Svema NK-2SH ASA 100 Soviet Cinematic Film Review

Svema NK-2SH is a black and white film that is a remake of the classic Soviet film NK-2. It is produced in the same city as the original, Shostka in The Ukraine, and partly with the same equipment. This film is described as “cinematic,” originally intended for use in motion pictures as a Cinema Film.

Astrum, a Ukrainian manufacturer, took over the production of Tasma films (Tatar Sensitized Materials or Татарские светочувствительные материалы) when they went out of production and now produces several black and white film stocks, including NK-2SH. The roll I have has been re-spooled by Chinese companies and is readily available online.

“..The Svema NK-2SH film is known for its fine grain and sharpness, though it requires careful handling and development to achieve the best results. It is recommended to shoot the film with consideration for lighting conditions and developer choice to manage contrast..”

Svema have many different Films available and a quick search online will reveal their whole series.

Camera Gear and Development

Now, I had no idea about the qualities of this Film and did no research whatsoever until after I had shot it. I knew it was an ASA 100 B&W Film and that’s it. As I use Diafine or rather Bellini Duo Step I am no longer concerned much about dev times and use a standard time, being 3 minutes solution A followed by 3 minutes Solution B then a water bath followed by the Fixer.

I had just received a Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.7 Planar and I have had a 40-80 f3.5 Vario-Sonnar lying around for a few months and this was an opportunity to try those lenses out with my Conttax RTS II.

The Shoot and Disaster

We went out on a family drive along the Suffolk Coast, I also had my Minolta a-7 loaded up with the other Film I was to test, disaster struck with both, the other I’ve written about elsewhere, but this had it’s own series of disasters.

Firstly after we left to see Orford Castle in Suffolk, the Zeiss 50mm Planar wasn’t focussing to infinity, it obviously had a fault, I twisted the focus ring too hard and it unscrewed and fell apart! I was then forced to use the 40-80 Vario-Sonnar.

The 40-80 is one of the worst lenses I have ever used; not in terms of optical performance but in terms of handling. It uses a push and pull focus and is quite a heavy metal chunk which meant the RTS II was front heavy, any slight movement and the lens crept, it’s like having Auto Zoom without any control of the matter. What rubbish. Not something you can pre-set to a certain focal length lift focus and shoot. Creep creep creep.

Then visited some beaches and Framlingham Castle – a spectacular one, for all its faults I managed to get some very satisfying compositions and the light was good. I shot with the yellow filter attached and using the camera’s meter did my usual exposing for the shadow areas (zone V) then reducing  2 Stops to get them to Zone III – this usually works well with the highlights which all fall into place.

We got home and I got my stuff ready, this is when disaster struck again, I made a foolish mistake allowing light into the changing bag with the film in it – after developing I was devastated to see that I had lost every frame apart from the first 10-12 I had shot and every frame taken of Framlingham Castle and most of the beaches and coast had gone forever. I haven’t shot anything for over 6 months and haven’t developed any B&W for the best part of a year so I guess I was being careless and rusty, no excuse.

Results and Conclusions

These are the results I had after scanning. Not much to work with considering this was supposed to be a review and test of the film but it’s all I had. It’s enough for me to determine and write about the characteristics of the Film and my thoughts on it though so it wasn’t all in vain.

The Film reminds me of a cross between Rollei Retro 80s and the worst Film I’ve ever tried; namely the junk which is Ferrania P30. I don’t mean that as a criticism, this film is very good, it’s very tricky to shoot with as you’ll need to understand that it has a lot of contrast and shadow detail is limited, but it has some lovely highlights and inky deep black shadows.

Too much contrast in the scene and it’ll let you down if you’re not careful as can be seen here in this photo of my son (looking annoyed as he hates being photographed). Shadow areas have merged with dark areas.

But with a more balanced light and you’ll be rewarded as with these two photos of Mrs Ibbs.

This film is excellent for work with shapes and shadow and gives a rich tonal separation and a lot of contrast with wonderful detail and resolution. Buildings, stone work and railings all work well, especially when the sun is out. Giving it an almost IR look a la Rollei Retro 80s

It’s easy to scan as well with no issues. It has very very fine grain and is smooth and would suit ‘Noir’ type scenes beautifully, much better than that junk which is (again) Ferrania P30.

So a disaster, having lost most of my hard work, but a Film I will be sure to buy and use again, more carefully this time and maybe without the Yellow filter for less contrast. I’d also set the shadows as Zone IV if wanting less contrast and then boost the highlights in post or in the darkroom if printing.

By the way I managed to send the Zeiss 50 back for a refund which was fine, for now I’ll stick with my Yashica ML.

All Photos:
Contax RTS II
Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 40-80 T* f3.5
Developed in Bellini Duo Step (Diafine)
Scanned on an Epson 4990 using Epson Scan software.
Edited in Lightroom 5 on an Apple Macinttosh Pro 2013.

This film was supplied for this review by Mark Xiao, who is currently running a business/project that imports films and other photographic accessories produced by reliable Chinese companies. He currently works closely with major producers from China such as Reflx Lab, Lucky and Alienfilm, but also connected with minor artisan workshops such as 617 Club who re-spool top quality Svema films from Ukraine. He is currently working with Aperture Printing in London and expanding his cooperation sphere further. If you are interested in these films, they will be available in Aperture Printing from April 2025. If you are interested in Mark’s business as a retailer, feel free to contact him via email at [email protected]

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