways off.

Of course I have also ordered some more Provia 400x and 100 to replenish the stocks as well.

It is certainly hard to part with the cash when it is time to resupply but it is all worth it when the slides come back!!

 

[ME Super]

+1 on the hard to part with the cash but worth it when the slides come back.

I'm looking forward to trying Ferrania's offerings as well. They've indicated that after a 100-speed daylight film, they're looking at a 400-speed daylight and possibly an 800-3200P E-6 offering. Although, I'd love to see a 640T since going from Tungsten to Daylight you only lose 2/3 stop with the filter, vs. 2 stops with the filter going the other direction.

Maybe those daylight compact fluorescent/LED bulbs have a decent color rendering index though - if you can get one with a CRI of 90 or higher, that might make those tungsten emulsions unnecessary.

 

[gzhuang]

Shot a couple with +1/3 seems to be react just like Fuji during development.

 

[Pioneer]

Shot a couple with +1/3 seems to be react just like Fuji during development.

That is good information to know gzhuang. When my rolls show up I'll have to give that a try.

 

[Meyer Trioplan]

Thanks for your feedback Meyer. Is this a case of the scans looking even more yellow, or is this the natural look of the film? For instance, Provia has cooler colors of course, but it looks even cooler when scanned than my original slides did (so I often fix the color balance a little)

The way the scans appear pretty much embodies how they appear when view more or less. That said, many of the shots I've taken with CR200 were under "golden hour" conditions and around Sodium Vapor lights, so there was some yellow casts in many of the scenes to begin with. I have another developed roll that should be returning from Old School Photo Lab later today, some of which are shot under full sun, so I can hopefully upload another scan or two of the results soon.

Note that the film can tend to blow highlights in brightly lit scenes, so for these, I'd lean towards underexposing by about 1/2 a stop.

 

[Regular Rod]

No Problems

I like Fuji, but I thought this Rollei film might be good for a change. But then, I hear rumors that it's really re-packaged expired film, while others think it's a good product. Any info on this?

I like it for hand held work...

RR

 

[Pioneer]

I like it for hand held work...

RR

I do like that photo RR.

The rolls I ordered from Freestyle arrived on the porch this morning so I will take some out this weekend for a test.

 

[trondsi]

Nice picture RR! I see the grain pretty clear, but I think it works here (I sometimes like grain, other times not)

 

[Meyer Trioplan]

Great shot RR!

I really like using this film, and got some good results from my last roll, but having shot it more, I notice a few shortcomings.

Greens don't tend to render particularly well, tending to go dark and murky.

While I've found that shooting it as rated tends to blow highlights a bit, underexposing slightly to compensate for this only drops most of the rest of the scene into underexposure too quickly.

Scenes with dull lighting and/or flat colors will not get any boost like you may get in a film like Velvia, but in the right environments, you can render a near monochrome scene with a single colorful element.

All said, it works quite well for certain scenes, and the grain can be used to complement the shading of some scenes.

 

[Robert Liebermann]

I'm a 'variable speed photographer'. That means I go through intense photo periods where I shoot constantly or many rolls of film, and the opposite where I shoot little. In the past year or so I've been slow, with a couple 'bursts'; mostly depending on location/inspiration.

Anyway, last autumn I shot about 55 rolls of colo(u)r 35mm on a month-long bicycle tour in the Lake Superior country, including finally a few rolls of the CR200 I bought back in 2013... (the kind in the double can; type 812212, frozen of course). I waited so long since I have a good stash of Kodak, Fuji E6 films and other stuff and read so much about the 'yellow' tendency with this film that I figured I'd wait until the right 'palette' was presented (which didn't seem to 'fit' interior Alaska where I live).

So last weekend I finally developed some of the rolls in Tetenal E6 3-step (also my practice; to shoot a lot of film then develop when I have ~100 rolls in film freezer then rapid-fire develop in long sessions to save $$ on chems).

I haven't got any scanned yet, but in my cursory look at them I was super-pleased with the greens, golds, yellows, browns. The best ones were in a autumn color mixed yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis)-white cedar (Thula occidentalis)-balsam fir (Abies balsamea) forest in Keweenaw County, Michigan near the shore of Lake Superior (I have a little camp there!). The greens of the forest moss, fir and white-cedar leaves and the yellow of the birch leaves and some senescent understory plants, the silver and gold of the birch bark (live and rotting on forest floor) and the browns and grays of the leaf litter, all in soft overcast light seems to be the 'proper habitat' of this film! [I am a geobotanist hence the Latin names, toponyms, geographic description, etc.]

Definitely the weirdest slide film I've used since my favorite Orwo UT21 & UT18 (East German) films of the early 90s I used to buy cheap and shoot freely when living in the xUSSR then. (and the 'best' with the '70s oranges, greens, and browns). I think CR200 would also be good for photographing a 1970s interior with orange, brown, or green shag carpet, loud flowery curtains, brown paneling, orange or yellow bakelite ashtrays, 1970s heavy glassware, Schlitz cans, etc... getting nostalgic just typing this.

So after all that wait I decide I can use this film and where it 'flowers'. But now I check and see that it's been maybe re-something'd. Is the stuff that FS and BH selling the same film as the stuff I bought in 2013?

Last I checked there wasn't much consensus on just what CR200 really was, how old, etc. Is the 'new' stuff any better identified? It's sure more expen$ive than the 'old' stuff! How do the palettes compare?

 

[KidA]

I only tried one roll of this stuff, and I kind of liked it. It does, however have a very strong golden cast with quite a bit of green in it. For the subject matter of this roll, (just random shots of outdoor places/things to just try the film out) I got a good amount of nice frames. Would I ever use this film for moments in which I need faithful colours, say, in a studio or more 'serious' outdoor work like landscape? Not a chance. Would I go walking around a park with a friend to just shoot away (and not mind a [quite pleasant] golden cast)? Definitely.