A Nice Film Stock Surprise

Rollei Paul & Reinhold, shot with a Nikon FM2 and a Nikkor 50mm f1.4

As a photographer who has started his hobby when film stocks were probably at their peak, in the 1980s, and then has moved to digital and started shooting film again in the 2020s, it is not every day that you come across an exciting new film stock.

That is why I want to give a short shoutout to Rollei, who have created a film stock to celebrate the brand’s (the camera manufacturing company is long dead) 100th anniversary. This stock is called Rollei Paul & Reinhold, named after Rollei’s founders Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke. It is a black and white film with a box speed of ISO 640. It comes in packs of two in a neat plastic box without cardboard packaging. As things stand, this film is only available as 35mm film.

I recently shot a roll of film in a nice neighborhood in Berlin-Lichtenberg known under two very different names - Kaskelkiez or Victoria-Viertel. The light was almost ideal for a film test, very soft. I then had the negatives developed by Fotoimpex, who run their own black-and-white lab outside Berlin. And I was really happy to see how the negatives had turned out - nicely dense, well-developed. And much less grainy than I had expected. According to Fotoimpex, they are using their own Adox Atomal to develop the films. At first glance, I would say that the pictures I took with the Rollei Paul & Reinhold look slightly less grainy than my other favourite film stock at the moment, Agfaphoto’s APX 400.

Of course I was curious to find out where Rollei had its film stock produced, and although I first suspected the UK (aka at Harman / Ilford), it turned out to be manufactured in Italy, which points to Ferrania, the only film manufacturer I am aware of in Italy.

It is a bit of a shame that the film is a limited edition only. At the moment, it retails for around 16-18 Euros for a two-pack in Germany, and some sellers are limiting the amount of films you could order. At this price, the film competes with Rollei’s own RPX 400 but is cheaper than Ilford HP-5 Plus, so it is not exactly the cheapest option, but I believe it is absolutely worth the money.

Overall, a very nice surprise and I am glad I have still some rolls left.

Shot on Rollei Paul & Reinhold with a Nikon FM2 and a Nikkor 20mm f3.5