Wales – Through the Twin Eyes of a Rolleiflex 3.5F Rollei Pan 25 and Rollei Retro 400s

I’ve been digging in the vaults lately, having too much time on my hand and a new scanner I had been putting together an article on a Contax TVS I, TVS II, TVS II and T2 – all of which I had had and used to shoot Fuji Velvia and Sensia Slide. (surprisingly the TVS III was far and away my favourite and had the sharpest lens).

During this painstakingly arduous process, having a Konica Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV (phew! what a name) it’s a  35mm scanner with a very sharp lens, it’s quick and easy with Vuescan but it doesn’t have any IR dust clean nor any ICE! Which makes it next to useless for Colour. SO a silly purchase, I’ll have to sell it and get myself a Konica Minolta 5400 at least.

Anyway I digress, while sifting and searching hard drives I came across these old scans from a Rolleiflex 3.5F I used to have. They’re from 2014 and shot with a couple of films I had tried for the first time.

I love going to visit Wales, fascinating place, and as magical and beautiful as can be. I haven’t been there for a few years now but I’m dying to! These photos really brought back memories (along with Hamish’s recent Easter trip there!). For all the delights and marvels of foreign lands, the East and the High Karakoram and Himalaya, the magic of Wales is right up there with the best of them and luckily I can return there again and again – being but a couple of hours drive West from London.

I think Black and White is suited in many ways to the broody landscape of fell and moor, beacon and megalithic standing stones and circles which are to be found in Wales. The landscape can be very bleak, and moody, with expansive skies and cloud. It can also be stunningly beautiful and uplifting with majestic coast lines and water features.

A roll of Rollei Retro 400s and a roll of Rollei Pan 25 – both shot with my Rolleiflex 3.5F.  Rollei Retro 400s is a 400 ISO Film. I had never used it before, but had exceptional results with the 80 speed Retro 80s before so had nothing but positive feelings about the results. It’s a middle speed Film and has a nice character with slight red sensitivity it should give nice contrasty yet balanced results when developed with Rodinal.  It has fine grain and has high sharpness. It features a tear proof clear polyester base which makes it excellent for scanning (the clear film base).

The other was another first for me at the time; Rollei Pan 25. This is allegedly Agfa Pan 25. I wrote about it previously here (with my Rolleiflex 3.5F Ilford Pan F at Tretower Castle). It is a very fine grained very slow ISO 25 speed Film with high sharpness and resolving power. It features extended Red sensitivity and a clear plastic base, so scanning again is very easy. This gave me a stiff lesson in how to meter for B&W.

I had been using a Minolta Autometer III incident meter. The problem with this is that for B&W sometimes one should expose for the shadows, reduce a stop or two and then control highlights in development. High contrast situations can mean a lack of shadow detail using this type of meter without being careful. Me being me took a light reading in the SUN rather than shade and off I went snapping away.

I shot this Film at Llanthony Priory, a ruin of an ancient priory which fell into decay after King Henry VIII ’s dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. It is a fascinating place with a wonderful remote atmosphere, and a photographers paradise. it has been photographed to death but there aren’t many B&W photos compared to colour.

Anyway, needless to say the developed negatives were very contrasty and I had to work them in the Digital Darkroom (Photoshop CS4 Mac). Rollei retro 400s was more forgiving but I made the same mistakes again.  I shot this Film at the Waterfalls Walk by the River Ned, in the Brecon Beacons National Park. A magical place, full of delightful waterfalls, brooks and features, all in glorious woodland. I also managed one of an ancient Megalithic Standing Stone in the beacons.

It can be tricky snapping away using a fully manual TLR and an incident light meter, but the whole process gave me some vital lessons which I have taken away and will not make the same mistakes again.

In future I will follow the golden rule of exposing for the shadows unless I want some more creative effect by adjusting exposure. 

Even with the exposure errors, I managed to get two rolls of mostly keepers! (20 shots all in)  I’ve included some from each here, and have tried to reflect the atmosphere, mood and beauty of the places I visited.

Black and White can be a very rewarding pursuit, and the more so with a manual camera and light meter, I remember I waited 8 months to see my results – a far cry from instant Digital.

And Wales is a magical place.

 All photographs:

Rolleiflex 3.5F, Rollei Gelb-Hell Yellow Filter, Minolta Autometer III.
Developed in Rodinal R09 1+50.
Scanned with an Epson 4990 flatbed using Epson Scan software.
Worked on in Photoshop CS4 Mac
I’ve used Overlay and brush tool to dodge and burn, used levels and curves. I then toned using a Pantone 7518c.

Share this post: