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Rollei Retro 80S\ RLS - CLEAR negatives - Help !

Paul Ozzello

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I just tested a roll of Rollei Retro 80S (120 roll film) developed in Rollei RLS developer and the negatives came out completely clear.

iso 25
RLS (1:4)
9.5 minutes at 24C
5 inversions every 30 seconds.

The developer was brand new recently purchased from B&H.

The film is totally clear (slightly baby blue), no numbers or arrows, clear around the leader tape, I doubt camera exposure was a problem.
Unlikely the tank was contaminated - I rinse with permawash and very fussy about keeping everything clean, separate locations for developer/fixer, etc.
The developer has a strong smell of ammonia - is this normal ? I opened another bottle (they came as a 4 pack of 250ml) - same smell.
The developer has a slight yellow tinge (I mixed it 1:4), and came out VERY yellow AFTER development.

Could the developer be dead on arrival ?

Any ideas ?

Paul
 
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Paul Ozzello

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Hi Michael,

No edge markings, completely clear.

have you ever heard of developer smelling like ammonia ?

Is it possible the film had no emulsion ?!

In 20 years this is the first time I've ruined a roll of film - I'm a bit stumped.

Paul
 

pentaxuser

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Of the two and with the symptoms you describe I strongly favour fix first sequence in processing. A totally dead but new developer is possible but about as likely as discovering hens' teeth.

Sorry but many of us, including me, have been there once.

pentaxuser
 

250swb

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With no edge markings I would suspect you put the fix in first. Everybody eventually makes every mistake once.

But if you still have a small bit of cut off undeveloped film leader in the bin just put a drop of the developer on it and it should turn black because it has been exposed to light. If on the other hand the film clears, well, they mislabelled something somewhere.

Steve
 
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Paul Ozzello

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Hi, I'm 100% certain I didn't fix first.

I've discovered all sorts of emulsion flaws with Rollei Pan 25 film and my confidence with Rollei chemical products isn't very high. I'm wondering if the RLS developer was contaminated at the factory - I've never smelled anything like it.
 
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Paul Ozzello

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grommi said:
Paul, can you make a quick test with a small piece of any 35 mm film if the developer is dead or not? Just see if he blackens the film or not. Everything else is soothsaying.
Click to expand...

That was a good idea and I'm thinking the developer is the problem. I cut a few pieces of the same film in daylight. They're not clear blue like my roll but a very very light gray with hardly any density - this was with full strength developer (but lower room temp) for roughly 20 minutes in full daylight. Another strip from the same roll developed in Xtol was VERY dense.

I also got a mail from Aurélien le Duc (the author of a pdf about that particular film developer combo) saying RLS has a very short shelf life and colorless and odorless. Apparently those 250 ml bottles haven't been produced in a long time and RLS now comes in 330 ml softpacks. Good to know, thanks Aurélien !


Paul
 
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Athiril

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Someone over here had problem with Rollei developers also not developing their film, think it was also RLS.

I used Xtol 1:1 on my 80S.
 

pentaxuser

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I am sure that B&H and then Rollei will want to know about this. It may not help you other than in terms of compensation but it should help others. If Rollei has produced totally defective developer then in the quantities it is made you can be sure that it wasn't just your container. Maybe 100's of others are experiencing the same issue or are about to ruin their films in the same way.

By the way I keep hens and will never feed them by hand again. Next time it is the lion tamer's chair when I go into the henhouse

Let us know what B&H has to say.

pentaxuser
 

subsole

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Did you shake the developer properly before using?
Thats very important with Rollei RLS.
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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Do you want to know what I think happened?

Developer will likely not smell like ammonia unless fixer was poured into it. Think about this for a minute. How did fixer get into the developer, or developer get into the fixer, and how did that affect film developing?
 

piu58

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RLS is a metol only developer. It has no regenerator/redox system. Therfore it is very prone to sudden death. Be careful with metol only devs.
 

pentaxuser

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I have no experience of this developer but it still seem incredible to me that a brand new developer is susceptible to a kind of sudden death that prevents even a trace of development.

I'd hope that Rollei will ask for the remains, if there are any, of the suspect developer and thoroughly test

If it is sudden death and the stuff is brand new this would put me off ever using it again.

If this was an Ilford developer Simon Galley would have men demanding it back in the middle of the night for immediate testing.

This kind of quality control can ruin a company

pentaxuser
 

piu58

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Rollei RLS is identical to CG512 and similar to Perceptol and Microdol-X. All these developers give slightly finer grain by giving some speed.
 
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Paul Ozzello

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I'll be back in NYC in a few weeks and will return the developer. Can anyone recommend a better place for film in NYC or am I better off ordering online from freestyle etc. ?
 
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Paul Ozzello

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But seriously, the four bottles were shrink wrapped and I didn't have any fix near them or on my hands. The smell comes from freshly opened bottles.
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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fatso said:
But seriously, the four bottles were shrink wrapped and I didn't have any fix near them or on my hands. The smell comes from freshly opened bottles.
Click to expand...

That throws my theory right out the window, then.

If your developer smells like ammonia, then something is probably wrong. Test it by using a small piece of film that's been exposed to light before developing something important.

I hope you find a solution to your problem.

- Thomas
 

Aldo M.

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hi , i have the same problem just few seconds ago !

rollei 80s 50 iso in rls 1+4 24°c 12.5 min . I believe that is a failure in the composition of the developer in the factory... the rollei film is the agfa aerial film aviphot pan 80 .... and is a wonderful film (in rodinal) .

So film-fix-stop from agfa gavaert (belgium) and developer from rollei (cg 512 formula) ..... it's the developer !
 

pentaxuser

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I wonder if the original OP, fatso, ever contacted Rollei? If he didn't then not telling Rollei of his issue hasn't done Rollei or other customers such as Aldo any favours.

Frustrating when an OP doesn't bother to gives us closure to an issue on which collectively APUGers devoted their time

pentaxuser
 

Aldo M.

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Thanks Pentaxuser , i live near (30KM) the italian dealer .. so i'll make some inquiry !

i believe that is an old problems with some Lot ( in italian i mean lotto ... in english is better stock ? )
i love the infinity life of rodinal .. for that !
 
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