What is the best developer of rollei retro 80s&400s?

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peter852

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I'm using HC110(E) on rollei retro 80s(at ISO 50)&400s(at ISO 200), but the performance is not good enough, i'm finding the best developer on these film.What is the best developer of rollei retro 80s&400s?
 
I tried 80s with rodinal 1:100 for 2 hours and a time per 30 minutes agitation and the results for nature scenes were great.
 
Here an example of Retro 400S E.I. 200 in D74 1+15. Retro 80S and Retro 400S are Agfa Gevaert aviation type films and they need a semi-compensating or a bit lower contrast working type developer. HC-110 is building up quickly a higher contrast.

It is a scan from a fiber print on Fomabrom Variant 111.

6925878111_38eeb440c5_z.jpg
 
I tried Retro 80S with Promicrol. Promicrol gives constantly usable or good results with Neopan 400, Delta 400 and FP4 Plus. But not so with Retro 80s. Has anybody tried it and can give some advice?
 
RolleiRetro 400S @ 800: I have an extended development scheme for that in D76 1+1.

Takes 38 minutes: pre-soak with water (pour-in pour-out), 1min agitation, 18mins stand. 30secs agitation, 18.5mins stand.

Might be able to do it with a quicker scheme but I haven't figured that out yet. This gave me good results in terms of density, tonality and grain. Very scannable.
 
so far I've used D76 1:1 with agitation every minute. the time was around 11-12 minutes for retro 80S. love the results with that

might note that I'm still unexperienced but D76 1+1 seems something one cant go wrong with...
 
I' ve had good results with RR80s using 1ml HC-110 and 1ml Rodinal in 250ml at box speed. Stand 1hr.
 

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Exposing RR400s at 200, develope in Promicrol 1+14 for 15 Minutes, 2 agitations per minute. Still details in shadows, grain not that coarse like a „ordinary“ 400 Film, kontrast a little bit harder than „ordinary“, edge sharpness - well lets say a littel bit smoother (!?) (i cant say it).
Exposed at 400, Promicrol 1+14, 18 Minutes & 4 agitations/minute: shadows pretty dark, fine grain ( . seems to me, but could be the . ) hard kontrast and sharp edges.
Prefere dull negatives.
It (the Film) is not better or worser than any other, just a little bit - different. With the first method the dull negatives are a little bit „blacker“, with second method there are no dull negatives.
 
Used RR80s only once but not for the last time.
Exposed at 50, in Promicrol 1+14 for 6,5 Minutes, 4 tpm (tilts per minute [so correct in english?]). On a bright sunny day with rockhard shadows. The shadows oh the negatives are pitch black. Damn fine grain. KONTRASTY. The surface of the graitones, if there are one, are soft like butter because of the fine grain.
But for me to hard.
Next time i'll try 5 minutes & 2 tpm, exposed to the shadows, like the RR400s above (forgot to mention).
 
So I’ve recently (and foolishly!) shot a couple of rolls of Retro 400S 120 without consulting this oracular forum and exposed it at the stated 400ISO, rather than around 200ISO which I now understand is nearer the real film speed.
I was planning to develop in 1:25 Rodinal but bearing in mind all the comments above can someone please recommend how long I should develop for? I prefer to use agitation - I like to stay busy!
 
Paulrave said:
So I’ve recently (and foolishly!) shot a couple of rolls of Retro 400S 120 without consulting this oracular forum and exposed it at the stated 400ISO, rather than around 200ISO which I now understand is nearer the real film speed.
I was planning to develop in 1:25 Rodinal but bearing in mind all the comments above can someone please recommend how long I should develop for? I prefer to use agitation - I like to stay busy!
Click to expand...


Retro 400s is my preferred 120 everyday film.
I get consistent results shooting at iso 400. Pre-soak while I mix developer. Develop in Rodinal 1:25 for 10 mins at 20C. Agitate for first 15 seconds and then five gentle inversions every minute.
Comes out like this:
Yorks-Air-Museum-1-of-1.jpg
 
Paulrave said:
So I’ve recently (and foolishly!) shot a couple of rolls of Retro 400S 120 without consulting this oracular forum and exposed it at the stated 400ISO, rather than around 200ISO which I now understand is nearer the real film speed.
I was planning to develop in 1:25 Rodinal but bearing in mind all the comments above can someone please recommend how long I should develop for? I prefer to use agitation - I like to stay busy!
Click to expand...

Rollei Retro 400S = Agfa Aviphot Pan 200
Rollei Superpan 200 = Agfa Aviphot Pan 200
Rollei Infrared = Agfa Aviphot Pan 200.
Maco Photo Products - the supplier/distribution company of the Rollei-Film branded repackaged films - is unfortunately cheating their customers by selling the same film under different names and speeds and prices.
Same with their Retro 80S and RPX 25 film: Same film = Agfa Aviphot Pan 80, but different prices and data sheets. Cheating and ripping the customers off.
The same with their RPX 100 and 400 films, which are only repackaged Kentmere 100 and 400 film, but at much higher price.


Agfa Aviphot Pan 200 is an aerial film. The sensivity / speed testing for aerial films is much different compared to the sensitivity ISO tests for regular films. Because in aerial photography you don't have real shadows and less intense highlights.
Therefore the real speed of Aviphot Pan 200 in regular photography on the ground is in the EI 50 - 100 range, dependant on the used developer.
At EI 200 you have a significant loss in shadow detail and very steep contrast.

Cheers, Jan
 
This thread is about developers for these films. Pictures without info don't help. Would you please let us how you achieved these ... airy... highlights? I suppose it is not entirely impossible that someone wants to imitate that. :p
 
70mm Rollei 400s developed in a Kindermann 70mm film developing tank, agitation at ten seconds per minute. Exposures bracketed at EI 200, EI 100, and EI 50. Rollei Supergrain developer 1:9 Nine minutes at 65F. Supergrain is a classic AM74 type of developer which is highly compensating. I buy it from Freestyle. On the Supergrain bottle times are listed for Rollei 400s.

Negs printed on 8x10 Arista #2 paper processed in Multigrade developer.

400s Supergrain 1-9 9 minutes 65F 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

400s Supergrain 1-9 9 minutes 65F 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Generally speaking I select the neg that has the best shadow detail. This film has a mild Infared effect that I like very much. :)
 
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