I’ll be honest, I have never shot any cine stocks like Kodak 250D or 500T which seem to be shot by most people. There’s been a couple of reasons for that.
- Cine film was not always easily available in Australia in my opinion.
- Even if it was available the developing was not readily available or cheap in most cases.
So those two factors combined I had never really thought about giving any of those film stocks a try. Anyway, recently I acquired a roll of Fuji Eterna 250 D which had been expired in 2013, I really wanted to see what it was about and really wanted to try something different than the usual film stocks everyone tends to use.
All the pictures on this film stock were taken with my trusty Leica M6 and Voigtlander Nokton Vintage Line 35mm f/1.5 Aspherical Type II. None of the images below have been edited. They are “AS-IS” from the lab. I tried taking pictures in multiple lightning conditions to test what sort of results does it yield. In the picture above I immediately noticed 2 things.
- How grainy the image was despite being a 250 ISO film and,
- How there was overall lack of contrast in the image was.
In general, this film stock does have a “Fuji” character aka the popping greens, but I must admit the colours overall do pop in this stock.
It performs really well in sunlight but as soon as it even becomes a little bit overcast, the shadows don’t seem to have too much detail, if I try to pull more details in post, image seems to become muddier.
It gives off a very nostalgic vibe to the photos overall, which could be nice for some people these days who are out looking for such stocks but it’s not what I go after.
I like a more structured and pleasant look to my photos. If I want an older look, I just try to use an older lens to cut back the contrast.
Fuji 250D overall is too grainy and lacks contrast for me, true that I can add contrast in post but the grain for a daylight film is still quite prominent. I’d like to invest as less time in post when things in my control can already be taken care of. I can say for certain that this is not the stock I personally would reach out for any time again soon.
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Gary Smith on Fuji Eterna 250D – My first step into cine film stock
Comment posted: 12/10/2024
Comment posted: 12/10/2024
Louis A. Sousa on Fuji Eterna 250D – My first step into cine film stock
Comment posted: 12/10/2024
Comment posted: 12/10/2024
Geoff Chaplin on Fuji Eterna 250D – My first step into cine film stock
Comment posted: 13/10/2024
Comment posted: 13/10/2024
Graham Orbell on Fuji Eterna 250D – My first step into cine film stock
Comment posted: 14/10/2024
Cine film is designed for cine printing or scanning and that requires a less dense negative than is suitable for still photography scanning. This is so it can be printed or scanned at speed. It’s usually recommended to rate 250 ISO cine film at 160 / 125 ISO to reduce grain for still photography. I live in Auckland New Zealand and I use a film lab called Splendid that processes and scans ECN2 film giving excellent results. Scans can be downloaded. You can purchase Kodak 250D cine film ( and other film ) from Aliexpress. It’s packaged variously as Hitchcock or Nolan, in 36 exposure and 8 exposure cassettes. Takes 10 days to arrive to NZ, maybe a little quicker to Aus. and it gives very good results very economically. I find Aliexpress is reliable.
Your photos look nice but I don’t think they are a good test of cine film. They seem to have a green cast which might be processing, scanning, or expired or a combination of those. Get some fresh film and give it 3/4 stop extra exposure. And get it processed ECN2 and see the difference.
Comment posted: 14/10/2024
Comment posted: 14/10/2024