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| Out of date R3 |
Over
recent times I have had the tidying up bug including a good
rummage round in my film cupboard where I discovered four rolls of film.
Nothing remarkable in that, I hear you say! However what I came across were two
rolls of Rollie retro 100 and two rolls of R3, tucked away in a corner! I know!
very out of date unless your name is Mitch in which case they are reaching
maturity. It is strange how things come together. I recently posted a very
grainy picture of a surfer dramatically falling off his board to illustrate how
grainy things can get if you do not process your negs correctly. The film used
to take the picture is the late lamented Rollie R3. If I had used the film with
a fine grain developer the 1600 ISO negatives would have been a lot smoother.
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| R3 used at 400 ISO |
When
available it was advertised as a variable ISO film ranging from 50 to 3200 The
idea of a ultra fast film is what encouraged me to purchase some. It took a
little while for me to find a suitable subject to test it out on. By chance I
was walking along the coastal footpath into Croyde Bay with an empty
camera. So I loaded the R3 set 1600 ISO
and spent an hour or so taking pictures of surfers as the sun went down.
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| R3 used at 400 ISO |
I cannot
believe that it was 2009 that I last used the R3 and then at 400 ISO, having
learnt my lesson previously, I used a fine grain developer. You could not of
hoped for a finer set of negatives, they were that smooth it looked as though
they had been sprayed on to the film back.
I don't use
fast films a lot as I like bright sunny days with lots of contrast. It just so
happens I was recently given the imaging warehouses catalogue and while
thumbing through it I noticed they stocked Rollie 400s, which got me thinking how would it compare to the old R3? There is
only one way to find out!
