Roll Up, Roll Up - SAMPLES!!!

At last Samples for the world. There's only so much I can shoot and test myself!

This bunch of film, approx 150 rolls of 36exp will define if this project is worth pursuing! 

As an added bonus I had some Kodak V3 250D made up (I'm mostly shoot daylight) but there's only 30 rolls available and most of those are at Labyrinth photographic in East London - A few are also available through my online shop here: 

cinevisionfilm.tictail.com

There's about 120 Rolls of 640T / Vision3 (i've rated at 640iso as my testing has shown this to delver a great neg for scanning but i've not made any optical prints!)

*** Caveat Emptor ***

This is an experiment. This is the first run of a mostly undocumented test to remove Remjet. Whilst my own tests have shown the film to be perfectly usable, absolutely no liability will be accepted by me. This stock is identical to Cinestill, USA and every care has been taken to create an awesome cheaper UK based alternative.  

Scans Redux - Remjet Free Vision3 500T

Scanned as positives and inverted in photoshop with very basic colour correction using curves. Not the most sensational content but a good starting point for exploring this films capabilities. It feels smooth with solid colour. Of course the inversion/scanning process is far enough removed from darkroom printing that I cannot possibly speculate on how this film will print in the darkroom. 

All the colours in these scans are result of choice, below is a scan as a pure inversion without any adjustments. 

Contact Scan

At last, got a few scans made up of my first remjet free test roll!

Top on is a scan of the supplied c-type contact print the lower image a selection of the negatives scanned as a contact on the drum scanner.

C-Type Contact. Note the extreme colours and contrast. The daylight shots are understandably blue (I did not use any filtration to adjust for the tungsten balance of the film). The interior shots are mostly off too. In fact the most intriguing shots to me are the table lamp (mixed light, tungsten and afternoon light) and the portrait in late afternoon sun. I'll try and scan these up asap. 

Digital Contact (PrimeScan 1200dpi + manual inversion). The digital contact shows far more detail and less inherent contrast. I've just applied a global correction, neither biased for the daylight shots or mixed light shots. I've kept the black level up too, so it's a bit less contrasty. This film is rather nice, it's got tons of detail. I'm undecided on the colour.

My first shots.....

At last!
One sample roll, rated at iso640. I've only got these dodgy iPhone shots of the contact and neg. I'm not near my scanners until later this week but I look forward to putting the negs through there paces under the Primescan and trying my new inversion technique for colour negatives.
Super thanks to Labrynth London for speedy development and contact.  More samples rolls to come within a week or two.......

Patient X - The first roll of CineVision 

SAMPLES !!!

Yes, thats right! I have very limited samples of Vision3 500T with the remjet removed!

This is just the first very small batch produced in collaboration with a leading photochemical lab. The remjet has been removed using the actual ECN2 process and then development stages by-passed and film dried (plus a few other secret steps!). A sample from this batch has then been processed (with ECN2) and reviewed - result: perfect clear film, no gunk or debris, no accidental exposure!!! The film is good to go for testing in the wide world.
To keep cost down I'm hand rolling the film into re-used canisters, total up-cycling! All my testing will be performed with C41 process.

Vision3 500T - Coming to camera near you, soon!

Want some? You can purchase a few test rolls here via my online shop very soon!! I just want to run a few more rolls through and possibly make up some 250D stock as I'm more of a daylight shooter.

I'll be posting scans of my first few rolls asap!!

Not forgotten!

It's been a while! I've been busy making the money (or at least trying too) for a sample run of film.
I've got my base stock, 500T and i've settled on a lab and a price per foot for testing*. Simple..... Nearly except as ever I have a few other projects on the go. These have been eating into my money.

I had floated the idea of starting a Kickstarter. This in theory would be a great barometer of interest and would settle any concerns about the project financial viability. I read a great many posts and articles about successful campaigns. One leading thing the really sucsessful Kickstarters always returned to was there awesome social media usage. I'm not big on social media. This blog and my website are as social as I get out here in the digital ether. Also required was 100% attention to the task of promotion. I quite simply cannot guarantee that at this point. So i've settled on absorbing the cost of a sample run and hoping that distributing rolls among friends and interested parties will generate enough interest to gauge if this idea is worth taking to Kickstater or working out some kind of finance. Also these approch will create a base of images, not just my own work. So when I'm ready to blast the web, I have content.
And even the worst case scenario is pretty good. I end up with a few hundred rolls of colour film!

* Yes, i glossed over that detail. After many calls and some wise words from people far more informed than I am a price was arrived at per foot for the cost of Remjet removal. I had originally hoped this would be nearer the top end of the cost of developing film. Which I believe to be around 12-15pence per foot. Unfortunately the process is a bit more involved than I anticipated. A such the cost is a little higher than I feel would be idea but I sense if a small run is successful then there would be good grounds for bringing down the cost through volume.

Eternal Vision

Eterna or Vision?

I love Tri-X pushed, I miss Neopan 400. I use loads of Fuji C200 but switch to Kodak's Portra if it's an 'important' shoot. Film is an intimate and personal choice. They all have there quirks and own signature colourimetry that you learn through use.

This endeavour into motion picture film has opened up a whole load of questions about colour, grain, halation and processing tolerances. I'm really excited to see how Vision3 250D looks when shot as still and scanned by me, other examples are a guide but too little is know about there process. I tend to push my colour films to increase the grain, I'm rather keen on Seurat like colour noise derived from film grain, I tend to enhance it with a small aperture drum scan.

Detail of Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jette" 1886

Cinestill have chosen Kodak's well regarded Vision3 5219 500T Tungsten balanced film stock as the base of there 800T 35mm film*. There's obvious advantages to this choice, it's readily available new and as re-can. As is, there recent addition of Vision3 50D. But what of Fuji? Fuji also had a range of films stocks that included a Eterna 500t, 250D and 160D Vivid. Unfortunately these films are no longer in production but they available at incredibly attractive prices. I'm going to test them too..... 

* 800T but films E.I is 500T. I'm working up a post about the why and how the film is rated different from Kodak E.I recommendation. But i'm in process of reading up on film densitometry and gamma and how 'speed' is derived. All valuable learning as I near my first test batch of stocks.