Rollei RHS High speed developer - any experience?

[Necator]

While browsing the macodirect webshop, I stumbled upon the above developer. In the usual Maco/Rollei style, the product is described as being capable of nearly everything, but it is hard to find more detailed information.

Does anybody have experience using this developer with Ilford HP5+, both at box speed and pushed 1 or 2 stops? I know that the obvious choice here would be to use Microphen, but the Rollei RHS is a concentrate, which I prefer.

 

[Aurelien]

Yes HP5 and RHS is a good combo. Contrast is great and grain is not so big (Box speed, I never push my films, except when I develop with emofin).

Exemple:

 

[vedmak]

I would stick to the old stuff, I tried some of Rollei devs, can't say they above head and shoulders when you compare to say Xtol.

 

[MartinP]

Unfortunately I haven't tried the Rollei developer, but I can recommend the Ilford liquid concentrate Ilfotec DD-X. It works very nicely with pushed HP5+ and, indeed, everything else I tried it with too. Maco also have (or had) DD-X in stock as that's where I got my current bottle from.

 

[cmo]

Some words about Microphen... when I started in the 70s that was my first developer for HP5, and I used it a lot for push processing. That combo is nice when you want a grainy 70s style, it gets a bit rough and highlights can become very dense, e.g. they burn out in the prints easily. Today, I would use a more modern developer like Ilford DD or DD-X or Kodak XTol as they compensate contrasts much better and produce less grain.

About RHS: in the past they said it's the well-known Amaloco AM74 developer, but not anymore. I have no idea what's in the bottle, but it might be comparable if they kept the name. AM74 is a kind of standard developer like a liquid D76, often recommended to beginners because it is quite foolproof. I would not expect AM74 to be especially useful as a push developer.

 

[mrred]

A few years ago, I bit on the pitch for R3 and RHS/RLS. Freestyle was actually selling R3 in 100' spools. I picked up a spool and a bottle of RHS and RLS. I burned through most of the R3 just trying to figure out a good combination. It turned out not to be RLS/RHS but HC110 in dilute forms.

Both RLS and RHS are not bad developers, just bad value when the costs of importing them into North America are included. I don't think they produce anything that you can't get from somewhere else.

 

[Aurelien]

Since Amaloco stopped all its activities, you can't buy RHS elsewhere.

 

[cmo]

Since Amaloco stopped all its activities, you can't buy RHS elsewhere.

But is it comparable with the old RHS alias AM74? Or what are the differences?

 

[Necator]

Since I need a push developer, it sounds like I am better off trying Xtol, Microphen or DD-X then. Thank you for your responses.

 

[Aurelien]

But is it comparable with the old RHS alias AM74? Or what are the differences?

Exactly the same. But now made in another plant.

 

[sly]

What about the RLS developer? My favorite 4x5 film/developer combo is R3@25, developed in RLS. I bought a whack of R3 when they stopped making it. I still have some RLS, but will run out way before I finish the film. Anyone know what it is, and what I could use as a North American substitute? (OP is in Denmark, so Rollei products are probably mush easier for him to access.)

 

[kossi008]

RLS is CG512. Not sure what other brand names this comes under...

 

[cmo]

Anyone know what it is, and what I could use as a North American substitute?

CG512 is available since many years, it's a great developer made for acutance and small grain, results are at least as good as with Microdol-X, Perceptol and similar developers. All these developers do not allow to expose the films at normal box speed, but it's a small loss only. All these developers must be used at 24° Celsius, and development times are quite long.

Recently a new, similar developer for low to medium speed films was introduced by a german company named Moersch Photochemie, it's called "Moersch Eco Film Developer", alias EFD. It works at 20° Celsius, it's a little faster, comes as a liquid concentrate (A and B) and is very 'ecological', e.g. it does not contain any harmful stuff (yes, I'm a treehugger, like Ansel Adams and other hippies). A friend showed me some prints from negatives developed in the new stuff, and they made me curious.

So I exposed my last rolls of APX100 at ISO 80 and some Tmax 100 @100 to see whether I get more sharpness than with my standard developer XTol. The answer is yes, a lot more, the negatives are drop-dead gorgeous, and grain is even a bit smaller than with XTol - though you already need to enlarge XTol-developed Tmax 100 a lot to see some grain at all. Less grain and more sharpness in one, I like it, normally it's either less grain OR more sharpness.

I did not compare the new soup side by side with CG512, but this guy did systematically (in german):

http://www.fotografie-in-schwarz-weiss.de/moersch_eco_05.htm

The only downside I can see by now is that this new developer is not suitable for high-speed films. But I will give Tmax 400 a try.

According to Moersch's website Freestyle sells their products.