Liverpool, Retro400s and the Rollei 35 camera

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Liverpool over the last year, my daughter is studying Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Liverpool, as the summer months approached I came into the possession (OK I bought it in a fit of GAS) of a lovely German all black Rollei 35, the cutest, smallest (but not the lightest) 35mm camera I now possess. With a 40mm Carl Zeiss Tessar lens that pulls out for shooting and retracts for pocketing you couldn’t hope for a better optic. Add a 24mm thread lens hood and you are good to go – I added a soft release as I do to most of my cameras.

Here’s a picture of the gem pictured with the lens in its retracted position.

A focus scale which allows hyper focal focusing greatly aided the zone focusing accuracy and overall I was really pleased with the success rate of exposure and focus.

Now about the same time I bought 100ft of Retro 400s – an emulsion I had used in the past and wanted to try out again – so probably not a great idea to test a new camera AND a new film but what the heck – if in doubt rate BW stock at half its box speed and cut development by 15% – now the 35 has a built in meter…of sorts…so I relied on that, pointing it at the ground, getting a reading and pretty much leaving it set as I wandered around Liverpool, with my Daughter, in between pubs.

I shot two rolls and developed then in Ilford LC29 1+19 for 8.5 mins – maybe a tad too long but the negatives have a great old school rich silver feel to them so I thought I would share them without further comment.