Rollei Retro 80S at ISO80 Stand Develop in Rodinal

[ykc2011]

My bulk roll of Rollei Retro 80S arrived from Germany 2 weeks ago. I was quite eager to give this film a try having heard its reputation as a high contrast film that tends to be difficult to tame. Kinda like riding a wild horse at the rodeo!

Here are a few portraits of my kids shot at box speed (ISO80), stand developed in Rodinal (1:100) for 1 hour @ 20C. 3 inversions @ start only.


Rollei Retro 80s | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Marc and Andrew | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

There's absolutely zero visible grain and I love the smooth velvety texture. However, you do note the high contrast with little "grey" areas.

I next decided to dilute the soup further, using Rodinal @ 1:200 dilution for 100 minutes @ 20C. 3 inversions @ start only.

Botanic Gardens | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Botanic Gardens | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

With the more diluted soup, I think the tones are more evenly distributed and less contrasty.

I feel the film is very versatile and depending on the use and "mood" one wants to create, you can process it accordingly by varying the Rodinal concentration.

*** I'm sorry I dont know how to make the images appear when I try to link them to Flickr. ***

 

[Zonghe]

Nice, gonna get some tips from you when I start using the rollei with rodinal

 

[raytoei]

beautiful.....wow...

 

[crispy12]

wow, you are a great photographer! lovely pics.

What scanner did you use, and what kind of post processing? I love the portraits of your kids, definitely worthy of a wet print!

 

[ykc2011]

They were lucky snapshots, but thank you for your kind words. I'm using a canon 9000F. The first 2 portraits using Rodinal @ 1:100 came out looking "overexposed" or too "contrasty" so i needed to adjust the scanned exposure. The other 2 using Rodinal @ 1:200 required little if no adjustments. This is my fav portrait film right now. I'm going to try Rodinal @ 1:150 to see if I can get a look that's in-between the 2.

 

[Riotbmx]

The photos are great! And you're being too humble.

Mind sharing what lens you used for these?

 

[ykc2011]

I used a Nikon F80 + 50mmf1.4-AFD. I dont typically use a SLR, my preferred gear is a Zeiss Ikon, but with kids who dont stay still, having autofocus capability is real helpful. Thank you again for your comments.

 

[oceanpriest]

Great photos!

One thing about Rollei S series film (synthetic film base), do you find it's very thin and easily scratched? I scratched my IR 400S few times
Few of my friends also told me they have difficulty loading them into plastic reel because it's too thin and slippery. Anyway it's really value for money film, will order them again from macodirect next time

 

[ykc2011]

Thanks Oceanpriest. Yes, I do find the film very thin, but have not had any problems with scratching. Its true that its slightly more difficult advancing it into plastic reels; my solution was to ensure that the reels were dry prior to loading, i think that helps. The film is definitely cheaper than other Kodak films, or my other favorite Fuji100ACROS and it gives me the results I want!