After a few rolls of interesting films, I am starting to think I am a mainstream film kind of guy. You know. Lomography, WalCVMartGreen multipacks, Kodak Gold 200 and the like… but I am getting ahead of myself.
The topic of today’s post is another part of a Father’sDay film haul I am almost done working my way through. The reasoning was simple. I was looking for color film stocks I had not tried before at my local camera shop. Never heard of the company. I did not look up sample photos in advance. Glow and Aqua variants of Retocolor 400 films.
Interestingly these are 27 exposure rolls instead of the 24 and 36 exposure rolls I am used to.
Camera? A favorite rig of mine.
For a lens, I chose the far sharper than it has any business being 7Artisans 35mm f/1.4.
This is a wonderful lens that I should really use more. I typically fall for the goofier 7Artisans 50mm f/1.1 instead, but I am blown away by the 35mm every time I use it.
As usual, developed at home with Cinestill CS41.
This post is the results of the Retocolor Glow 400 variant. Nothing Earth-shattering. My intention was to capture whatever I came across, which got me out of the truck a few times. Here are the survivors from the roll below with some thoughts after.
Last thoughts.
I like this film…. but (same for both of these films) under very specific conditions from what I see. It rises to levels of clarity I like with low, artificial lighting. Otherwise, it looks a bit hazy to me. Also, I am seeing less dynamic range than I have seen in more common films also. Not bad. Just not my particular cup of tea. As stated above, I am a fan of mainstream emulsions evidently. But like the Aqua variant, it does well with low artificial light also.
I honestly did think I would like this Glow variant more than I did. Not bad, just that with the name Glow and the warm tones on the box it came in I was hoping for something leaning towards the Kodak Gold 200 side of things. But this film is very much its own thing. And that thing is more muted than what I was expecting. I will own that. Reto should not be held responsible for my baseless assumptions. That being said I do still like many of these captures.
Would I buy it again? Not sure. But not because I do not think it is a good film. It is. And if the look this film gives is up your alley it is an excellent choice. And I do like many of the exposures I captured with it. My reluctance has more to do with the price. While not out of line, other favorites of mine either cost less, almost half as much in some cases, or no more so there is not much incentive for me to stray out of my comfort zone. That being said I really do like supporting smaller companies so that will likely play a part. It does help that I develop at home so that does offset some of the cost. Who knows? There may be a few more rolls of it in my future.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 