Rollei RPX 400 - 120 Film

I shot a roll of RPX400 on an extremely misty morning. It is supposedly Kentmere 400, which is not available in 120 format. I like the grain in the Kentmere films so thought it worth trying it in the weather conditions to see if it gave a similar feel.

I wasn't disappointed. It has a nice grain to it and a nice tonality. Very flexible to work with when post processing, I could really get some nice gradations between the tones. I managed to grab some nice atmospheric shots with it. It will be interesting to see how it works in some more contrasty lighting conditions.

My usual go to film is good old reliable [****] but I just wanted a bit of a change. I had read good things about the RPX 400 and thought I’d give it a go. I’m so pleased to say that none of the reviews where wrong, this film is beautiful to use and does give great results. This is my second roll and I exposed this one for shadow detail in zone 3 and reduced the 14 min developing time down to 10.5 min in [****] at 1 to 1 dilution. I will be using this film again very soon.

Worked well in my Holga in very bright conditions on Dartmoor and in more subdued light under the trees. Need to get some more for my latest purchase a Lubitel 166B - it's addictive this film lark!!

Experimented with this film on a bright sunny day so to cut down the light I used a Yellow filter to enhance details in the stonework. The film was processed in Rollei RPDX developer for the suggested 10 min . I loved the range of tones reproduced the stonework seemed to glow. It is definitely a film I will return to

I exposed this film on a Rolleiflex T TLR with ASA at 200 and developed in Ilfotec HC at 1:31 dilution for 6 minutes. The negatives were photographed with a macro lens and imported to Lightroom for post processing. My experience is that this technique produces very flat digital files but with all the information retained to produce a fine tonal range with which to work.
All of the shots on this roll were in woodland in low light but with occasional pools of dappled sunlight.
The film coped well with the occasional high contrast shots, and gave beautiful rich shadow tones with good detail retained. Examining the sky area at magnification in the attached image revealed very fine grain.
The film dries flat.
Currently this film is slightly more expensive than HP5+ and a lot cheaper than Tri-X, so well worth exploring. This is my first roll used but I will be ordering more.