Rollei Vario Chrome (35mm, 36 exposures, ISO 200–400)
Last year (or the year before?) I bought a 5-pack of this slide film. Only through testing by other people it was revealed to be old expired film stock. So it’s nice packaging, but you’ll get mixed results.
I think I’ll try to sell the other 4 rolls I have left. The colors are quite moody and can be nice, but I’m kinda over the expired look.
Edit: After a couple of days I’m not so sure anymore. I start to like the colors. Maybe I *will* use the rest myself.
Leipzig, Germany – November 2018
Shop Talk
35mm slide film (36 exp.), originally ISO 400, but long since expired
Praktica LTL2 + Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 2,8 / 50mm + Rollei Vario Chrome Film bought for way too much at can’t remember Developed and scanned by NimmFilm Postprocessing in Adobe Lightroom
The “Days of Industrial Heritage” (german website) are 4 days of presenting past and present effects industry had/has on production, history, city development and social life in Leipzig, Germany. It’s held once per year, 2016 being its 4th installment and my first time attending it.
I already showed some photos, but wanted to take a bit more time and create a small photo-essay summarizing all of my photos in one article.
If Paradise is Half as Nice #6
International artist group taking over an abandoned industry building. My favorite event of the week. By far.
Films: Rollei RPX 400 + Bergger BRF 400
Kunstkraftwerk
Former heating plant, now event space. In every room there’s some part of equipment left/preserved.
Former cinema, now abandoned / bricked-up building. The city district desperately needs a cultural space. A lot of problems with the citys building departments, but there’s hope.
1x Schlecker Fotoland 400 and several rolls of Adox Color Implosion (two of them ripped).
I finished another two and a half days of shooting in the hot summer sun. My arms and neck are crimson, my brain is half-cooked and slowly exhaustion is taking over. Good thing the taking photos part is over. Now to the development part.
Development
I used a Rollei Colorchem C-41 Kit and muddled myself through the process with initial help from a photography-colleague (Thanks Ruslan!). The manual was handy to have, a pen and piece of paper was even better for remembering push times. Note to self: get a lab stopwatch!
I started very carefully, but became bolder after a couple of hours. The rolls didn’t look too differently, when I compared normal development with a +3 stops push, so I guess a couple of seconds don’t really matter that much.
Preparing the spool-in of another round – each time 4 rolls.
It took 3 passes with 4 films each to get through all the material. Some of it was developed normally, some of it was pushed +1 stop, some +3. After 5 hours all rolls were hanging from fishing lines and I was ready to go home.
The final result
Shorty on the right side is the smaller part of a ripped film.
The next steps
Tomorrow I’ll check if the strange color cast on the back side is gone. It seemed to go as the film was drying. Very strange. Strips will be cut, put into negative sleeves and hopefully scanned without too many complications.
The last workshop meeting before the printing shop deadline is in the evening. So the plan is to have a small print of either every photo, or of a preselection. Then we’ll try to sort through them and get an edit and everything in order for the book.
Provided there’s enough material for a book. I have no idea. At the moment the images are hanging strips of plastic in a dark basement.
Rollei Crossbird 200 (Rollei Chrome/Digibase CR 200 with C-41 label)
And here’s the next batch of my long weekend trip. This time it’s a cross processed Rollei Crossbird 200. Turns out it’s just a Rollei Chrome/Digibase CR 200 with another label.
It was one hour before sunset and raining like mad. But Matthias, who organized the trip, looked at a weather app on his smart phone and said: “Let’s go!”. We drove through rain and rain and rain and everything was behind clouds. But after half an hour or so the world turned into magic. Faint red at the horizon, Clouds raining over forests, mist walking through the landscape. I was so happy, that we did leave the house and didn’t stay indoors. Thanks again!
Very low light, exposure times of 1+ second. Color all over the place. Photos were as much color corrected, as possible. The original scans were bright orange and nearly unusable – at least for my personal taste.
Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Germany – June 2015
Shop-Talk:
Medium Format (120), color slide film (developed as C-41), 12 exposures (6×6), ISO 200.
Yashica Mat 124G (Yashinon 80mm f3.5) + Rollei Crossbird 200
Film bought for ~7,90 EUR via Photo Lang.
Developed by FotoStudio 80.
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
Spring is coming. Finally. The following weeks will hopefully be more enjoyable. Longer days, better light, more colors. Can’t wait. For the moment, here’s a splash of 35mm color.
Leipzig, Germany – April 2015
Shop-Talk:
35mm, color negative film, 36 exposures, ISO 200.
Clear film base, a tiny bit curly, but otherwise good to scan.
Nikon F80/N80 + Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8G + Rollei Digibase CN 200
Film bought for ~5 EUR via Fotoimpex.
Developed (C-41) by fmp foto-media-print.
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
And so it begins. The first roll of the year. One per week were planned and I’m already over. Guess it’s not too bad to have something as a backup. Took a while since it’s … well, film. Developing, scanning, all that jazz. The following photos were made in Markkleeberg – a small town at the outskirts of Leipzig – while celebrating New Years Eve.
Shop-Talk:
The film base is clear and lies flat = very good for scanning.
Nikon F80 + Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8G SE + Rollei RPX 400
Film bought for 3,60 EUR over at Fotoimpex (Berlin, Germany).
Shot at ISO 1600, developed @ FotoStudio 80 (Leipzig, Germany).
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
The Sun Itself Shall Draw My Pictures 