Fotohuis RoVo

 

Yashica MAT 124G with bay1 Heliopan RG715, Rollei IR-400 iso 12.

Those (Rollei) Retro S films are raw material coming from Agfa Gevaert in Mortsel, near Antwerpen (Belgium) and is aviation type film hence the high contrast and lower speed. I am using the Retro 400(S) on iso 160 which is about the real speed in a low contrast type developer like R.L.C. (Rollei Low Contrast) which is the Film Low Gamma receipt made for many years by Udo Raffay ( a known European chemical engineer, died however), now by his assistant Mr. Suvatlar in Hamburg. Caffenol LC is also a low contrast type developer so it will work too on these films.

There are many excellent developers ready made and many receipts for good developers when you have some equipment to make. Also in Caffenol you can make some valid improvements. But indeed it is a stinky type developer. About speed: Any liquid type is fast in a quick and with good results when it is fresh.

Alternative for the boring cleaning and drying of the Jobo drums when doing RA-4 color processing: Nova vertical processor or when you want to make a lot of prints: Thermaphot roller machine.

I started with RA-4 low temperature in trays in the 90's. It was a mess and not very stable in temperature. For a few larger posters the Jobo CPA-2 with elevator which I have is OK. Better the heated Nova vertical paper processor. The best is the ACP252 which I have now for about 20 years. You have to standarize on a good C41 film and nowadays you have only available high temperaure RA-4 chemicals. Apart from a good color analyzer which has a densitometer too you can do an automatic optimizing of the filtering. For starting I would do it by hand, also to learn the way how to filter to get a neutral photo print. However for processing you need a stable temperature system.

Tanks and reels are universal for almost any Jobo system. They have some value but the ATL-1500 is so expensive in spare parts that no hobbyist will invest in it. In Europe they have been thrown away the last 10-15 years by many mini-labs.

Less space but for B&W only:

 

http://shop.fotohuisrovo.nl/product_info.php?cPath=44&products_id=453&language=en

Better made then a Jobo:

 

http://shop.fotohuisrovo.nl/product_info.php?cPath=44&products_id=565&language=en

The Durst Printo was also made by Thermaphot. 10 years ago I bought my Jobo CPA-2 for free. I ordered a new elevator and a new re-circulation pump which I found at that time already expensive for Eur. 300. However now the prices for Jobo spare parts are insane. A Thermaphot ACP-252, 25cm wide, 2-bath I bought new in 1999 for DM 2100 which is now approx. Eur. 1050. I have used it for RA-4 but also for B&W (PE/RC only). Sometimes you see then for a few hundred euro or even less. The question is then how good the rollers still are. Spare parts are very difficult to become now.

You can still use it for RA-4 prints however an ACP processor (Thermaphot 2-bath) is then cheaper and easier to become.

Yes, that is why you have to use a 695nm or 715nm I.R. filter.

You can re-generate the C-41 developer till approx. 6-8 months. When using 270ml or 300ml in a Jobo rotary machine like the CPE-CPA-CPP for developing two 135-36 or two 120 roll films you throw away 100ml and replacing it by 100ml fresh C-41 developer but NOT using the Starter again because the Starter is a chemical pre-oldering when making the (Rollei) kit for the first time. For the seperate Bleach and Fixer you can do the same and the Stabilizer you can use till the rest of your chemicals are finished, it keeps very long. So when you have the Rollei (Fuji-Hunt) 1 ltr. kit starting with 300ml using for 2x 2 films and then every time re-generate with 100ml for two new films. In this way you ca do approx. 18 pcs. 135-36 or 18 120 C-41 roll films with it.

For the 1rst September 2018 the EU has forbidden all production of Halogen lights so the HLX lights in a projector (and enlarger) will be certainly much more expensive soon due to this new law. It will be now a special production light source.

It would be a smart step to introduce this film also in 120 roll film format. Even with iso 800-1000 it is a real high speed film and Ilford D3200 is also iso 1250-1600 only. But it IS available in 35mm and 120 roll film format.

http://fotohuisrovo.nl/documentatie/Diafine-data.pdf

 

Here is the Diafine data.

Diafine B is close to pH=13 so very alkaline. In theory you can get bubbles on the film surface when changing to a strong acid stop bath. The only reason it is not recommended.

Pyrocat-HDC is an open source formulae from Sandy King. Also easy to make in Glycol. In Europe available under Svema label. The C stands for vit. C Ascorbic Acid additional.

OrWo Filmotec N74+ (E.I. 400) in Pyrocat-HDC 1+1+100.

 

 

Kiev-4AM with Jupiter-12 F/2,8-35mm. N74+ is a cine film like Kodak 5222 Double-X. Pretty cheap in Europe for the last years (Eur. 120 122m/400ft = Eur. 30 30,5m/100ft to make a standard roll).

Apart from the individual deviations of the lenses where Meopta has more individual deviations then Schneider or Rodenstock in a serie production. But if you are lucky you can have a very good one.

Meopta Meogon F2.8 80mm. I've never heard of that lens but it looks superb!

 

They were made in the Czech Republic by Meopta. I had that lens but it could not compete with my Rodagon F/4-80mm. Too many internal reflexions. In 1991 I bought in the Czech Republic the Anaret (also Meopta) for ..... Eur. 2 new in a shop at that time.

 

Locally (Holland) the price for a Rodagon F/2,8-50mm is about Eur. 25. The F/4,0-80mm around Eur. 40. Not to forget that my Rodagon WA F/4,0-60mm was in 1998 (new) around NLG. 350 which is Eur. 175.

When closing 2F-3F stops any enlarger lens is at it best. And some MAMIYA lenses are better then Hasselblad/Zeiss.

It depends which tank system you are using. The Jobo 1510 has a 250ml volume for one 135-36 film. The 1520 has 485ml volume for 2x 135-36 or 2x 120 roll films. Further you have to take notice of the minimum amount of concentrate necessary for developing one film. So a very small volume tank is not always an advantage.

You can not control the density in Diafine. The only parameter you can adapt is the iso rate (E.I.). Diafine 2-bath will lower the total contrast like any 2-bath developer and indeed it is a speed enhancing type developer. iso 800-1250 will give you overall the best result with Tri-X 400. Any speed enhancing developer will create more grain but the question is do YOU like the result in the film format which you are using?

 

Fine grain developers: Perceptol, Microdol-X however you will have speed loss so you have to expose on E.i. 200 with Tri-X 400. Xtol will give you box speed with relative fine grain. However the 5 ltr. stock is a lot and you can not keep Xtol very long in a storage.

Ever tried any staining type (=pyro) developer: Pyrocat-HDC. Fine grain, box speed and when dissolved in Glycol a long storage time.

It depends how far you are going to enlarge. In 13x18cm you won't find any difference between a regular Rodagon Rodenstock or their APO version. However in 50x60cm there is a small difference also depending on the used aperture. But I doubt how many people are going to this big format?

Expensive: Second hand not any more. In the Netherlands you can get any Rodenstock Rodagon for Eur. 30 - Eur. 60. 50mm-80mm-105mm. I am using already for a long time the 50-60-WA and 80mm Rodenstock Rodagon lenses, some I have bought new 25 years ago and the rest (Nikkor, Meopta) I have sold. Cheap enlarger lenses nobody want to have anymore.

A VC head or even better a Heiland Split Grade which makes it possible to adapt in 0,1 steps of gradation:

Heiland electronic GmbH, Wetzlar / Germany - Splitgrade

The Rondinax are suffering for the minimum amount of concentrate for your film developer and you can have very easily scratches on the film. Further they are antique now.