Using analog photography for most of my Street Photography has been my preference, with a digital camera being my backup choice only during rainy weather. Typically, I favor black and white film, but this summer, I felt a strong urge to capture the vibrant colors of the season with color film. As I looked to buy color film, I noticed that the prices had significantly increased compared to when I started shooting film four years ago. The cost of around £12 for a single roll of 35mm color film was disheartening.
However, a turning point came when I stumbled upon a valuable piece of information while reading ‘Old School Photography’ by Kai Wong. The book revealed that Cinestill 800T was essentially Kodak Vision3 500T film, a motion picture film with its ramjet layer removed. Eager to explore this further, I searched online and found that in the UK, individuals were respooling this film from bulk rolls and selling 36-exposure 35mm cassettes for about £7. This revelation was exciting because it meant I could shoot color film at a cost comparable to black and white.
But there was a slight complication. Kodak Vision3 film requires the ECN-2 development process, different from the standard C41 process. The ECN-2 process was less common, resulting in higher development costs and longer turnaround times. Additionally, the film had a ramjet layer that needed removal for it to be developed using C41, a process known as cross-processing.
Curious about the differences between developing Kodak Vision3 film using ECN-2 and C41, I experimented. I purchased two rolls of Kodak Vision3 250D film and loaded one in each of my Pentax MX cameras with the same lens. I captured the same scene in London using the same settings for exposure. The objective was to have a direct comparison between the two processes. The challenge was to develop the film using C41 without the ramjet layer and see how it compared to the ECN-2 results.
After experimenting, I sent one roll to a lab for ECN-2 development and developed the other roll myself at home using the C41 process after removing the ramjet layer. The results were enlightening. The photos developed using C41 were slightly yellowish compared to the ECN-2-developed ones. They also appeared more contrasty with some loss of details in highlights. However, the results were surprisingly similar after making minor color corrections while scanning the C41-developed negatives. The color correction shifted the yellow hue towards magenta, making the photos less warm and matching the ECN-2 results closely.
Source: 35mmc
