For a long time the Rollei RPX films remained a bit of a mystery for us, even though we carried all three speeds: the 25, 100 and 400. Like a lot of photographers, by the time we started stocking the Rollei RPX films we had settled into our preferred black and white emulsions and were not inclined to change. Working in a camera store and photo lab though does put pressure on you to experiment more and to at least be familiar with the variety of films that are out for sale, so we started making a dedicated effort to shoot more variety when it came to black and white film stocks and it wasn’t long before the RPX films made their way into our cameras. It also wasn’t long before they started making great first impressions.

Our affection for Rollei RPX 100 started with the very first rolls we saw of this film once it had been developed. Right away we could tell that the RPX 100 had its own look going on and was distinctly different than many other films. It’s chief characteristics, in our opinion, would be its lovely tonality and great latitude. The film can handle just about any type of light and in regard to harsh light specifically, it is one of the best films we have fed through a camera. It’s faster speed brother, RPX 400, quickly became our go-to film for outdoor, summer weddings. Meanwhile the RPX 100 became more popular with us for conditions where we had plenty of light, or knew we were going to be working from a tripod, and wanted the fine grain, high sharpness and that beautiful tonality that all come packaged together in this film. In fact, one of our staff made a trip to New York City a little while back and the RPX 100 film was the main film he worked with while there. Many of the images we have to share with you in this Film Friday review are all pulled from that trip.

The first thing you will notice about the RPX 100 is the tonality we mentioned. The array of grays you get out of this film is impressive, and not just across the midtones. Both the shadows and highlights have an impressive amount of tonal range to them. On one hand, our first inclination is to use this film in harsh light, like we started doing with the RPX 400, as a means of controlling the contrast. But on the other hand, take this film out into soft light and you get these wonderfully delicate images. In a world of photography that is often dominated by contrast and saturation, it can be very pleasing and calming at times to sit down with quieter images that do their work through subtlety of tone and nuance.

How about a few samples:

That lovely blend of tonality, smoothness and sharpness that we have come to love in Rollei RPX 100. Image made with a Hasselblad 500C.

There is a lovely softness to the contrast of RPX 100 that doesn’t sacrifice the depth of the shadows nor the crispness of the highlights.

Rollei RPX’s latitude allows it to handle the high contrast nature of nighttime cityscapes quite well. Image of Times Square made with a Hasselblad 500C.

Another example of the tonality that Rollei RPX 100 can render, even with night scenes. Image made with a Hasselblad 500C.

RPX 100 is great for those sunny days at the coast where films like Tri-X might require you to choose between highlights or shadows.

Pretty nice looking, right? We thought so too once we started using this film.

Of course, once our appreciation started to grow for RPX, so did our curiosity. Just what is this film and where does it come from? The European film market is a confusing and opaque place, and it seems like unless you know someone, you are not going to penetrate its layers too far. The internet has a lot of info, but a lot of it is hearsay, conjecture, or wrong. So here is a combination of what we know and what we guess (we’ll let you know which is which).

What we know:
Rollei does not make this film. The RPX films, as far as we can tell, have little to do with Rollei at all. The German company Maco Direct is the original distributor of this film and they apparently have a contract to use the Rollei name in branding this film, likely as a savvy marketing ploy to cash in on the name recognition that comes with Rollei. Or maybe they are just big fans of the famous twin lens cameras. Maco doesn’t make this film either, but it is “Made in the EU” according to the box.

What we guess:
It seems like over the years it is possible there have been different films in the Rollei RPX boxes, or at the possibly the films in the boxes have been made in different places. We have heard that both Ilford and Agfa Gavaert are responsible for the production of RPX (odds are it is one of the two but Agfa Gavaert’s site only lists Avi Phot - a distinctly different film than the RPXs, and Ilford is not long for the EU, so we shall see if box labeling changes). We have also heard that it is Kentmere in a different box. We find this pretty unlikely for a variety of reasons. Maybe it might have been at one time but not anymore. Our best guess? Maco has probably contracted with a company capable of producing film, such as Agfa Gavaert, to mix and coat an emulsion to their specs and in return they buy a set minimum amount. One example of this is the Lomochrome films.

This interest is fairly academic since 1) We really don’t know 2) We likely never will for sure and 3) In the end, it doesn’t really matter. We like the look of the film, it is different than other films on the market and the supply of it has been pretty stable for quite some time and promises to remain such (as long as all of us keep buying and justifying its continued existence).

So, back to the qualities of the film itself.

We have talked about the film’s tonality and mentioned its latitude as well. It is a great film for forgiveness and flexibility. While we haven’t tested this, our research online shows that it misexposes with decent grace and handles push/pulls quite well. Additionally, it has a classic cubic grain structure. This is similar to films like Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X. It lends the grain a more organic, and slightly grittier look, not that that is a big deal since the Rollei RPX 100 is naturally a pretty fine grain film. When you do see its grain though, it looks nice and classic.

We often like to pair slow speed films with long exposures. An important component to long exposures is reciprocity failure: that quality of a film that says it slows down as less light becomes available. Normally by doubling exposure time you double the exposure itself, but once you get into dim enough light you need to more-than-double the time to get double the exposure. We could not find any published data on Rollei RPX 100’s reciprocity failure. The technical data sheet is no help at all. But having done some long exposures with this film, here is what we can add.

Exposures between 5-30 seconds - Add 1 stop
Exposures between 30 seconds - 4 minutes better add 2 stops
Exposures 5 minutes and longer try 2.5-3 stops and take copious notes.

Check the long exposure below that had a shutter speed in the neighborhood of 8-15 minutes. While we like the dark look and the final result just fine for its moodiness, the negative is still a stop or so underexposed.

An 8-15 minute exposure that had about 1 stop additional exposure calculated into it for reciprocity failure. The film needed at least 1 more stop. Image made with a Hasselblad 500C.

Alright then, that about brings us to the end of our review on the Rollei RPX 100. There is a lot more to say about this film, we are sure, but we have not yet had enough experience with it to do so ourselves. For that, we will leave it up to you to discover. So far we have really enjoyed getting to know the RPX 100 and definitely plan to keep some in our camera bags in the future. Hopefully we have given you enough to pique your interest and to try it out yourself. These films are like shades of paint for us. Some painters use very limited palettes, but most make use of a wide variety of colors. Photographers too should learn the extent of the palette available to them. Rollei RPX 100 is a film we try to keep in constant supply and usually we have it in 35mm, 120 and 4x5 (labeled as Rollei Retro 100). We’ll give you the appropriate links below. Happy Film Friday!

Want to try some Rollei RPX 100 now? You can find it in our web store.

Wondering more about this whole Film Friday thing? Read more here.

Film Friday - June 14th, 2024. Rollei RPX 100