Join me for a collection of images from Rollei RXP 100, Ilford FP4+, and Agfa APX 100 black & white films, shot over August in Munich & Madrid.
I finally made my way through a small backlog of negatives that needed scanning from the end of summer 2019. I find it is important to keep on top of the negative development and scanning workflow, otherwise you never get round to scanning and posting images. I also like to keep my posts up to date with the season. But it is also OK to make exceptions, especially as this is a “3 for 1” post. I decided to bunch them up into one post as the shots were all taken on simple photo walks with no particular theme in mind.
Rollei RPX 100 film shoots some trainline views in Munich
At the beginning of August I decided to try out a fresh roll of Rollei RPX 100 on a bright summer’s day in Munich. Armed with my Kodak Retina IIC camera I decided to go for a walk around the Donnersbergerbrücke station, which has really good views of the sprawling railway tracks coming out of Munich’s main station.
I have had positive experiences with this film before, although not used it extensively. A bit more about the film from Macodirect, where I bought this film:
Rollei RPX 100 is a traditional medium-speed black and white film. This is one of our most popular films and is suitable for a wide range of photographic and scientific applications. Particularly portrait and landscape photography, architecture and product photography. The popularity of this film confirms its high quality.
Features:
• suitable for indoor and outdoor shots
• fine grain
• excellent sharpness
• broad exposure latitude
• rich tonal range with good contrast
• compatible with most standard developers
• panchromatically sensitized
• sensitized from 380 to 660 nm at 2.850K
Long, very long train. Nice shot of a Deutsche Bahn ICE train on its way out of Munich. I really like leading lines in railway shots.
I liked all the overlapping lines and shadows in this shot.
I like the strong contrast in this shot.
Vending machine for spare bicycle wheels!
There will be many train shots in this post, but no I am not a train spotter!
All lines lead to Munich Hauptbahnhof.
This shot came out really grainy, which I was not expecting as this film is usually very sharp. It doesn’t bother me though I quite like the shot. This was taken in the middle of the day under very harsh strong lighting.
Curious fact: Munich main station has 32 platforms, second in the world in number only to New York’s Grand Central Station!
This is one of my favourite shots from this roll, I really like how there are different frames within the shot.
Main customs building.
Struggled a bit taking this handheld, but I like the composition and lighting.
Some nice strong shadows in this shot.
One more train shot doesn’t hurt anyone.
I always liked how you could see right into the tunnels in the Munich metro as they were lit….so many photographic opportunities!
Check out my “Empty Spaces” Munich underground post here.
And one more!
Couldn’t help it…
Ilford FP4 travels to Madrid
For a walkaround Madrid I decided for a roll of Ilford’s FP4 (ISO 125) as I knew it would be nice and sunny and I wanted to look for strong shadows and contrasts. This is a well known film, but as a reminder here are its main characteristics:
35mm, ISO 125, all-purpose black & white film with fine grain, medium contrast and outstanding sharpness. Ideal for most shooting scenarios in good light conditions.
Medium speed ISO 125 Fine grain, high sharpness Robust exposure tolerance 35mm, 120 Roll & Sheet Film available
I seem to recall taking these shots on my Leica M2, but honestly I cannot remember. I should be more diligent about note taking, but prefer to just go out and shoot!
I really love the facades on the buildings in Madrid, they are so classic! Very sharp and contrasy shot too!
I quite like how this came out with the end of the shot being completely blown out in terms of bright highlights, makes it quite interesting.
Classic Madrid shot in Plaza Colon. I like how the people show perspective on the size of the enormous flag.
I was on the lookout for some interesting shadows!
I like how strong the blacks shadows are in this shot - very sharp too.
I prefer this shot to the other hallway shot from above, also because I am in it too!
A very classic Madrid street shot.
Shadowy figure.
The shadows on the windows caught my eye, I really like how this shot came out.
More historical facades.
Agfa APX 100
Back to Munich and for another city photo walk I picked up a roll of Agfa APX 100. This film is great and can be bought for a few Euro in most German drugstores. A bit more about the film characteristics:
Agfa Photo APX 100 is a medium-speed black and white negative film with a nominal sensitivity of ISO 100/21°. This film can be used universally and is suitable for a variety of applications in the field of indoor and outdoor photography in bright light. APX 100 delivers high-quality images with fine grain and great sharpness.
I have had good experiences with this film before and like how easily available it is to buy on the German high street.
Another classic mirror shot.
I really like how this shot came out, despite the harsh bright lighting. I may get this shot printed, there is something quite classic about it.
Marienplatz station. Pity about the hazy shot though.
I just liked the lamp so decided to take a shot, I quite like the dark to light graininess of this shot.
Fountains are always fun to shoot.
That’s a lot of bikes!
Nothing like straight lines for an infinity type shot.
Munich Marienplatz on a rainy summer’s day. Actually I love this shot and how artistic it came out, complete with lens shake and a wet lens.
Overall observations
First off I am glad I finally got round to collating these shots into one post. It is hard to make a direct comparison of films as they were shot under such different lighting circumstances and probably with very different cameras and lenses.
I think the Rollei RPX 100 film produced the sharpest, cleanest shots, followed very closely by Ilford FP4 film. I’d select either of these films though if I wanted very sharp and high contrast shots in bright daylight. I have had better results from the Agfa APX 100 film before, but that may be due to development or more likely poor lighting.
Either way, I really enjoyed the photo walks I went on to take these shots, and I like how different each set of images are (with the obvious repeat shots of trains!).
I hope you enjoyed looking back at a snapshot of summer 2019 and I look forward to you joining me on my next set of posts. I have 5+ rolls in development so there is plenty more to come as I get more active in this blog for the start of 2020.
See you next time!
Neil
