Struggling with 35mm Colour Neg Choice

[8bit Barry]

Name me some good 35 films that aren’t going to cost £90 for 5 Rolls.

I’ve been a 120 shooter since my return to film in 2015. I only recently bought a few 35mm cameras, after film costs sadly started going sky high. I’ve got a freezer with Portra 400 / Pro400H / Velvia and more but literally no 35mm.

Now the cost is stratospheric for the above in 35mm, I’ve been forced to shoot Gold 200… and it’s pretty awful unless you want everything to look a vintage yellow.

I went back to shooting Ilford XP2 and I was amazed how much sharper the film looked in comparison to Gold 200.

With film now like craft beer, what could I shoot thats going to be affordable and look good?

 

[Talus]

Same dilemma here. Good color film is not cheap.

 

[gavinlg]

Gold is a really good film - it's become my default film. Perhaps have another lab scan it? I prefer it on frontier scanners over noritsu's which tend to scan with brownish tones.

 

[armadsen]

I think you’re going to get recommendations for every color negative film out there (not that many these days). Personally, I tend to shoot Ultramax when I want cheapish color negative film. I mostly use Portra, though.

 

[wlewisiii]

I don't really care for Gold. It's acceptable but meh. If you can find the new production "Fuji" (made by Kodak) it's somewhat better and not too expensive and plays nicer with Noritsu machines than Gold. Realistically there's Kodak, Ferrania, Harmon/Ilford Phoenix and "soon" Lucky from China which will probably make Phoenix look high end.

For the most part:
Film is for B&W
Digital is for color.

 

[CMur12]

I don't really care for Gold. It's acceptable but meh. If you can find the new production "Fuji" (made by Kodak) it's somewhat better and not too expensive and plays nicer with Noritsu machines than Gold. Realistically there's Kodak, Ferrania, Harmon/Ilford Phoenix and "soon" Lucky from China which will probably make Phoenix look high end.

For the most part:
Film is for B&W
Digital is for color.

Yes, but there is something magic about a color transparency!

I think there is still a place for color film. (I shoot both film and digital.)

- Murray

 

[wlewisiii]

If I ever win the Lotto, I'll consider E6 transparency 😉

 

[Freakscene]

I like Kodak ProImage 100, but it isn’t cheap. Film just isn’t now. An $AU15k digital Leica makes more sense for me. That in itself says a lot.

 

[santino]

I don't really care for Gold. It's acceptable but meh. If you can find the new production "Fuji" (made by Kodak) it's somewhat better and not too expensive and plays nicer with Noritsu machines than Gold. Realistically there's Kodak, Ferrania, Harmon/Ilford Phoenix and "soon" Lucky from China which will probably make Phoenix look high end.

For the most part:
Film is for B&W
Digital is for color.

What about the Wolfen films? They claim to produce it by themselfs but I read somewhere that it is motion picture film sans remjet.

 

[wlewisiii]

My mistake - I forgot that ORWO made 2 ECN-2 color cinematography stocks as well. I tend to only consider C41 because remjet is such a PITA. The non-remjet material at Freestyle is clearance priced.

 

[8bit Barry]

Gold is a really good film - it's become my default film. Perhaps have another lab scan it? I prefer it on frontier scanners over noritsu's which tend to scan with brownish tones.

I am fortunate to have a wonderful Nikon LS9000 and it absolutely loves Pro400H, Portra400, Velvia, Provia… anything on 120, all black and white, but all budget colour 35mm just looks ghastly. Gold 200 looks like I developed an unexposed film from a charity shop camera… brown shadows and yellow highlights - no thanks.

BTW I can thoroughly recommend using ColorPerfect software and linear scanning using Vuescan.

 

[8bit Barry]

For the most part:
Film is for B&W
Digital is for color.

Yeah you said it my friend. In 35mm I truly believe that.

 

[8bit Barry]

Yes, but there is something magic about a color transparency!

Oh there sure is. I have a large format Chwmonix 045F that has 6x12 120 backs that I use for landscape and the results are just amazing. When I mail the exposure it’s easy to scan and process.

 

[8bit Barry]

What about the Wolfen films?

I will certainly look into it. I made contact with ORWO at The Photography Show and hope to get some stock to have a go with.

 

[Sanug]

Wolfen colour films are much worse compared with Gold 200. Desaturated colours, low resolution, grainy. I would avoid them.

 

[santino]

It depends on what you are looking for. NC500 has really vitage colors and I quite like it. It is definitely not your normal type of film but still worth it.

 

[valdas]

I still have my freezer full of Fuji Superia 100&200 (a bit more than 100 rolls), but I cannot think of any current stock which is both cheap and on par with extinct emulsions.

 

[agentlossing]

Since we only seem to have Kodak available to us these days (I preferred Superia 400 and C200 by a fair bit)...

Pro Image 100 looks pretty good, but is a tad expensive, about $50 for 5 rolls.

Ultramax 400 seems like the only affordable film stock that isn't Gold. I think I'd opt for that if I shot more color and wanted to save a bit over Pro Image 100/go faster.

 

[8bit Barry]

Since we only seem to have Kodak available to us these days (I preferred Superia 400 and C200 by a fair bit)...

Pro Image 100 looks pretty good, but is a tad expensive, about $50 for 5 rolls.

Ultramax 400 seems like the only affordable film stock that isn't Gold. I think I'd opt for that if I shot more color and wanted to save a bit over Pro Image 100/go faster.

I think ISO 400 is a minmum for me on a rangefinder. It just makes the whole handheld experience so much more versatile. I think I will have to try Ultramax next in a last ditch attempt to find a colour 35mm film I like.

 

[wlewisiii]

I think ISO 400 is a minmum for me on a rangefinder. It just makes the whole handheld experience so much more versatile. I think I will have to try Ultramax next in a last ditch attempt to find a colour 35mm film I like.

I've never tried that one, I've still got a bit of Fuji (Kodak) 400 and I use a lot of XP2+ otherwise.