Adventures in Extreme Detail - Rollei 25
I bought a roll of 120 format Rollei Pan 25 film a while ago. This is ISO/ASA 25 film. Very, very slow. And very sharp indeed. One of the advantages you often get with slow film is less grain and more detail. I'd say it's true with this film. There are a couple of factors that may have reduced its detail, though. One of which is my scanner, the Epson V500. While a very nice scanner, I felt it couldn't dig deep into this film. With other, less detailed films, especially B&W, the detail of the film and the detail of the scanner optics seem to bottom out together. But I seemed to see just a little bit more with my loupe than the scanner saw. The other factor in reducing sharpness was probably the thin film base. This film curled excessively. I hung to dry with weights. Then I wound it up backwards to flatten the curl. I let it sit several days like this, but it sprang back around with a vengeance. I fought every strip of film into the holder. It looked a little bubbly in the holder, as if it were ready to pop out. Instead of developing in regular old Ilfosol, I ordered some Ilford Perceptol, their version of Microdol-X. The development time was roughly 16 minutes, almost 3 times longer than Delta film. I could tell as soon as I pulled the negs off the reel that they were different. The film base was clear, as opposed to neutral. Without a loupe, I could see the detail and rich tones. But that curl! Was it worth it? You bet. It's fun to get this detail. I'll know what to expect next time with the curl. Is it the best ISO 25 film? I have no idea, it's the first I've used. I read a bunch of reviews before I bought it - half were good, the other panned it. I suspect that the naysayers were probably comparing it to films of old, such as the heralded Kodak Technical Pan. It's probably an Eastern European or Chinese film because of the thin film base, but I like it. I didn't really have any exposure issues that weren't my or the camera's fault. I had no trouble pulling detail out of the shadows. The highlights were pretty detailed as well. Overall, a very nice film for those times you want either slow shutter speeds or improved detail. I'd be interested to know how the 35mm version helps the smaller format. Bronica ETRS (Rollei 25)