Rollei Film?

wildbillbugman

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Hello,
Dose anyone know whether or not Rollei is still offering film? I am interested in obtaining the "Best" film for B&W Portraiture? Low speed, high resolution for Macro? I have not used film for years. So I am ignorant of what's on the market today. Medium to large format only.
 

BrianShaw

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Well... did you check the Freestyle web stite... or B&H?

As an alternative, some very nice portraits have been rumored to have been taken on Ilford FP-4.
 

Richard S. (rich815)

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These are all the best: Fuji Acros, Kodak Tmax 100/400, Ilford Delta 100/400, PanF 50 and FP4+. Rollei Retro 100 is not bad either if you can find any. Seriously, any and all of those are capable of superlative results.
 

ath

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Rollei does not offer film. MACO licensed the Rollei brand name for use on the films they distribute (and maybe manufacture).
 

ROL

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As mentioned, the Rollei offerings were reputed to be MACO rebrandings. You did not specify which of the films you were interested in, however, having used both brands of the ISO 25 Pan's, I can say that the extraordinarily overpriced Rollei exhibited much the same characteristics of the MACO. Beautiful tonal ranges when exposed and processed correctly, and all the same kind of manufacturing defects that the Eastern European MACO was known for. Does that make Rollei the "best"? Not in my book, where I was forced to expose 2 frames each of the 120 rolls for every shot in order to have any chance at a clean negative, essentially more than quadrupling the cost of film over other makes. I still have rolls of it in my freezer, long forsaken for other more robust brands. Try Ilford's Pan F+ in a fine grain developer like PMK Pyro for sustained bliss.
 

NB23

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Tmax 100 is my fave. Pan-f, fp4, delta100, acros... Cant go wrong!
 

Axle

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Retro 100 is a good film, I still have a bunch left. Rollei Pan 25 is decent I haven't had much luck with it, but I still have a bunch so I continue to experiment.

Then there's Retro 80s, love this film, also looks great behind an IR filter (Rate at ASA-3, develop in Rodinal 1+50 for 14:00 @ 68F/20C).

Plus the Rollei Infrared 400 is fantastic in 120, I have some in 35mm that I haven't tried yet.
 

jp498

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I think tmax400 is sharp/fine enough to replace most traditional lower speed films. It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than Rollei, and quality is always perfect. It's got a tiny bit of yellow filtration built in that slightly smooths skin tones. If you want mad texture and big freckles go elsewhere or filter it.
 

Terry Christian

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I'd agree with jp498 that TMax 400 is probably the best all-around film out there on the market today. If someone puts a gun to my head and made me pick only one without telling me what I'd photograph or in what conditions, that's the one I'd choose. However, most films out there on the market are very, very good!
 

MartinP

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Most of the Maco films, carrying the Rollei brand-name, are Agfa products intended for non-amateur use (for example, aerial films or microfilm materials), or the last production-run of some films, and then repacked for Maco. If you choose the appropriate film for the task, and expose + develop in the relevant way, they can do an excellent job. Note that the current Rollei RPX100 and RPX400 are emulsions made under contract by Harman, not Agfa.

Don't forget to consider the Adox emulsions too. They have taken some machinery from an Agfa line, and also hired some of their chemists, to make their own film-materials which have been well received. Whether the pricing and availability of these products makes sense for you in North America is another question of course !

The only current Rollei-branded product I have heard of with any sort of question-mark is one batch of the ISO200 E6 emulsion - there is a APUG thread about it.
 
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BMbikerider

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Can I suggest that there is no 'best film' for portraits but some are better than others, certainly not Pan F is not one of them. I love that film, for technical subjects, low contrast landscapes and macro work, but not portraiture -the contrast is too great to get good skin tones. The other option I would suggest is either Tmax 100 or Ilford Delta, the grain is almost as fine but with a better tonal range to reproduce skin.
 
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