At the time of writing, a 5-pack of 36 exposure rolls costs a cool $79.99 from our friends over at B&H. That’s $15.99 per roll! Remember when you could get a roll for $6.99? Ahh, 2015, what a time to be alive.

But don’t run off to sell your kidneys yet. There are still plenty of great color film alternatives to Portra 400 that are worth your time if you want to save a couple bucks.

While some of the alternatives listed here aren’t directly comparable to Portra in terms of grain structure or low light capability, they’re all close enough to be useful in nearly all of the situations in which one would typically be using Portra. It’s also true that using some of these less popular films may even help your photos to stand out from the crowd!

Fujicolor 200

Fujicolor 200 is a fantastic consumer-grade film that yields slightly subdued colors and leans toward cooler tones when compared to Portra. An upside to its consumer-grade status? It can sometimes be scored at big box stores at steep discounts when taking advantage of promotions and coupons. It’s a great film for street photography or in areas where there’s lots of leafy green foliage (think greens and tans). Despite leaning toward the cooler side of the spectrum, it still produces natural, pleasing skin tones, making Fujicolor 200 a great choice when you want to grab some candid shots of friends but don’t want to burn through all your expensive Portra 400.

In December of 2021, it was learned that Fujifilm had outsourced production of Fuji 200 to Kodak, and that the new Fuji 200 was nothing more than repackaged Kodak Gold 200. This news was never explicitly announced, but comparing Kodak Gold 200’s spectral sensitivity curves with the published specification sheet for Fuji’s new 200 film showed identical information. Fuji further confirmed that some of their product line had been outsourced to partners during that period of time, a period in which supply chains were disrupted and materials scarcity became a problem.

More recent reports have claimed that Fujicolor 200’s spec sheet has reverted back to the older spectral sensitivity of original Fuji 200. So, although this is again unconfirmed, it seems that Fuji has resumed production of Fujicolor 200 in Japan. We’ll update if and when we get further news or confirmation.

Current price: $29 for a 3-pack of 36 exp rolls or $9.66 a roll (B&H)

[Fujicolor 200 image samples provided by the author, Sarah Rizzo, and Casual Photophile writer Josh Solomon]

Lomo 100

Lomography’s color negative 100 is a sharp film delivering punchy colors and a retro vibe. At an ISO of 100, it’s a great film for the sun-soaked days of summer. Although the film is sharp, it doesn’t have a lot of fine detail and will show a touch more grain than Portra 400 despite being an ISO 100 film. For this reason, I wouldn’t recommend it for intricate, detailed landscape work. With that said, I think it’s a great option if you’re going to be in a bright and colorful location like a beach town or carnival and want to throw it into a reusable disposable, point-and-shoot, or Holga for some fun shots.

Current price: $29.90 for a 3-pack of 36 exp rolls or $9.96 a roll (B&H)

[Lomo 100 image samples provided by Casual Photophile writer Danielle Wrobleski]

Kodak Gold 200

Okay, you knew we weren’t going to make it through this list without at least one other Kodak stock making an appearance! Good ol’ Kodak Gold 200. It’s a film that was in the family camera of many film photographers who grew up in the U.S.  in the 90s and early aughts. Kodak Gold 200 is nostalgia. It provides warm tones, a forgiving exposure latitude, and medium contrast. There’s really no situation where I wouldn’t recommend bringing some Kodak Gold along. Take it camping, into the city, into a wheat field for luscious golden hour portraits, or out into the desert for Americana scenes – I could go on forever. If you want a higher-end look, load it into a nice SLR or rangefinder with a sharp lens. If you want the retro vibe, load it up in your favorite point-and-shoot with the flash on.

Current price: $29.99 for a 3-pack of 36 exp rolls or 11.99 per 36 exp roll (B&H)

[Kodak Gold image samples provided by the author, Sarah Rizzo]

Lomo Metropolis

Launched via Kickstarter by Lomography in 2019, Lomochrome Metropolis was the first new color film stock in years (The formula was reworked in 2021, so keep this in mind as you browse sample photos). This unique film is rated with an extended ISO of 100-400. It provides a very unique aesthetic, best characterized as gritty, and delivers beautiful chrome hues. It’s definitely more grain-forward than other options on this list, but that’s part of its charm. Metropolis is the perfect film for those gritty street scenes and fluorescent lighting. However, the skin tones aren’t particularly natural, so I wouldn’t recommend it for portraits unless you’re going for an experimental look. This film is roughly $2 per roll cheaper than Portra and I’d say it’s a perfect choice if you want to experiment with something unique.

Current price: $13.90 per 36 exp roll (B&H)

[Lomo Metropolis image samples supplied by Lomography]

Cinestill 400D

Another crowd-funded addition to the list, Cinestill 400D, was launched in March of 2022. According to Cinestill’s website, this film is not their usual re-packaged motion picture film, but a brand-new stock developed for stills photography. The film is daylight balanced and while it’s rated at ISO 400, it has an impressive exposure latitude. According to Cinestill’s website, 400D can be push-processed up to 3 stops, making this a great film if you’re loading up toward the end of the evening and may need to do some night shooting. At box speed, it delivers soft, yet rich colors that are suitable for everyday use. In extreme lighting situations, there is halation in the highlights. At about a dollar less per roll compared to Portra 400, the savings won’t make you a millionaire, but during a time when color film stocks are limited, it’s nice to have options.

Current price: $14.99 per 36 exp roll (B&H)

[Cinestill 400D image samples provided by Cinestill]

So, there you have it. Kodak may be the last man standing when it comes to professional-grade color negative film (RIP Fuji Pro 400H), but there are still some great consumer-grade options when you want to save some cash and set yourself apart from all the other Portra-toned fish in the sea.

Whatever film you shoot, enjoy it! Don’t stress. Just take your time, shoot your shot, and enjoy the process. Despite the rising cost, we’re lucky that this stuff is still around.

More film articles at Casual Photophile

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post 5 Color Films That Cost Less Than Kodak Portra 400 appeared first on Casual Photophile.

Similarly when Cinestill released their black and white cinema film, BwXX (Double X), in medium format (it had previously only been available in 35mm) the film world went bonkers! Or, at the very least, I went bonkers!

Cinestill BwXX has been one of my favorite black and white films since I first shot it in my Canonet two years ago. I fell in love with the way it rendered blacks and the impressive contrast it was able to provide. Now that I was able to shoot this stock at three times the size, I was ecstatic. After the announcement, I immediately placed an order.

When the film arrived I was in Wildwood, NJ, slinging hoagies at a deli. When I ripped open the package, I immediately felt an excitement similar to what I felt when I’d shot medium format for the very first time, an experience I wrote about in an earlier article.

I only ordered one roll, funny enough. Like I said, I was slinging hoagies at a deli, I wasn’t Vanderbilt. And it took me a while to find the time to shoot that roll. When the time came I was in Brooklyn, NY. I had moved to the city two months earlier. I was trying to seek out the same feeling I received when I shot Cinestill BwXX in 35mm.

The weekend after I’d first shot BwXX in 35mm, I loaded two exposed rolls into a dev tank and then used Cinestill’s own monobath chemicals to develop them. I was mostly testing the monobath. In reality, I would never put anything too important through those chemicals. But the pictures that came through the other side are some I refer back to often when wanting to recapture a certain feeling of nostalgia.

With those two rolls I’d documented my high school graduation and the beginning of COVID. The fine grain and enhanced contrast, compared to flat stocks like Ilford HP5, seemed to offer me a look of pure documentation. It made the pictures of rather ordinary subjects look serious, as if they were from a different time. Perhaps it was the way the stock rendered blacks. Not too stark and hard to look at. 

As I powered through 35mm rolls of this new addition to my film fridge, I found that BwXX rendered low light like no other. I’ve shot other ISO 200 black and white film stocks in my day. None have impressed me as much. In low light, other black and white films result in washed out photos, flat and grey, that can only be fixed with intense editing in Negative Lab Pro. Indoors or outside at night time, I was continually impressed by BwXX.

The most scientific explanation I have for my findings is that BwXX was made to be a range ISO type of stock. Cinestill’s black and white creation can be shot anywhere from 200 ISO to 800 ISO without having to change development times. Having my scans converted in Adobe Lightroom, I found an incredibly dynamic histogram, showing even peaks stretching themselves from blacks to white and highlights to shadows. The latitude and strength of its dynamic range allowed me to pull details from shadows which other films would render totally black.

I think the biggest revelation that I experienced with this film would be when printing my work. I picked up some nice, high quality paper and loaded it into a gorgeous Canon printer I found on my school’s New York City campus. As I adjusted the image size in photoshop, I was eager, ready to hit print. There was something about tangibly holding my work that I couldn’t get out of my head. I haven’t felt that giddy since I developed film for the first time. The printer slid out the monochromatic image and I was in awe at the depth and stunning resolution.

Now that I was able to see my images up close and personal, I saw incredibly fine grain which really speaks to my anecdotal notion that this film has a “look” that screams documentation. Maybe it’s the connotation behind the word documentation, but Cinestill BwXX just feels fit to capture life.

There are so many subjects that I feel go extremely well with the grain and tone combination this stock offers. The contrast, which almost never needs to be edited, on top of the true to life shadows and gorgeous grain structure, makes for an extremely compelling image. Keeping a roll of BwXX by my side in 35mm could be a scenario where “taking” pictures is appropriate. A quick shot fired off to remember the cool looking street corner on Central and Dekalb? Totally worth the exposure!

But BwXX in medium format is a film for when I want to “make” rather than “take.” I take my time to “make” pictures. I’ll slow down, plan out a shoot, set up my tripod, meter for midtones, and even patiently wait until my subject is poised just the way I like. This becomes increasingly difficult in NYC street photography. But, to get the most from a film that has impressed me as much as BwXX, my new go to black and white stock, I’m okay with taking the extra time.

I have plans for this film. I’ve never really done that before. I’ve never tested out a film and loved it so much that I conceptually planned its future use. Have I thought like that before? Of course, I’m a film photographer! But that had to do with a vision, an idea, a certain lighting situation, or maybe a return to Central and Dekalb. Never have I been so passionate about a single film.

I blame the upgrade from 35mm to medium format. Perhaps the fact that I was slowly fed this look, small to medium, enhanced my love for it. It reminds me of the argument whether streaming services should release television episodes weekly, like normal cable, or continue to release seasons all at once, allowing subscribers to binge it all in one day. With Cinestill BwXX at least, I think I prefer the weekly release. “Weekly’ here meaning “two years” – that’s how long it took to get this stuff in 120.

I’ve gone off the rails. To continue with my “plans,” I feel prepared enough to take this film into the studio. With its range ISO and the latitude present in Lightroom’s histograms, I feel comfortable enough to not be intimidated by professional lights. Maybe, now that I’ve fallen in love with a colorless stock, I can finally execute my black and white bare back series, or my close up portrait series. Before, I just snapped photos. I grabbed the films I liked, those that pleased me. Now, I realize what more can be offered if I simply just allow myself to slow down and analyze what a film has to offer.

As I type this, I sit next to a photobook of mine. When I scanned my negatives and fell in love with the look, I thought this film was a perfect fit to tell a story I’ve been wanting to tell. I used Cinestill’s BwXX to make my photo book Navigating, Alone, a book that told the story of me living on my own for the first time. Perhaps I’m saying this to offer a satisfying conclusion to my observations with tangible prints. Or, perhaps, that’s a story for another time.

In brief, Cinestill BwXX impressed me, and continues to do so. It offers gorgeous blacks, impressive contrast, fine grain, and always usable results. Looking for something new? BwXX? Need a go-to black and white film for your medium format camera? BwXX. Cinestill BwXX, especially in medium format, is a film that I would recommend to anyone.

Want to try Cinestill BwXX in 120?

Get it at B&H Photo

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Cinestill BwXX Medium Format Film Review appeared first on Casual Photophile.

I don’t care for the rule of thirds, as I like to center my subjects. Sometimes, I go against the rules of normal framing and strive for unique angles. I like contextual portraits. I break the “rules” to conform to my style and that’s the way it should work for any photographer.

However, some of the most important rules can be hard to break. For example, when composing a photo, it can be difficult to stray from what the light meter is telling you, if you want your image properly exposed. The thing is, even these extremely important rules about exposure can be broken.

Take my experience with Cinestill 800T, a color negative 800 ISO tungsten-balanced film stock. The thing about certain specialty film stocks, especially in a 35mm camera where it’s not easy to change film mid-roll, is that they limit you. If you’re shooting a 50 ISO film meant for daylight, it’s gonna be a heck of a lot harder to shoot at night. You’ll need all the light you can possibly get. Sure, if you have the resources it could make for interesting results. But in my experience, shooting a 50 ISO film at night will result in nothing but underexposed and blurry garbage.

Cinestill 800T is meant for “difficult low light tungsten situations,” according to Cinestill’s website. Most pictures I see composed with this stock include dimly lit indoor shots, suburban gas-stations, neon lights, or street photography – usually all shot at night. The tungsten balance makes for some extremely interesting results, and it’s true that photographers can make pictures with 800T that we can’t make with any other stock. The rule with Cinestill 800T is, in most people’s eyes, that it’s a film not meant for daylight photography. Obviously – it’s formulated for Tungsten, or artificial light. And Cinestill also sell a film for daylight shooting, naturally named Cinestill 50D (Daylight). 

Clearly this story is heading in a very specific direction – I wanted to use Cinestill 800T, a high speed tungsten balanced film stock, in the daylight! Maybe I wasn’t breaking any specific rules. But, I was going outside of what I felt were the  “accepted guidelines” of only shooting 800T at night or low-lit indoors. So, I did what any experienced photographer would do – I experimented. And it was worth it.

I didn’t have much Cinestill lying around my living quarters to experiment with at will. Task number one was to get ahold of some. Since I understood I could possibly be wasting some frames with my experiment dangerously looming towards over-exposure, I wanted a hefty number of rolls. I was extremely lucky with the timing of when I thought of this idea because I did what any normal person would during Christmas – I asked every relative to gift me a roll of 800T. I made out like a bandit, with my parents, aunts, and uncles all sending copious beautiful red boxes my way. By New Year’s Eve 2020, I owned just about a dozen rolls of Cinestill. A jackpot for those of us, like me, who take more than a week to shoot one roll. At the beginning of January, I loaded my 35mm SLR and went to the park (during the day).

I’d describe the experiment as a success, though I’ve gotten a number of different results. To start, the photos came out quite bright, a tad over-exposed. I suppose that’s the price of shooting with such high ISO in rather harsh lighting conditions. Another note, each picture I took had a very slight overcast of the color green. I mainly associate this result with the tungsten balance. Whatever process is used to balance really low light situations within this stock seemed to cast a nice, light green hue onto whatever landscape, portrait, or candid I captured in daylight. And to be honest, it’s a very unique look. However, these results are not for everyone – especially those who love the bold colors that Cinestill 800T offers in the situations the stock is meant for. 

Aside from the green overcast, which can be easily color-balanced digitally by adding hints of magenta, there is another extremely unique result that shooting Cinestill 800T in daylight has to offer – a desaturated image. It could be the color-balancing that offers the bluish, greyish, desaturated look, but whatever the case, the natural effect is magnificent! Shooting in the daylight reminds me of the pastel colors that Kodak Portra offers with a bright, grey desaturated effect that allows one to focus more on actual features as opposed to how vibrant colors can be. It’s definitely not how these colors are supposed to look to the naked eye, but that’s the price (and joy) of experimentation.

For many of us, I’m sure it’ll be a tough sell. It’s hard to fall in love with this look. But I like it. It offers a strange nostalgic take to family photos or even staged portraits. It’s weird to think that I’d rather capture a family ski trip in extremely bright conditions, light reflecting off of the snow, with an 800 ISO speed, tungsten-balanced film as opposed to a film stock meant for daylight and proper skin tones. But here we are. 

I mentioned earlier that I’ve gotten many different results. Next to the green cast and desaturation, I’ve noticed a beautiful yellow glow when in direct sunlight. This stock seemed to handle the color quite appropriately and very much to my liking. One of Cinestill 800T’s most unique features is its red halation around glowing highlights. Something I’ve noticed that could be related to this effect is a sort of ethereal glow found in daylight shots when made in open sunlight. I tested multiple different compositions and my favorite was in the woods, sun rays shining through the trees. The trees and leaves on the ground had the desaturated effect mentioned earlier, but there’s also an ethereal glow surrounding the trees and where the rays hit the leaves. It’s breathtaking. All it took was breaking a few rules to discover this look.

On the whole, I’d never have been been able to incorporate any of these unique effects into my photography without stepping outside of my comfort zone. Of course, what I’ve discovered isn’t for everyone, but I walked into this experiment with an open mind and I left with images that made me extremely happy. My final advice when it comes to experimenting and trying new things with different cameras and different stocks: don’t be afraid to break a few rules and don’t be afraid to enjoy breaking them.

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Breaking Rules with Cinestill 800 T in Daylight appeared first on Casual Photophile.