As the blog title states I tried two films outside of my comfort zone recently. The jury is still out on how I feel about it. Both were color films developed with Cinestill CS41. What was so different about these films? Well…
FPP LOW ISO COLOR ISO 1.6
One film was of the very low ISO variety. Similar to another film I tried recently. That was ISO 1. That is not a typo. This time? Went up to a whopping ISO 1.6.
Now here is the thing. I was not sold on ISO1, so why in heck did I try ISO 1.6? Well… I thought it was because ISO 1 did not play well with the in camera exposure controls any of the cameras I already had, so I had to manually spitball the entire roll. Theoretically, I could use exposure compensation to get in camera metering with ISO 1.6. Set the camera to ISO 6 and +2 exposure compensation I should get there right? Before loading the film I tried it first with my Konica RF and Conax G1 and they were not happy. That low of an ISO would not allow me to dial in any exposure compensation. Then my odd duck SA mount SIGMA SA-7N came to the rescue.
ISO 6 with +2 exposure comp, carry the two, and hello ISO 1.5 or thereabouts. But something threw me. The broad daylight manual setting suggestions for FPP ISO 1. They said a shutter speed of 1/250 at f/1.4 would do it, but the SA-7N was giving shutter speeds way different than .6 ISO would cause I thought. So… I second guessed the camera on and off all day… I should have trusted the camera. All of the shots taken guesstimating were under exposed and those camera numbers that seemed off where right on point.
The resulting pics? All over the place and I do not blame the film or the camera. Purely user error. Or more accurately a user that:
- Did not trust the camera.
- Did not use the film as it should be used.
As in broad daylight with as few clouds in the sky as possible. The shots were taken on an overcast day, in shade, and some in a cave lit restaurant. But here is the thing… I had fun. At first I was disappointed. But that is when I had my everything has to be perfect hat on. But if that is the case why use film then. Sure, many times I can churn out perfect results (Exposure and focus wise anyway. Composition is a whole other thing.) regularly but sometimes it is good to experiment. And one cannot experiment and expect perfect results at the same time. So I relaxed a bit. I removed the images where the experiment went completely off of the rails and embraced what remained. Here are the results with some thoughts after.
Will I ever use this film again? Not sure. One issue I have has nothing to do with the ISO. I find the film to be a bit desaturated for my liking. But if I do try it again there will be ground rules.
- Trust the camera’s exposure settings.
- Wait for broad daylight if I am expecting “normal” results.
Next up.
ORWO Wolfen NC500
This was a part of my “What color film do you have that I have never used?” stop at SE Camera.
This time around I used another favorite oddball SLR of mine.
I did not follow my usual path, where I will search Flickr for sample photos before purchasing. I chose to shoot the roll blind and accept what I got. What did I get?
Something desaturated akin to other films I have tried. Nothing wrong with it. But given the nondescript packaging and lack of clues in the name, unlike Lomography Lomochrome Metropolis where the box gives it away, I cannot say that I was expecting that strayed this far from WYSIWYG. This is not a bad thing. Just not what I was expecting is all. The one big change is that I would not have taken so many images of people. I usually use desaturated films for stills photography. Anyhoo. Here are the pics.
So not only is it not that saturated it is not that sharp. Neither are bad things necessarily. Will I use it again? Me personally? Probably not. I am a sucker for less expensive color films like Kodak Gold 200 and Fujifilm 400. That being said it is a fine film.
Welp. That about wraps it up. Another analog therapy success.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 
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