April 12, 2011

next new film - Rollei RPX 100

Hello again,

here's the 2nd new film from Maco/Germany, the Rollei RPX 100. Like the RPX 400 it is made in Europe, a classic cubic emulsion with 100 ASA boxspeed and shall replace the old Agfa APX 100. To say first things first: this film in my opinion is far better than the old APX 100 and much more than a substitute. The RPX 100 is a  very fine grained, easy to handle and easy to develop film with excellent tonality. Speed in Caffenol-C-L is enhanced and grain is still very small, almost invisible. Again Maco brought us  one of the best classic emulsions available today, it could turn out that this beautiful film will be my first choice for medium speed films in the future. Available in the US as the RPX 400 about end of April, 35 mm earlier than 120 format. Here we go with progressive exposures from EI 25 to 400.
Semi-stand developed in Caffenol-C-L, 0.8 g/l potassium bromide, 20 °C, 70 minutes. No presoak, agitation first minute continuosly, then 3 times at 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 minutes. Perfect even development, very fine grain. EI 25 to 100 are overexposed, EI 200-400 is perfect for scanning purpose. Maybe a bit too contrasty for silverprints, so I would reduce the dev time to about 40-50 minutes at EI 200. I have no doubt this film will also perform very well in Caffenol-C-M at about 10 minutes developing time. Look at the following scan, exposed at EI 400!
The scan almost didn't need any postprocessing, only a very slight contrast adjustment was necessary. When I took the wet film out of the tank I immediately said "WOW". The rest of the film exposed at EI 100 was very dense, still scannable without probs but probably too dense for silver prints. So expose sparingly and/or reduce dev time. This film has blown me away. Attractivly priced, perfect quality. Drawbacks? I haven't seen any.

Cheers - Reinhold

8 comments:

Eing6888 said...

Hi!
I been reading your blog and very interested to give it a try.
I am wondering what kind of development process is best for Fujifilm ACROS 100?

and can use kind of give me an idea of what range of ASA film should develop with what process?
CCM w/ ASA ..?..-...?..
CCH w/ ASA ..?..-...?..
CCL w/ ASA ..?..-...?..

also can this developer be develop photo?
I saw a German link of that but I don't really understand it, even though i took German1.

Danke!

imagesfrugales said...

http://caffenol.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-dream-team.html

http://caffenol.blogspot.com/search/label/Acros

I get best results with EI 100 - 400, so EI 200 as a starting point is fine.

Eing6888 said...

Please correct me if i'm wrong or add something to it.

CCM –First Choice for low speed film (no KBr needed)
Is good for ASA100 or lower (not good with high speed film like 400ASA or faster film b/c too much fog)

CCH
Is good for ASA400 or faster with low fog (still work perfectly with 100ASA, but recommended using CCM instead)

CCL –First choice for any film (if KBr is available)
Is good for any speed film (give finer grain than CCM, almost fog free, evenly develop)

And on more question about CCM, you said that I will needs to double EI from box speed for best result, (for example, I use 100ASA I need to shot at 200EI) am I right?

Thank you,

imagesfrugales said...

Hi Eing6888,

I can sign everything you said. Exposing 1 stop faster (f.e. 200 instead of 100) is a general rule of thumb for these Caffenol-variants, but also depends on the amount of bromide. More bromide -> less fog, but also less speed.

Sometimes I use C-C-H for slower films when I want faster procedure and don't need a strong push. And of course it's a matter of taste. The Acros will deliver outstanding results in any of the 3 variants.

Cheers - Reinhold

Eing6888 said...

can CCM use as print developer?

imagesfrugales said...

Yes, but not my cup of "tea". Very flat prints for me.

Anonymous said...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/essaisphotos/6774994514/in/photostream
I got a problem guys...

Tested caffenol-C-L
with Rollei RPX 100 EI 100, 55 minutes at exactly 20 C°
gentle rotation 30 sec, then 1 2 4 8 16 32 minutes
with 20 gr Instant coffee, 8gr Natrium Carbonat (Natriumkarbonat / Na2CO3) , 0,5 gr Kaliumbromid (Kbr / Potassium bromid) and 5gr Vitamin-C, for 500 ml water

what came out?

NOTHING, not even a trace of black on the roll
I´m totally pissed of now...

I need your Help guys!

Is the cofee wrong? It´s the cheepest from Aldy. I gold the choice between Gold or mild)
is the washing soda to pure? He is crytalized (waterfree of course) but not as powder.

imagesfrugales said...

Again the problem from the last comment was fixed almost within seconds. Wrong soda. The guy got a decahydrate from the pharmacy, that must fail without re-adjusting the quantity.

100 % of all inquiries so far concerning completely blank film are due to the wrong soda! Seriously!

Be sure to get the right one, if only the smallest doubt make the heating test, bingo!