New SLIDE film from Rollei!

[Jockos]

Latest news, copied from their facebook page.

Dear film photographers and slide film lovers! First of all, we would like to thank you all for your great interest and all the comments and questions. We are overwhelmed and very happy to see how excited the film community gets if new film is announced, equally whether its Bergger Pancro, Ferrania P30 or in this case Rollei Vario Chrome. Within the past 24 hours, we have received an incredible number of questions and we will now try to answer the most important ones. We are thinking about a high-speed slide film since a few years but most manufacturers we cooperate with are whether currently not able or not willing to produce this kind of film. About a year ago we have been faced with the opportunity to acquire a bigger amount of high-speed slide film that was produced by one oft the major film manufacturers. Now, as we couldn’t have a completely new emulsion made, we have decided to go with this excellent film material and make it available to the public again. Unfortunately, due to the limited stock, we won’t be able to offer other formats besides 135-36. Nevertheless the available stock will last for a couple of production runs and meanwhile, we will continue to work with our partners on a sustainable slide film solution. The film will be available at all major Rollei retailers soon. The recommended retail price fort the EU market will app. 9.00 EUR per roll. We hope you’ll enjoy the film and its look as much as we do. Sample images will follow today. — view on Instagram http://ift.tt/2uhhw6h

 

[Gregm61]

Who owns the Rollei brand name these days? I know the camera maker is long gone.

 

[spaceistheplace]

Who owns the Rollei brand name these days? I know the camera maker is long gone.

As far as I know, Maco (https://www.macodirect.de/) owns it.

 

[sevo]

Who owns the Rollei brand name these days? I know the camera maker is long gone.

The brand name went into different hands (IIRC of some Danish equity company) when Rollei fell apart in 2002-2005 - the two independent camera manufacturers/sellers (F&H/DHW and Rollei Fototechnic) created by the split had to license it from 2007 on, when a two-year transition period ended, from a Berlin based tradename management office. RCP ("Rollei Consumer Products" the former Rollei Fototechnic) bought the brand name back in 2010, and use it to sell consumer grade digital cameras and accessories made and designed by nameless OEMs elsewhere. As far as film is concerned, HANS O. MAHN GmbH & Co. KG (a.k.a. Maco) are the licensee - but otherwise unconnected with any other company currently operating under the Rollei brand.

 

[Spanik]

If this has a colourcast as strong as CR200 I pass.

 

[spaceistheplace]

They just uploaded some sample pics here https://www.instagram.com/p/BV4r8O7lSfR/?taken-by=macodirect Too early to say but it looks pretty sweet, will give it a try this summer.

 

[HHPhoto]

What do you guys think?

We already have some facts:
- its not a new film
- its a former film with left over stock which is now converted / finished under a new name and new packaging
- limited production run, so after a certain time this film will be sold out and gone forever.

There are only three possibilities which original stock it could be:
1. Rollei CR 200 in just a new packaging. But I doubt that.
2. The same as the FPP Retro Chrome (former expired Kodak film).
3. Some left over stock from the last batch of Imation / Ferrania Chrome 400 (if I remember right, it was discontinued about 10 years ago).

But the solution to get the truth of this film is easy: When it is available, we will see what film stock it really is.

Cheers, Jan

 

[HHPhoto]

One of the reasons I shoot so little slide is that I'm basically limited to all 100 ISO films.

You are not!
Take some advice from the experienced slide film shooters: Because they know very well since 1999 that there is an extremly versatile and flexible colour reversal film:
Fujichrome Provia 100F.
You can get outstanding results with this film in a very wide speed range: From ISO 50 to ISO 400.
You can expose it at ISO 50 and make Pull 1 development, and you get wonderful results. Make sense especially in very high contrast situations.
And you can expose it at ISO 200 and develop it with Push 1 development: Excellent results. I bet the results with pushed Provia 100F will be much much better compared to the Rollei Vario Chrome.
Because at that speed Provia 100F is almost as good as at ISO 100. And at ISO 100 this film is just incredible!

And even at ISO 400 with Push 2 you get very good results with Provia 100F.

That means no shooting it on vacation for me because I don't know what lighting conditions I'll encounter so I tend to take mostly ISO 400 film; which has been absent from the slide market for almost 10 years.

Where have you been the last 10 years, on the moon .
2007 the best ISO 400 slide film ever was introduced: Provia 400X. So you've had the possibility to shoot this outstanding film.

If I can get what I preorder before my vacation in August it might be slide-only for me for the first time!

Try it.
But you definitely should try Provia 100F as well. See the very good reasons above.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Skiff]

If I need ISO 400/27°, I just take my outstanding Provia 400X out of my freezer.

When I need ISO 200/24°, I just take Provia 100F and make Push 1 development. It gives excellent results.
To differentiate ISO 100 from ISO 200 pushed Provia 100 shots, is extremely difficult, so similar they are.
And I can agree: Even Push 2 at ISO 400 is very good with Provia 100F.

And in the last years there were so much outstanding new lenses with wider apertures introduced. I am using some of them and have gained 1-2 stops more speed.
In the past most 1.4 lenses have been quite weak at f1.4 and 2.0. You needed to stop them down to at least f2.8 to get good results.
Now I have f1.4 lenses from Zeiss and Sigma which are better at f1.4 than some of my older lenses at f2.8!

Therefore I can now use ISO 100/21° reversal film in situations in which I needed ISO 400/27° in the past.

Another option would be to use lenses with image stabilisation. Gives you 2-4 stops.
And another option is using fill-in flash. You need light? Just use some light . My Nikon F6 delivers outstanding results with fill-in flash with the SB-800. It is so subtle that you mostly don't recognise that fill-in flash was used, because it looks so natural.