Luckily, I didn’t have to wait. Harman sent me a few rolls of Phoenix 200 prior to its public launch, and I’ve spent the last month or so shooting the film in real-world conditions. I’ve found that the world’s newest color film is surprisingly versatile, and truly impressive as a first ever run at color film from Harman.

What is Harman Phoenix 200

Phoenix 200 is a true 200 ISO color film that can be processed in normal C41 color processing chemicals (which means that it can be developed anywhere that color film is developed). It is Harman’s first ever attempt at a color film, and the brand describes it as “experimental in nature with some quirky characteristics,” including strong, visible grain, high contrast, and unique colors. (All of this is true in certain cases, but this film also has the ability to behave quite happily as a “normal” color film – more on this later in the review.)

It can be shot at 100 or 400 ISO, though Harman advises that getting exposure just right will yield the most consistent results.

The film is only available in 35mm, though Harman says that they’re evaluating the potential of color film in other formats, such as 120.

The film will be sold at “all good photo retailers around the world,” and Harman is targeting a retail price of $13.99 USD excluding tax, £12.99 GBP including VAT, and €15:49 Euro including tax, though these prices are guidelines and exact price may vary by retailer and country.

Why Does it Matter?

The importance of Harman producing its own color film should not be under-estimated.

For years, film photographers have relied almost entirely on a single manufacturer (Kodak) to produce all of the world’s color film. This has resulted in scarcity of many favorite color films, and continually rising prices. By entering the color film market, and by producing the film entirely in-house, Harman is signaling a desire to create an actual competitive market for color film, to sustainably and affordably ensure we have color film now and into the future.

It’s also worth mentioning that producing color film, even compared with the complex process of making black-and-white film, is immensely difficult, as I learned when I toured the Kodak factory some years ago. The process from start to finish requires highly specialized facilities and smart, talented people to run them. If you’ve ever wondered why the film renaissance of the last decade has seen so many new black-and-white films released compared with an almost infinitesimally few number of new color films, this is why. It’s just really hard to make color film.

What’s also worth noting is that Phoenix 200 is not just a vanity project, or a boutique film, a repackaged or rebranded film that already exists. It’s new, and it’s being made by one of the oldest and most respected names in film. For legal purposes, Harman is not allowed to sell color film under their Ilford name. But the film is being made by the same people, at the same place. The folk at Harman have as long a history in the film production industry as anyone, and they want the medium to continue long into the foreseeable future.

Shooting, Developing, Scanning, and Image Characteristics

I loaded my first roll of Phoenix 200 into a pristine Nikon N2000 equipped with a stunning 45mm F/2.8P Nikkor pancake lens, loaded my family into the car, and drove north toward Maine. When we arrived we found coastal cliffs, rustic autumn foliage, and quaint New England villages. I spent the day seeking color and light, found it, and shot it on the world’s most secret film.

I shot my film at ISO 200, following Harman’s advice that shooting at box speed would yield the best and most consistent results. I intentionally created a gamut of images (backlit subjects, frontlit subjects, high contrast scenes, low contrast scenes, low light and high key shots, etc.), and then I sent the film to the lab for processing through their Fuji processor/scanner.

The film was processed in C41 chemicals as any normal color film, and then scanned using the Fuji system’s standard correction profiles. Just as Harman told me in their literature, the scans from the lab returned punchy colors, high contrast, visible grain, and an almost cross-processed vibe. Halation occurs in backlit scenes (the famous Cinestill look), and coating anomalies are not uncommon (though Harman has said that these anomalies will be mitigated over time as they improve and refine their color film manufacturing pipeline).

Importantly, I made sure to retrieve the negatives from the lab so that I could scan the pictures through my usual process (camera scanning with Nikon’s full frame Z series camera equipped with the Nikkor Z MC 50mm F/2.8 macro lens and their dedicated ES-2 film scanning attachment). As also mentioned in Harman’s literature, this home-scanning process allowed me to achieve more “normal” looking color film images. Harman also advises that they will be working with labs over the next few months to establish recommended settings for the most common lab scanners.

[ABOVE a gallery of Phoenix 200 images produced by the camera scan method. BELOW a gallery of Phoenix 200 images produced by the Fuji lab scanner.]

As we can see in the above galleries, Phoenix 200 can have something of a split personality.

When scanned by the lab, images are indeed punchy, grainy, and high in contrast, as Harman advised they would be. Of course, the heavy contrast, cross-processed look is certainly interesting and unusual, and I’m sure that many photo nerds will appreciate (even seek) it. To each their own!

But when scanned at home using my camera scanning method (and with Lightroom edits), the images are far more reasonable and natural, with colors that are truer to life, restrained contrast, and less visible grain. By adjusting in Lightroom, it’s possible to make images from Phoenix 200 look many different ways. Until Harman issues guidelines to labs that will result in the film being processed in a less garish way, I will personally be opting out of lab scans and handling things in-house.

We can see the halation that they mentioned in their literature. It appears much like it does with Cinestill’s films, as red halos surrounding extremely bright points of light. It looks neat. Some people will love it.

As for the rest, Phoenix 200 behaves much like other 200 ISO films. It’s not a fast film, and requires ample light to expose proper images. My photos made indoors with an F/2.8 lens show motion blur and decreased detail. Faster lenses or a flash are required for indoor spaces or low light shooting.

My takeaway, when speaking specifically to the shots that were scanned by my camera, is that the images are lovely. There’s good detail in shadows and highlights, and the colors are well-balanced. I like what I see!

Final Thoughts

The fact that Phoenix 200 exists at all is a great thing. Too long have film photographers been limited in the color film market. We need new color film manufacturers, and Harman is answering the call.

In Phoenix 200 we have a fun, interesting, and enticing new film. It’s a color film that has a distinctive and energetic look when processed and scanned at the local lab. When scanned at home, it’s a film that affords flexibility and quality.

The marketing behind Phoenix 200 tells us that this is a big deal, that the film symbolizes a rebirth of sorts, a rising from nothing, a new beginning. If that is indeed the case, if Phoenix 200 is just the start of a healthy new product line of color films from Harman, I’m excited. Time (and the market) will tell. ∎

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Alas, all we find is an old roll of film.

But if we’re lucky, that roll of film is Panatomic X, because unlike old, expired color film, Panatomic X is often usable (and able to make excellent photos) even fifty years after its date of expiry!

Kodak Panatomic X was first created in 1933 as an ASA (ISO) 25 sheet film for making photos in which a high level of detail was required (aerial photography, professional editorial, scientific applications, etc.). It was designed to be a fine-grained, extremely sharp panchromatic black-and-white film for making extremely large prints.

Later, its sensitivity would be increased slightly to ASA 32. Even at this higher sensitivity, Panatomic X remained the slowest of the Kodak X series of black-and-white films, slower than the faster Plus X, Super XX, and Tri X.

The film was discontinued at some point in the 1940s, only for Kodak to bring it back in the late 1950s. After that, Panatomic X would remain in production for decades, until in the late 1980s or early ’90s, it was definitively discontinued.

Making the Photos

It was in just such a dusty camera bag that I found one old roll of Kodak Panatomic X. The box was stamped with an expiration date of 1970, which placed my roll’s age somewhere around 55 years. I held the film for a moment and wondered.

In late 2019, I’d stumbled upon a similarly aged roll of Kodak Plus X Pan in much the same way. That roll of film was forty-or-so years old, and yet it had made pretty good pictures. My experience with that roll of film even resulted in a well-loved article, an article as interested in film photography as it was in pets, kids, life, and living it.

Would this slower, older film make decent pictures, too?

The camera bag in which I’d found my new old roll of film contained a number of other things. Notably, a Canon EOS Elan II, one of the best, most advanced 35mm film cameras that Canon ever developed. Which is not what I would have expected.

How, I wondered, did this roll of film end up with a Canon EOS camera made sometime between 1995 and 2000? Even then, this roll of film was almost 30 years old.

Weird. But then, the whole world is weird.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of perceiving that old things are precious. I might have looked at this fifty-year-old roll of film and said, “No. Not today. Today is not special. I must await a special moment.”

Perhaps that’s how this roll of film survived to the 2020s. Who knows.

But things are meant to be enjoyed, or at least experienced, and on the very day that I unpacked my new old Canon EOS Elan II and discovered the barnacle of film clinging to its underside, I knew its days as an unexposed emulsion were over. Later that morning, my kids and wife and I went for a walk. The Canon went with me, loaded with a fifty-year-old roll of film.

The waterfront at Plymouth, Massachusetts is a funny place. Superficial wisdom would have us think that it’s where the United States was born, where the Mayflower sidled up to the coast, and where The Pilgrims first set foot on American land in 1620.

Plymouth Rock, the rock upon which the Pilgrims placed their wiggly toes upon first disembarkation, is cradled within a majestic granite monument, which probably cost millions of dollars to make. There’s a towering statue of a Native American (which, I add without comment, was erected by a white’s only, men only club known as the Improved Order of Red Men), and an exact replica of the Mayflower which can be toured for $18 a person.

There’s a Hawaiian-themed smoothie bar. There’s a guy who endlessly plays a flute, but the only song he knows is Under the Sea from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. There’s a cupcake shop sitting within the perpetual stinking miasma of the active commercial fish pier. On the day that I most recently visited, there was a sword-fighting instructor conducting classes upon one of the many small park spaces. He had a two-handed broadsword and what appeared to be hockey pads, and he was being repeatedly and noncommittally slashed by his apprentices, one of which was wearing a Naruto t-shirt and cargo shorts.

See? Funny place.

I’m just here to take pictures.

Kodak Panatomic X is slow. At ISO 32, it’s going to need a lot of light, and since my roll of film is fifty years old with an expiration date of—

Uh oh! Hold on. Am I about to mention the expired film rule? The decades? The exposure compensation? Am I, really?

Yes. I am. But only to once again lambast it as being nearly as absurd as brandishing a broadsword in a public park on a sunny Sunday morning. The “over-expose by one stop for every decade past expiration” rule needs to die.

Think about it. I need to set my exposure compensation on an ASA 32 roll of film to plus 5. That’s what the rule says. Plus 5? Do the people who spout this nonsense know what an image made at +5 looks like? Because I’ve included one in this review. And here it is.

For results like this, remember to definitely adjust your exposure +1 for every decade that your expired film has aged.

The truth about shooting expired film is this. It’s very simple. To shoot expired film, any expired film, over-expose the film by one stop. Just one. A single stop, regardless of when the film expired. Set the exposure compensation dial to +1, or do it manually. After that, just meter normally, shoot normally, develop normally, and expect the worst.

I mounted a 28mm Canon EF lens to the EOS Elan II. It’s a fast prime lens with a wide focal length that I enjoy shooting. It’s modern, with excellent optical coatings, all-encompassing depth of field, and a fast aperture for use in low light. Great lens, great camera, old film – a nice combination.

I spent the day walking about with my kids and wife. We went into some shops. Touched some plants. Ate and drank some sensible yet delicious refreshments. I even found a Nikon film camera for sale in an antique shop for just $25.

Wow. What a day. The only thing that could ruin it is if I botched developing the film.

Developing the Film

Much as I’m repulsed by the expired film over-exposure rule, so too do I reject over-thinking film development.

I don’t imply that those careful, meticulous photographers who can recognize the difference between a negative developed at 78 degrees versus one developed at 74 degrees are wrong to be so meticulous and careful. I’m only admitting that I’m not among them.

My development process with this film was identical to my development process with any film (black and white). I look at Kodak’s data sheet (archived here by the ever-generous Mike Eckman), I look at Massive Dev Chart’s site, I take their recommendations for time (if available – if not, as was the case here, I default to my randomly-selected and largely uneducated guess time of 9 minutes), add about a minute when developing expired film, use whatever developer I find under my bathroom sink, and I develop the film.

In this case, I developed with Ilford Ilfosol 3, mixed 9:1 with water that felt as warm as the air in my bathroom. I developed for about ten minutes with agitation for the first thirty seconds of the first minute, and then further agitation for just fifteen seconds every minute afterward. I rinsed and fixed at 9:1, for five minutes.

After that, I use Lightroom to edit (read: ruin) every picture I make.

Those meticulous and careful photographers that I mentioned earlier might look at my images and fret that the highlights are blown out, or that the shadow detail is lacking. But for me, the resulting images are better than I could expect from a fifty-year-old film.

Not bad, Kodak. Not bad.

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Until now, the only Ferrania film that’s come to fruition has been their historic panchromatic 80 ISO black-and-white film known as Ferrania P30 (in 35mm and, most recently, 120 format). But this year on the 29th of March, Ferrania announced its second product. Called Ferrania Orto, the new film is an orthochromatic 50 ISO black-and-white film. 

Not without pride and, dare I say, a pinch of defiance, Ferrania presents its newborn film stock, telling us that “the past century’s problems are today’s features!” To unobtrusively allude to the creative potential of Orto, the company describes it as “P30’s quirky cousin.” A film which simply can’t see red light. So, knowing already the distinctive features of P30, one would expect the new Orto as well to render virtually the same high contrast and low grain images, though with very dark reds.

But what is Orto actually all about?

A Bit of Context

As a matter of fact, orthochromatic film isn’t new. It’s been around since the late 19th century, and introducing a modern orthochromatic emulsion today may seem a bit nostalgic, even anachronistic.

Back in the day, orthochromatic film was the only available option, and it posed a lot of problems for the production of motion pictures. For one thing, due to its reduced sensitivity to the light spectrum, this early blue- and green-sensitive emulsion wasn’t particularly good at rendering skin tones. Thus, only the extension of its spectral sensitivity to the red light enabled a more accurate representation of the colors on the light spectrum. This deficiency of early emulsions may partly explain why there are only a few orthochromatic film stocks still available today. 

Arguably the most popular, or at least the most commonly available orthochromatic film stocks here in Europe, are Ilford Ortho+ 80 and Rollei Ortho 25, making the new Ferrania Orto fit roughly in the middle between them with its declared sensitivity of 50 ISO. The same is also true for the price of Orto, which lies somewhere between Ferrania’s main competitors. Here in Italy you can usually find it for about €11,5. [In the USA it costs $11.99, a dollar more than Ilford Ortho+ and about the same as Rollei’s ortho film.]

However, Ferrania, unlike Ilford and Rollei, is known to be shy about revealing any technical information about their film. Thus, apart from its nominal sensitivity and some published development recommendations, we don’t have much data to consider.

We may however expect Orto to have a similar spectral sensitivity curve, and therefore similar performance to that of Rollei Ortho and Ilford Ortho+. It is an orthochromatic film, after all. But having no experience with either of its competitors, I won’t speculate any further on the possible similarities between them and Ferrania Orto. Instead, I’m going to write about my thoughts on the latter after shooting and developing at home two rolls of this new film stock. 

Dungeness Architecture Shot with a Yashica Mat and Ilford Ortho Plus

"Don't go to Dungeness, it's bleak as hell and everyone lives in sheds." Despite the warning, I went, and shot the place on film...

Before Orto

For the last six months or so I’ve been almost exclusively shooting black-and-white film, mostly Fomapan 100 in 35mm. What started at first as a choice of convenience (on this side of the Atlantic the prices of film have been going crazy) soon became my loyal companion for everyday casual shooting. I’ve gradually grew quite fond of Fomapan’s grainy and unpretentious look, which makes it well suited for taking gritty images on the street. Besides, the low price and widespread availability of Fomapan makes it a great black-and-white film to get started with film photography.

However, I must admit that Fomapan 100 is by no means a perfect film. It is too grainy for such a slow emulsion, it often struggles to accurately record high contrast scenes, and it has a pretty nasty glowing effect around strong light sources. Couple this list of imperfections with the fact that Fomapan is actually a panchromatic film, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more distinct film stock to Ferrania’s Orto. That’s why, when I my trusted local film store happened to receive a fresh batch of Ferrania Orto, I jumped at the opportunity to take a break from Fomapan and try something completely different.

I haven’t shot all the black-and-white film on the market; not even close. Except for Fomapan, I’ve only shot Agfa APX in both 100 and 400 ISO, and had some rather sporadic experience of shooting the widely praised  and long gone Fuji Acros II, but only in medium format. Needless to say, I’m not going to directly compare Ferrania Orto to the long list of black-and-white films, though I may mention a couple of instances where it stands out. 

My Experience with Ferrania Orto 

Bearing in mind all the peculiarities and quirks of Orto, I thought it would be interesting to see how it performs in a number of different settings. Most importantly, I was curious to see how it renders reds compared to other colors. So, I waited for a sunny day to feed a fresh roll of Ferrania Orto into my trusty Nikon FM2, and set off on the quest for red-colored subjects. 

Even though Ferrania doesn’t recommend using Orto for street photography because of its relatively slow speed, I found out that with enough light and reasonably steady hands I could still make rather decent pictures on the move. It applies not only to still objects like road signs, buildings and flowers on a windless day, but also to such erratic subjects as dogs. I could even freeze a flying bird’s wings right in the air.

Moving on to colors, the reds, as expected, turned out pretty dark. For instance, they are almost indistinguishable from originally black lettering on the road signs. I even attempted to take a picture of a red flower on a kitchen table using my tripod to avoid any camera shake. Even being hit with a strong beam of light, the red flower’s petals are still rendered by Orto almost like their own deep black shadow. 

The blues and greens, on the other hand, tend to be over-exposed, and I should’ve considered it before photographing seascapes. Unfortunately, since I was going to develop both of my rolls at once after I had shot them, I couldn’t see the negatives beforehand and correct my exposure accordingly. As a result, it’s almost impossible to see the horizon line between the sky and the water in the seascape shot that I made. Overall, skies on Orto are lacking tonal gradation, and are often rendered as very bright blank spaces. 

Finally, being aware of the limits of Orto, I took only a couple of portraits to see how it renders caucasian skin tones. I wasn’t expecting too much from those photos, but I kind of liked the results, since they have that early-cinema look to them. That being said, I don’t think I will take portraits on Orto if I ever get my hands on it again. Instead, I’d rather go shoot some more landscapes where this film could really shine.

[Words and images in this article are kindly provided by Daler Fergani, whose photography can be seen here.]

Ferrania P30 Alpha Film Profile, plus we chat with FILM Ferrania US Director David Bias

FILM Ferrania is a unique company with a unique product. The Italian cinema film maker reached their peak of influence in the mid-twentieth century, and their first new product since a 2014 resurrection is a 35mm stills film with roots in a hand-written formula dating to 1958. Ferrania P30 Alpha is a fine grain, ISO […]

Development charts

Although for the time being there’s no datasheet available for Orto, Ferrania was kind enough to provide us with some recommended development practices for this film stock. As a side note, they are virtually the same of P30, to which Orto “is chemically similar.”

After consulting the chart, I decided to develop both rolls at once in Rodinal 1:50 diluition at 20°C for 14 minutes. Then, I digitized all the negatives using my mirrorless Fujifilm camera and an adapted lens, the same Voigtländer 40mm f/2 with which I took almost all the photos for this article.

What is there for a Casual Photographer?

Felix Bielser, CEO of an Italian film retailer Punto Foto Group, told in his recent interview that bringing back an old orthochromatic film is to offer something different, something that stands out from the rest of the film photography industry. And I have to admit it, he’s got a point. The reduced light sensitivity to the red spectrum of Ferrania Orto does offer us a distinct new / old look. I believe that many of us would go for this different look. You may like it or not, but Ferrania Orto has its own character, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s definitely worth a try.

But even more importantly, and I guess it may sound a bit odd, for me the experience of shooting Orto was more about learning to care about colors. The knowledge about this film’s blindness to the red color prompted me to deliberately look out for it while I was shooting. The awareness of the idiosyncrasies of Orto made me slow down and opt for a more mindful shooting workflow. 

I understand that our film community hasn’t been pampered lately by film manufacturers, and some of us may have become a bit impatient, especially when having to deal with all the inconvenience of this odd hobby of ours. I’m sure that we’ve all been there, trying to be patient and not give up hope in the future of film photography. But the fact that after all these years a small company such as Ferrania has managed to make available another film emulsion should help us to be a little bit more hopeful and to keep making pictures.

If there’s something at all that I’ve learned since I got into film photography, it’s that it takes a hell lot of time to see the results of your work, and it defenitely leaves no room for impatience. So, if I have to wait for another three years to try out a new film emulsion, I’ll do it. Because, in the meantime, I’ll still be able to shoot my good old Fomapan.

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Today’s Guest Post was submitted by…

Daler Fergani is a full time shutterbug and a language fiend who never leaves home without a film camera and a good old paper book. In between photographic escapades, Daler tries to work on PhD research in Linguistics. To enjoy more of Daler’s images, please visit Instagram here.

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When I heard that another option in film was coming, I knew I had to try it. I sent a cheeky email asking if AW needed a product tester and the team there was kind enough to oblige me. They also offered to develop the film for me, but I opted to do it myself since I wanted to see how the film performs in the hands of an enthusiastic amateur who enjoys engaging with the entire process of film photography.

But before we get to my experience with WonderPan 400, and my results, let’s first explore a bit of the history of Analogue Wonderland, and what we get when we buy a roll this film.

What is WonderPan 400?

Over the past five years, Analogue Wonderland has grown quite a bit. The brand began with its founder, Paul, distributing film from home. Now it is a film distribution business with several employees and a film lab, servicing customers from all around the world.

To celebrate their success, Paul and the team wanted to try something new and inspire people in the process. A brainstorming session brought forth the questions, “How do we encourage people to get creative with their film?” and “How can we encourage people to experiment with push processing their film?”

From that launching point and after conversations with one of their film suppliers, AW purchased a batch of 100 ISO film with the plan that they’d release it as a film intended to be push-processed (the film is meant to be shot at 400 ISO, and the canisters are DX coded to this sensitivity).

You may ask “What is ‘pushing’ film? And if this film is actually 100 ISO film, why is it intended to be shot at 400 ISO?”

Here are the answers.

“Pushing” film is shooting a film at one or two stops above its nominal rating in order to deliberately under-expose it. Once the film is shot we then develop the film for a longer period of time than normal in order to compensate for the reduced exposure times. Pushing and push processing not only allows us to shoot in lower light conditions while maintaining high shutter speeds, it also adds contrast and grain to the final image, which changes the character of an image completely.

WonderPan 400 in Use

WonderPan 400 film canisters are labelled with a DX code so that cameras with automatic DX coding capability will set their meters to 400 ISO. Cameras without DX coding capability will need to be set manually, of course. But once the film is loaded and the meter set to 400, there’s really no additional special requirements when shooting WP400. Just shoot it as normal.

I loaded my roll of Wonderpan 400 into my Olympus OM-2, set the film speed to 400 and shot it over the space of a week or two during the lovely weather we had in the UK at the beginning of June 2023.

Yes, it was sunny in the UK! It doesn’t rain here all the time you know.

I shot half my roll on a walk with my grandsons close to my home, and the other half at a boating lake near my daughter’s home during a recent visit. On both days, the sunshine was very bright, hardly a cloud in the sky. I hoped that shooting a 100 ISO film at 400 would reduce the exposure time and help tame the harshness of the light. The only way I would know for sure would be when I developed my film, which is exactly why I shoot film to begin with. I never tire of the anticipation of seeing the results of my work when pulling freshly developed film from the tank.

Once I had shot my roll of WonderPan 400, I set about figuring out the developing times. I could have sent it back to Analogue Wonderland where the good folk in the WonderLab would have developed and scanned it for me, and done an excellent job of it, too. The lab techs have been experimenting with various developers to get the best out of this film and have a growing database of developing times and recipes available on the Analogue Wonderland website.

The beauty of shooting unknown film is in the development. When I went all in on B&W film, I wanted to learn to shoot and develop it, I would darkroom print it if I had access to one and the last three years have been quite an education for me. I developed my roll of WonderPan 400 for 17 minutes in Kodak HC110 dilution B (1+31) at 20 celcius.

Pulling the film off the reel to hang it to dry never gets old. It doesn’t matter what the film is, nor if you pushed, pulled or shot it a box speed. That first sight of the film you just developed emerging before your eyes still has me feeling like a kid at Christmas.

Would my film be any good? I gently released the end of the roll from the reel and held it up to the light to behold my freshly developed WonderPan 400.

I immediately knew I had chosen the right development time and dilution with HC110. My WonderPan 400 looked to be nicely developed and full of contrast, but obviously I wouldn’t know for sure until I had scanned it. With a contented grin on my face, I left my WonderPan hanging in my bathroom to dry.

The next day I scanned my roll of WonderPan with my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and processed the photos with Affinity Photo 2. I could see the oodles of contrast each image has once I had them on my PC monitor. It’s not quite all or nothing either, despite the rich blacks and mighty whites. A few deft moves with a slider is all you need to dial in the contrast to your own personal taste in a digital darkroom, and I also removed dust spots and scratches.

There’s a noticeable graininess to this film, but that’s true of all films that have been pushed two or more stops. I quite like it, to be honest, as it gives a timeless quality to the photos. Don’t be afraid to embrace the grain once you turn your negatives to positives. You could revive a classic camera and let your eyes guide you, it’s all part of the fun.

I would love to make a darkroom print of a couple of images that I am particularly fond of. The first half of my roll of WonderPan 400 was shot during a walk with my grandsons and the second half was shot during a walk with my daughter, so this roll has more than just a casual interest for me. Photography is all about preserving memories and WonderPan has captured those memories with a timeless quality.

WonderPan 400 is a limited run of 1000 rolls, and once they are gone, they are gone. If pushing film and trying something new sounds interesting, try not to miss out.

I had a lot of fun with WonderPan 400 and I have great images to remind me of two walks in the countryside with my family. It won’t be long before I do this again.

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I recently had the opportunity to take a rare vacation with my family, a sunny week away, a week of good food and natural beauty and warm beaches and quaint lighthouses and sherbet sunsets, and happy memories photographed. I shot it all on ORWO’s new color film.

My results have been mostly aligned with the expectations established in ORWO’s press release and on their website, the take-away being that ORWO Wolfen NC500 is an unusual cinematic film that will appeal to film photographers seeking a more “nostalgic” look.

Wolfen NC500 Color Negative Film (35mm Roll Film, 36 Exposures)

Buy Wolfen NC500 Color Negative Film (35mm Roll Film, 36 Exposures) featuring Daylight-Balanced Color Negative Film, ISO 500/28° in C-41 Process, Desaturated Shadows, Enhanced Grains. Review Wolfen Wolfen

What is ORWO Wolfen NC500

ORWO Wolfen NC500 is a color negative film with an ISO of 400. It has no remjet layer, which means that it can be processed anywhere that processes normal C-41 color film. It’s available in 35mm canisters of 36 exposures each.

The picture profile, according to ORWO’s documentation, is that Wolfen NC500 makes images with green overtones, de-saturated shadows, and enhanced grains. I’ve found that only some of this is true.

At its heart, Wolfen NC500 is a cinema film. The chemical formula for the film is reportedly based on an old Agfa film type called Agfa XT320, a film that was used to shoot movies such as Out of Africa, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

ORWO is careful to mention their intention with Wolfen NC500. In their press material, they state: “We are not trying to imitate current stocks available on the market, we are creating an alternative, something with different characteristics and a different palette.”

That sounds like Lomography-speak, and I suspect it’s a way for ORWO to distance the new film from the competition and to perhaps deflect any direct comparisons in the areas of grain structure, tonality, and dynamic range (areas where, after my initial testing, ORWO doesn’t exactly stand toe-to-toe).

But hey, a new color film! Let’s shoot it.

My Experience with ORWO Wolfen NC500

To start, let’s look at the name. ORWO Wolfen NC500.

The “Wolfen” part, I get. The stuff is made in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, where ORWO has manufactured film since 1910. That’s neat, I suppose. I’ve never been there. The place could be a hell-hole, for all I know. But let’s be charitable and assume it’s a beautiful place. I’m sure it is.

But then we have that numbering. NC500. Five hundred.

“Okay, so we’re looking at a 500 ISO film?” I ask.

“Nein!” exclaims ORWO. “It’s ISO 400.”

“Then why didn’t you call it NC400?”

“Because, you fool, we already have a film called NC400!”

And it’s true. They do have a film called ORWO Wolfen NC400. It was developed and released alongside NC500, and is remarkably similar to NC500, except it presents images that are more saturated, finer-grained, and much cooler (blue toned). Incidentally, they’re both rated as ISO 400 films.

But that’s enough of that. I load the film into a Nikon N60 fitted with the classic Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, load a second roll into a Canon Snappy Q, and search my splayed carry-on bag’s disheveled contents for the snorkel that I’m sure I packed.

A few hours later I’m standing incongruously upon a sandbar in the Gulf of Mexico. I didn’t find my snorkel, and I used all of the sunscreen on my children, leaving none for myself. I’m sure that I’m on my way toward sun poisoning.

A pair (or a dozen, who can be sure?) of dolphins are mere meters away, hunting fish, breaching the turquoise waves, getting closer and closer. I apprehensively wonder if dolphins are truly as friendly as people say, and ineffectually ponder over how weird dolphins are, if you think about it. (They’re slippery grey tubes and they produce milk.)

I find a sea urchin and, for some reason, pick it up. I’ve never seen a living sea urchin, much less held one, and as it tickles its way across my palm with its myriad spiny feet, I take a moment to wonder if it’s poisonous. I show it to my girls and they scream and flee. The urchin is eager to get back into the water, and I oblige it.

I decide it’s time to take some pictures.

Shooting ORWO Wolfen NC500 is the same as shooting any other film. Put it in a camera, point the camera at what matters, and take a picture. Here are some of my real-world results.

[NOTE: Since returning from the deserted beaches of Florida, I have shot additional rolls of NC500 in more controlled and various situations, and have bracketed exposure testing completed. I will update this article when those images are processed. Interested photo nerds should revisit this article in June.]

My images made with NC500 appear de-saturated, slightly under-exposed when shooting at box-speed, low in contrast, high in grain, very green and very yellow.

Lightroom corrections have helped to bring the film closer to what I consider acceptable white balance, but straight from the lab, the scans were too yellow and too green. This could be a result of the film lacking an orange base-layer, so expect to color correct if you all don’t love the ultra-yellow look.

After years of shooting expired color film, often with mixed results, I’m inclined to think that these shots would have come out better had I cranked the exposure compensation to over-expose by a stop or two.

Diving a little deeper, let’s look at the grain structure. It’s heavy and exaggerated, and it does tend to diminish some of the detail of the film. Color films from Kodak’s Pro line certainly render sharper and cleaner images, and even ORWO’s own Wolfen NC400 has finer grain. Recall, however, that sharpness and cleanliness are not the intended goals for Wolfen NC500. Wolfen NC500 is not a true-to-life film. Not even close.

The de-saturation is certainly a vibe. Colors are muted across the range, but especially so in the blue tones. Believe me when I say that the skies of Florida and the waters of the Gulf are all far bluer than images from this film indicate. Plants are greener, too. For those seeking to simply document the colors of the world as it is, Kodak’s color films are much better in this regard.

Lastly, ORWO’s new color film is not cheap. Pricing ranges from shop to shop, but NC500 typically costs in the area of $17 per 36 exposure roll. Compared with some other color films, ORWO is pricey.

But ORWO is not seeking to make a competitor to Kodak or Fuji’s color film. As per their own press material, ORWO Wolfen NC500 is intended to be an eccentric film that makes images with a nostalgic, cinematic flair. Like Lomography (a brand for whom ORWO manufacturers color film, incidentally), ORWO is attempting to create a niche within a niche. With this in mind, I believe Wolfen NC500 is a success.

Wolfen NC500 Color Negative Film (35mm Roll Film, 36 Exposures)

Buy Wolfen NC500 Color Negative Film (35mm Roll Film, 36 Exposures) featuring Daylight-Balanced Color Negative Film, ISO 500/28° in C-41 Process, Desaturated Shadows, Enhanced Grains. Review Wolfen Wolfen

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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.]

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The post I Shot Wolfen NC500, a New Color Film from ORWO appeared first on Casual Photophile.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm is checked based on Ferrania’s prior struggles and the opacity in their communication.

Ferrania has a history of announcing and then not releasing products. Their initial Kickstarter promised a color film, and we all know how that went. And then last year we heard that their ISO 80 black and white film, P30, was soon to come in 120 format. That has yet to materialize. Quite frankly, the company has seemed to vacillate between existing, and not, for the past several years.

Granted, the last couple of years have been notoriously challenging for all businesses. It’s no real surprise that a smaller film manufacturer is struggling. And granted, too, that after months of virtually no updates, Ferrania thankfully seems resurgent. Ferrania P30 is once again in stock, and the company recently rolled out a fairly interesting QR code system to track production information on individual rolls. That’s genuinely unique in the industry (at least from a consumer facing standpoint).

Getting back to Orto and the announcement, Ferrania pointedly waited until April 2nd to announce Orto, so I do think this is a legitimate product announcement as opposed to an April Fool’s stunt. Let’s be clear. Orto is real, and I’m not claiming otherwise.

But is the new Orto any different than Ferrania P30? Sure, the boxes say that one is pan-chromatic and ISO 80 (P30) and one is ortho-chromatic and ISO 50 (Orto). But are they?

As part of his excellent deep dive into film stocks, the Naked Photographer illustrated that Ferrani P30 showed an ortho-chromatic response, in that it didn’t seem to respond to red light (or green for that matter). That’s kind of a big deal since the film’s box proudly declares itself “Panchro,” as in pan-chromatic.

The skepticism and confusion isn’t helped by the fact that Film Ferrania has never released proper data sheets for P30, and that it doesn’t have one posted for Orto at this time. Maybe P30 has a more limited spectral response but isn’t “technically” ortho-chromatic. But given the testing by Naked Photographer and my own shooting, it looks to be pretty darn close. And I can’t help but notice that even Film Ferrania recognizes the similarities between P30 and the new Orto. It calls the two films “cousins,” they share the same development recommendations (Film Ferrania doesn’t actually publish official development times, again frustrating), and Orto shares P30’s general contrast and low-grain. Even the ISO of 50 seems strangely similar, given that many recommend shooting P30 at ISO 50 anyway, to get a little more latitude from the finicky stock. Ferrania’s own recommendations even point to this.

The real issue here is the lack of data sheets from Film Ferrania, both with Ferrania’s earlier film, P30, and with the new Orto. If you’re new to film, these sheets might seem like inscrutable technical documents, but they actually contain a wealth of information. Using filters is one of the great creative tools in black and white photography. Data sheets show what your options exist. Night shooting means you need to understand how a film responds to extremely low light (i.e. reciprocity failure), data sheets tell you how to convert your exposure times. Does your film need to be exposed differently under Tungsten lights? Data sheets.

It was somewhat excusable for Ferrania to not provide documentation when P30 was in an alpha state. After all, an alpha of a film emulsion indicates the final formula might change, so you don’t want to put all that in writing if it’s going to need revision a year later. But P30 is years old at this point, and we still get nothing more than the ISO from Film Ferrania.

Small film producers like Adox put out industry standard data sheets. Rollei uses modern graphic design to make their sheets not just informative, but engaging to a more casual reader. Even little Film Washi, which is run by one guy, puts out datasheets with meaningful information.

Of course Ferrania is not the only offender. Lomography also has fairly light documentation. They look quite nice (they even give you photo examples with different developers) but good luck finding much in the way of technical details. I give Lomography more of a pass, since they are rebranding other film stocks and their whole vibe is experimental. But it’s still not great for consumers and we’d be better off with that information.

But Film Ferrania is making their films, that’s their whole thing. They clearly have done extensive testing and they have the information. They must, to make the film. The only conceivable reason not to share technical documentation is that it would show the new Orto and the old Ferrania P30 to be extraordinarily similar.

To be clear, I believe Ferrania that these are distinct offerings. I do not believe this is simply an exercise in branding. But a total lack of technical documentation, given that Ferrania itself recommends the same development times between the two, indicates to me that information would only serve to further conflate these already very similar products.

Ferrania P30 80 ISO Film (35mm, 36 Exposures)

Buy Ferrania P30 80 ISO Film (35mm, 36 Exposures) featuring Panchromatic Black & White Negative Film, ISO 80/21° in Standard Process, High Contrast and Fine Grain, Rich, Deep Shadows, DX-Coded 35mm Canister. Review Ferrania P30

Chinatown is Empty - Shot by Yameen on Lomography and Ferrania Film

Yameen, today's guest writer, brings us along to photograph San Francisco's Chinatown with Lomography film, a Mamiya 7 and a Nikon L35AF.

All that being said, Ferrania P30 is the most distinctive black and white film I’ve ever shot. I truly love the look of the film and it feels completely unique in today’s film ecosystem. Seeing Ferrania go dark with production truly bummed me out. As a community, we are better with Film Ferrania in the market. It’s just that given the lack of information Ferrania historically puts out about its films, I’m forced to question how distinct of an offering we’re really getting here, with the new Orto.

I think of a company like Adox, which is making similar low-speed, fairly specialized offerings with a small team. Not only are their products much more differentiated, but we get the same technical specifications we’d expect from Kodak, FujiFilm, or Foma.

Once Ferrania’s Orto gets into the hands of testers, I hope we see lab and real world use meaningfully differentiate these two films. I truly hope we see this company continue production and keep introducing new ideas into the analog world. It cannot be understated how difficult making a film emulsion is, and the fact that Ferrania came through pandemic lock-downs and a period of hideous global supply chain constrictions to resume production is a minor miracle that I am grateful for.

I will keep shooting P30, because it is a beautiful and unique film. But I can’t help but find Ferrania’s latest release, and it’s lack of documentation, a little frustrating.

Buy Ferrania film from B&H Photo Here

Ferrania P30 80 ISO Film (35mm, 36 Exposures)

Buy Ferrania P30 80 ISO Film (35mm, 36 Exposures) featuring Panchromatic Black & White Negative Film, ISO 80/21° in Standard Process, High Contrast and Fine Grain, Rich, Deep Shadows, DX-Coded 35mm Canister. Review Ferrania P30

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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 Opinion – What is going on with Ferrania’s new film Orto?  appeared first on Casual Photophile.