Rollei Ortho 25 and/or alternatives

[vic vic]

again, im asking for a brief summery/info/advice of your experience with this (or alternative films).
my main consideration with using those films are :
- use for archeological as well as a kind of architecture work and reproduction, mainly in natural light (of course on tripod). the light maybe very harsh at times but some light modification (like softening etc) is possible.
- very sharp, clear, detailed, and clean (grainless) are prime characteristics, but i would like some "acutance" as well and well differentiated tonality especially in the bright down to mid-grey tones.
- rodinal is ok ? or the rollei supplied chemistry is a "must" to make this film controllable ?
- adox Ortho alternative ? but i think this doesnt come in medium roll.
maybe a simple (and well known to me) Pan-F will do it just as good ?

thanks

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Adox Ortho is available in 120 at Freestyle http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=&pid=1000002571.

However, I don't know if someone in Israel has it. You might want to look at European distributors like Fotoimpex.de, or UK shops like Silverprint.co.uk.

I usually develop it for 11 minutes in Rodinal 1+100. In 35mm it's already amazingly sharp. I can't wait to have the time to try it in 120.

Ortho films are theoretically sharper than panchromatic films for the simple reason that the lens need to focus only blue to green light on the film plane. With pan film, all wavelengths must be focused on the film plane, but even with an apo lens, it's not always there.

At any rate, I found that ortho films can suffer a much greater degree of enlargement than the available slow, fine grained pan films like PanF+ or near-pan like Efke 25.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Here's what J&C Ortho looked like, which is probably the same film as Adox ortho:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I think you will find no lack of gorgeous mid-to-high tones. Its sharpness is burning my eyes. If you want really enhanced edge effect, you might want to look at FX 1 or FX 2 developers to have more acutance than Rodinal.

 

[vic vic]

michel hi, thanks alot for your response.
no dealers having it in israel as far as i know, but i can order it from one of the mentioned sources or simply from maco-direct.
i guess u confirm my positive thought about useing this film (and true, big detailed and clear enlargement in the territory of bigger formats is one of the considerations here).
thanks again, i will place an order soon, and will make a bit of experimentations to tune the film/developing etc... in any case, there is always pan-f