Movie CineStill hyped to the absolute utmost and whether you love it or hate it, they’ve built a pretty impressive company and breathed new life into the movie community. Thanks to them, we now have a stock of packaged film, ready to shoot in film cameras and developed in C-41 chemistry.
The new kid on the block is a 400 speed motion picture that is widely assumed to be the Kodak Vision3 250D; however, CineStill claims otherwise. So let’s take a look at my results and review this stock in more detail.
Released to pre-order the same day Kodak announced its return to Gold in 120, CineStill 400D Quickly achieve custom orders in 35mm, 120 and impressive 4×5 formats. Cinematographers have gone from sobbing sadly into their mug of soy water, as Matt Murray would say, to cheering on social media and spending all their bankrolls getting a roll or ten in This new 400 speed movie number.
My supplies arrived a few days before I was due to shoot a vintage car festival, so I took it to the Olympus OM10 with its underrated Zuiko 50mm and rated it at speed. fast. The 400D can easily be pushed some stops, but I want my first roll to be a baseline for comparison with future reels, I could try rating at higher speeds.
I have to say, I was impressed with the way this film performed, and the results made me excited to add this stock of films to my movie fridge collection. Like everything in life, there are pros and cons, and as expected, a price to pay for quality. Is that quality worthy of you filming?
D is for animals
The D in CineStill’s ISO 50 film stands for daylight, but in this new film, the D stands for dynamic. So what does that mean? CineStill says the 400D’s base sensitivity is not surprisingly ISO 400. What’s really impressive is that they claim it can be rated from ISO 200 to 800. Amazingly, they also say you can push it up to ISO 3200!
I shoot in a very dynamic scene with the direct Australian winter sun and pronounced shadows, often shooting both in the same frame to really test this film’s exposure to both light event. As you can see in my results here, this movie is definitely living up to its name. Shadows maintain plenty of detail and a pleasant, almost imperceptible fine grain structure, while highlights are beautifully rendered without flare.
Some of these shots appear to be a bit underexposed, which may be due to the fact that I’m shooting in aperture priority mode at around f/8 or f/11 to get the maximum depth that the light can get. allow. As so many of us know and have heard over and over again that you’re better off overexposing the film to preserve shadow detail, but despite that general rule, underexposure produced what I considered exposure very satisfied.
Tone and Color Palette
It all looks pretty and pretty here. A warmth reminiscent of Kodak Gold but not in gold and gold, more brown and bronze. The reds came out wonderfully. When do they not use film, although true? Not quite as saturated and bold as the Kodak Ektar, but a deeper and more distinct feel. The colors of the cars work very well with this film, and the subject really brings out the nostalgic feel of film photography.
I ask my partner to take a few portraits of me at the end of my roll of film to check out how this film renders skin tones. For me, they are very pleasant, but maybe in these samples, they drift a bit. Matt Murray took some pictures of his family in more direct light, which seems to have created a warmer tone.
Pause station
Simply put, and as explained by CineStill on their website: “Halation is the reflection of light-off points of the film substrate and pressure plate, causing ‘glow’ in strong highlights on a plate. number of images.” You’ll notice this halation effect quite prominently in my images, especially on any highly reflective surfaces such as the metal fenders of antique and interesting cars. rather, in portraits taken by my partner. this.
While all CineStill stocks have a halation feature, I can say that this newcomer is my favorite! The film community is quite divided in their opinion about this red “bright light”, and some believe it is confusing, distracting, or overused. In contrast, other movie enthusiasts are crazy about this historical drama just because of that look. The 800T has built its reputation online thanks to its gas station shots, neon lights, and rain scenes reminiscent of hit movies like Blade Runner. Classic cars shot on film are another great jump in the same photographic scene, often made fun of memesso I thought I’d pair it with the CineStill 400D to try to start a new trend combo that has become cliché?
A new full color film?
So will the 400D be a new choice for videographers? Its upside is extremely good, ISO 400 flexibility, worthwhile dynamic range, pleasing color palette and just enough to stand out, not to mention nice skin tones that make it a good portrait film!
The downside, however, comes into play here and takes this movie down a notch in terms of its shootability. The unattractive price tag, up to $29.90 AU dollars per roll, makes this film unappealing to be a soon-to-be favorite. In the US you can get a roll for $14.99, if you can find it available, that is. Even as budget-driven stocks are growing rapidly and are getting harder and harder to source, unfortunately, paying movie premiums is a reality we’ll all have to adjust to.
Another dealbreaker for many people will be the hate it or love it effect. Some purists or experts won’t like the idea of unnatural or distracting red highlights in an image and would rather go with an option with more predictable and neutral results. .
I can see creative and experimental photographers enjoying this film as a differentiator to see how they can utilize unique rendering characteristics and exploit exposure options. Whatever you think of the visuals of this movie, I’m grateful that companies like CineStill are finding interesting ways to get more people to access high-quality film stock, and that can only be a good thing.
All images developed and scanned by Ikigai Film Laboratory with Fuji Frontier.
