Having a wide variety of film types to choose from in the year 2014 has become a let down. Thinking back 10, even 15 years ago, there was a multitude of film flavors. Before digital, photographers had to choose a film type geared toward the subject matter simply because film scanning and editing in photoshop wasn't an option. There were of course color negative, color slide and B&W negative films of many varieties. Film was available to accentuate or even create subtle saturation, grain, and contrast. There were films available for skin tones, wedding dresses, vibrant colors, low light, course grain, high sharpness and vivid colors.
Taking a look at what's available to today, there are amateur films and professional films. The main difference being that amateur film has a longer shelf life, designed to sit on the drug store shelf for months or in a warehouse of unknown temperature with little affect on the color balance. Professional films are often stored in a refrigerator and peak sooner (expire sooner) and aren't meant to be kept in a warehouse. The price often reflects this difference.
Kodak made film specifically for skin and portraits for many years. VPS 160, VPH, Pro 400MC and PMZ 1000 were the predecessors of the new Portra series. On the amateur side, there was the standard Gold series, Royal Gold, Select Series, Max series, and so on. The speeds ranged from 100-800 and reflected various color saturation and grain levels. For B&W shooters there was Panatomic-X (ASA 32), Technical Pan, and of course Plus-X pan, all of which are extinct now. Fuji offered Reala, Velvia, NPS, NPH 400, and Astia 100 transparency film, just to name a few.
Today, Kodak has a Max 400, Portra 160, 400 and 800. Ektar 100, Ektachrome 100 and Fuji offers Pro 400H, and 400 speed amateur color negative film just to name a few.
Since the variety of film is dwindling, film shooters are looking towards other types of film. Kodak makes a variety of motion picture films, all of which can be used in still cameras. Motion picture film by Kodak falls in the "Vision" series.
Vision film is available in 8mm, 16mm and 35mm. There has been three versions of the film, starting with version 1, or Vision, then Vision 2 and now at Vision 3. These are color negative film stocks that are used as originals, shot in the movie camera that will be processed and then later used to create the positive image used to project in movie theaters. The options are 50D, 200T, 250D, and 500T respectively.
The D refers to daylight balanced, around 5500 kelvin, or standard daylight. The T is for tungsten, around 3400 kelvin and will provide a natural look in tungsten balanced lighting. Most of the these film types are available on eBay. Sometimes they are sold as recans, or film left over from a movie or commercial that didn't get used. It will have an approximate length left written or taped on the outside of the can. The film is available brand new in 400 foot and 1000 foot lengths. Vision 3 is the newest generation that provides outstanding color balance and tonality.
Check out the specs here: Kodak Vision 3 series.
Kodak offers a B&W motion picture film which is extraordinary. It is referred to as Eastman 5222 Double-X. You can get the skinny here. Double-X
Sometimes you can find folks on eBay that have bought a 400' spool and cut the film into 24 or 36 exposure lengths and spooled it onto standard 35mm cassettes.
I received a 400' reel of Vision 2 500T as a gift this past Christmas. I have spooled a few rolls in the darkroom and shot it, playing with filtration and ASA settings attempting to find a sweet spot.
When shooting a tungsten based film in daylight, a filter is required to correct the color balance as tungsten film is blue/cyan based to offset the yellow/red color of tungsten lamps. When shooting in daylight or with electronic flash, the T series Vision films require a #85 filter, which is yellow. No filter is necessary under tungsten lighting. The film is exposed at ASA 500 in tungsten and ASA 250 in daylight with a #85 filter.
Double-X film is generally exposed at ASA 200 and can be processed at home in standard developers such as D-76.
Vision color film is a different animal and may not be for everyone. Here's the scoop.
Vision caveat #1: The remjet backing. The rem-jet is a black carbon type layer on the base side of the film and is used as an antihalation type backing. The black color prevents light from passing through the film and then bouncing back through the base twice, causing halos on the highlights. This layer must be removed during the processing stage. There are folks that choose to remove it first, others remove it last. In a commercially processing lab, the rem-jet is removed first, using a special jets of alkaline water. I choose to remove it last and I will explain this in detail in the processing section below.
Vision caveat #2: Vision color negative films are not commerically/professionally processed in C-41 chemicals and cannot be processed in drug store, big box photo labs as long as the rem-jet is still on the film. Color motion picture film is processed commercially as ECN-2 or Eastman Color Negative processing. The main difference is in the developer stage itself. Kodak provides the formula for the developer and remjet removal chemical formula as a PDF file download from their website. The developing agent used in C-41 color negative processing is CD-4, while the agent used in ECN-2 is CD-3. I understand the C-41 developing agent does not react with the color dye couplers in the exact same way as it is intended to in ECN-2 developing. That withstanding, you can process Vision film in C-41 at home with great results.
If you are interested in mixing your own ECN-2 developer for your darkroom, use the link above to download the formula for the first developer. The only company I know of online that sells CD-3 is Artcraft Chemicals. You can also buy through their eBay store. It's about $28 for 100g with 4g used per Liter of developer made, so about 25 liters worth of CD-3 for that price. Not bad!!
If you want to go the C-41 route, you can purchase the kits from B&H and Freestyle. The kits are powder or liquid and will make 1 or 2 liters. I have been able to process about 30 rolls with a 2 liter kit.
If using the C-41 kit, here is the process:
Water bath: 106 degrees F. 1 min
Developer : 106 degrees F 3 min
Blix 106 degrees F 7 min
wash 106 2 min
remjet removal: 106 degrees 2 min
final rinse and then photoflo or wetting agent of choice
Remjet Removal for home user:
Starting with 500ml water add 1 tablespoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or washing soda (sodium carbonate).
I have had success with both. Soak film for 2 minutes, then remove film from reel and use soft sponge or fingers to remove backing from base side. You will see it on the film and will likely see it some on the plastic or stainless steel reel.
Very Important! If you shooting Kodak Vision film, do not attempt to take it to a traditional photolab, drug store lab or big box store for processing! Many photographers will reuse old 35mm Kodak and Fuji film cassettes to bulk load the film. These cassettes have the "process C-41" indication on the cassette. A lab technician will process the film in the C-41 machine as such and it will destroy the chemicals. Here is the explanation: Even though the chemicals are the same variety in home processing kits as those found in automated machinery, the home enthusiast will use plastic and stainless steel reels to load the film onto. The film itself (the edges) only touches the reel. The remjet surface never makes contact with anything but the tinest edge of the reel. In a C-41 automated machine (not dip and dunk) the film passes through squeegees, rollers and other surfaces that come into contact with the remjet. The carbon backing will come off in the machine as the film passes from tank to tank and will leave the remjet floating in the tank. This will attach itself to other rolls of film and will gunk up everything. If you process Vision film with standard C-41 process film at home, you will likely get remjet on the other rolls as well. Process Vision film by itself.
Here is an example of Vision 3 500T processed in C-41 chemicals. Scanned and color corrected in photoshop.
Eastman 5222 Double-X processed in D-76 stock
Kodak Vision 2 500T processed in C-41 Chemicals: ASA 200
No comments:
Post a Comment