Nikon FA, Nikkor 50mm/1.8, Kodak Vision3 500T motion picture film
I have been shooting more and more of the Kodak Vision 3 tungsten motion picture film. This is a color negative film color-balanced for indoor artificial lighting which is warmer than natural daylight.
I love its color rendition under incandescent, halogen and even fluorescent and mixed lighting. Combined with its higher ISO speed it has become my go-to film for any indoor & nighttime shooting.
If you want to prepare to shoot it in daylight, throw a 85B color conversion filter on your lens and your color will come out fine.
This is not actually sold by Kodak for use in film still cameras, but there are two ways I am aware of acquiring it for such use:
- Purchase CineStill 800 from a store like Freestyle
- Purchase Kodak Vision 3 500T hand-rolled from the Film Photography Project
One major caveat you must be aware of: this film comes naturally from Kodak with a Rem-Jet backing used to ensure smooth movement through a motion picture camera. If the Rem-Jet backing is present you cannot have this developed through standard C-41 color negative chemistry.
The CineStill variety is easier to use because they pre-remove the Rem-Jet so you can have it developed pretty much at any lab. However the Rem-Jet also serves as this film’s anti-halation layer so you run the risk of getting a orange glow surrounding very bright light sources which are inside the frame. You can see this in my photos of the Tower Bridge engine room.
The FPP roles still have the Rem-Jet and avoid those halos, but they require special film development. So far I am only aware of one lab that offers that, the Little Film Lab which (luckily for me) operates out of the California Bay Area.
If you want to try this film don’t worry, either route works just fine. Give it a shot for your next indoor shooting and you might just get hooked like I did!
