Rollei Retro 400S is a panchromatic black and white film based off of Agfa's Aviphot 400S aerial surveillance film. It features naturally higher-than-normal contrast (though this can be controlled through processing) relatively fine grain, moderate resolution, and extended infrared sensitivity up to approximately 830nm. This latter feature allows the film to cut through atmospheric haze, giving it an interesting application for landscape photography on sunny, hazy days. It also allows the film to be used as an infrared film, with appropriate filters for true IR photography. Under normal applications, Retro 400S has a sharp, dramatic look to it and is a great counterpart to the Rollei RPX 400 film, which has a significantly softer look.
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A Day At The Beach With The Mamiya C220
The other day, a customer dropped by with her beloved Mamiya C220. It had taken an unfortunate tumble and suffered an impact, so she wanted to have us look it over and make sure its brush with gravity had not done any damage to its mechanisms. After giving the camera a good once over, we didn't notice anything amiss. Still, we figured that we might as well give it a real world test and so, we loaded it up with a roll of the Rollei Retro 400S, and took it for a quick weekend trip to the coast.
There are few better ways to test a camera than to actually use it as it was fully intended.
We must say, the time with this C220 reminded us just how wonderful a camera they are. Those Sekor optics are pretty awesome and the camera itself has all the reliability and solidity as a block of stone (it does weigh something similar to that as well).
Meanwhile, it had been a minute since we had used much of the Rollei Retro 400S. You know how it is, too many films, not enough days off...