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

[peter852]

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?

[pdeeh]

I really like 400S but haven't tried 80S.

These are aero films remember.

I've tried it with Rodinal - it's quite nice if you don't dislike grain.
Caffenol worked out very badly - extremely uneven but lovely tones and grain in the parts that were developed properly!

I've seen some very nice results online from Robert Vonk (Fotohuis on this forum and elsewhere) using Rollei/Maco D74 and Rollei RHS. That's what I'm going to try next.

[Helinophoto]

I used Tetenal ultrafin on Rollei Retro 80s with good results, however I only shot it during very low contrast winter light, so it's hard to tell how contrasty they really were.

Some more information around the net:
http://photo.net/black-and-white-pho...g-forum/00WquK

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1300458...7625016874788/

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=85914

[Роберт]

The Retro 80S and 400S (and the similar Super Pan 200) are Agfa Gevaert aviation type films which give quickly a pretty high contrast. Also the Retro 400S is about E.I. 200-250 only in most developers.

In Rodinal/R09 o.s. the Retro 80S has a strong S-curve logD shape, so imo it is less suitable for this developer. A49 is already better and In HC-110 E.I. 50 (Retro 80S) and the Retro 400S E.I. 200 is not too bad but HC-110 is a quick building up in contrast developer so experiences in a more semi-compensating type developer like D74 or (the same) Rollei High Speed -DC (RHS-DC) Double Concentrated, gives clearly a better result. The regular dilution is 1+15 (inverse development) or 1+20 in rotary development.

All aviation type films are sharp and fine grained. The trick is to tame the contrast and make a large Grey tonal scale. All films are made on Clear Polyester layer (S = Synthetic) so you also have to take care of the "light piping" effect, especially with the 35mm films. But like always you should load and unload your films in subdue light.

[herb]

Dunno about the retros, but I shoot Rollei 400 IR film as my standard non IR film and get really great results with Xtol replenished. very good shadow detail,
better grain than Rodinal, which gives VERY punchy results.

[piu58]

I use both film very often. Please kepp in mind that Rollei Retor 400s is based on Aviapan 200. You cannot get 400 ASA from it, not even 200.

I use Adox 49 (identical Calbe A49) 1+1 for it. This developer gives a strait curve. Some other developers tend to produce bolcked hghlights.

[Chrismat]

For 80s I use Rodinal (Adonal or R09) 1:100 stand develop which has worked well for me. I usually give it 45 minutes, agitate it in the beginning and once more halfway through. I've never used the 400.

[Athiril]

I recently just used Xtol 1+1 iirc on Retro 80s.


If you're printing you're probably going to need to use pre-development bleaching of the paper to get into 'negative' grades.

[richyd]

For 80S, as 'piu' above mentions, I found the best results with Adox A49 1+1 smooths out the contrast with good tonal range, I really like the film with this combination especially in 35mm very fine grain. I developed one roll with Studional 1+31 and that gave good results too. Neofin Blue also worked well taming the contrast.

I have found 400s to be challenging and as comments above is only really a 200 film. I found a recipe rated @200 in RHS 1+15 for 5' 15" can't remember where search here or on rangefinderforum.

[BradS]

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?

What is it that you do not like about the results you are getting with HC-110? It is impossible to say what is best if you do not define what you want to accomplish.