I think November was my first truly slow month in regards to shooting film this year, but I also feel like I have accidentally discovered my winter film stock...

Winter last year was a total miss, and I’ve been hoping for some snow this year. Sods law, then, that it snowed on a day I was going to be at work. My commute during sunrise would be my only chance to be in it unless it stuck around for more than a few hours (spoiler… it didn’t). I had hoped to share a decent blog post similar to the photos I took during the first frost a few weeks ago, but it was not meant to be.

All photos in this post were scanned on the Noritsu HS-1800.

And here I’ve made a before/after to show the blackpoint adjustment I decided to make in LR after scanning. Both look great to me, but my taste leans toward the deeper blacks…

Anyway, Kentmere 400 pushed to 1600. What a vibe. These couple of snow photos were shot before the sun had even risen properly. I’d imagine f2.8 or there abouts at 1/30th.

*Gulabi film lab. Torrisdale St, Glasgow*

Looking at these photos I’m feeling that it could easily be pushed another stop to 3200, which means for these next few months Kentmere 400 allows an insane amount of flexibility at a very low price.

I can’t believe how good it looks. Only the other day I was telling my pal about how I prefer digital for black and white, but maybe past me can go fuck himself.

Kentmere 400 retails ~£5.

Though if you’re not opposed to bulk rolling then you can pick up a 100’ roll for £60 and smash out 18 rolls (36 exp), which is like £3.33 per roll. Bargain.

That’s almost SIX rolls to ONE roll of Portra 800. Madness.

Of course, there are set up costs with bulk loading. Assuming you buy new (don’t), the bulk loader will cost roughly £80 and a dark bag around £20. And for the casual shooter I wouldn’t exactly recommend spaffing £100 on something you may do once and hate it because then you’ve just paid £8.86 per roll and that blows.

If you’re a casual shooter, maybe just £20-25 on a few rolls for the next few months would be a good shout.

I guess one of the main considerations for commiting to shooting at 1600 (or even 3200) is that unless you use ND filters, being outside during daylight could prove difficult if you’re someone who enjoys shooting lenses wide open.

That isn’t typically my outdoors shooting style anyay, as more often than not I’m floating around f8-f11 with adequate light.

It also means I’m able to shoot f1.4-f2 indoors and maintain a decent shutter speed. I think the following were 1.4 or 2 with a shutter around the 1/125 mark.

*Sam maintaining a loader for one of the many SP-500’s*

*Chris at the main scanning battlestation*

As I mentioned earlier, November was a slow film month for me. The one roll of Kentmere 400 was in the camera for most of the month which is rare, and I dunno, I guess I’d just given up on thinking I’d be happy with any of the photos due to feeling uninspired.

Seeing how this film looks has given me a kick up the arse so I’m gonna get back on it now.

I’ll maybe take a couple rolls with me for my visit to London in a couple of weeks…

Here’s a some more from the roll: