Trying tungsten-balanced film had been on my list of experiments for a while, and staying in Osaka felt like the perfect opportunity to shoot it. The city is incredibly bright at night, with neon lights everywhere, making it an ideal setting for a film that thrives in artificial lighting.
The tungsten-balanced film is designed for artificial lighting, and if you use it during the day, your photos will have a strong blue cast. This happens because the film is balanced for 3200K tungsten light, which is much warmer than daylight. Without a corrective filter, daylight will shift photos toward blue tones.
One of the most well-known tungsten-balanced films is CineStill 800T, which is essentially a respooled motion picture film Kodak Vision3 500T with the remjet layer removed. The remjet layer is a backing used to prevent static electricity and halation. Having remjet prevents standard photo labs from developing the film in C-41, because it ruins their chemistry. There is a special ECN-2 process for it, but very few labs offer it. Since CineStill removes this layer, it can be processed just like any other color negative film in C-41 chemistry.
CineStill 800T is quite expensive in general, but in Japan it’s even pricier. Fortunately, they have local respoolers offering the same film at a more affordable price. One of them is Marix, which repackages Kodak Vision3 500T as Marix 800T, with the remjet layer removed, making it C-41 compatible. I picked up three rolls of Marix 800T, shot two of them in Osaka, and brought one home for later.
Exposure index 🔗
Despite being labeled as 800T, it’s still just Kodak Vision3 500T, which is a 500 ISO film, not 800. Marix (and CineStill) market it as 800 because they claim it performs best when shot at 800. On various forums, people recommend rating it at 500 to avoid underexposed negatives that lack detail in the shadows. For me it makes sense, so I didn’t experiment here and exposed it at 500.
Light channeling and light leaks 🔗
I read that this film is quite sensitive to light leaks, when exposed to bright environment. This happens because light can channel through the canister, affecting the first few frames if the roll isn’t handled carefully. To avoid this, it’s best to not open the packaging until the last moment, load and unload the film in low light. I managed to keep one roll completely free of light leaks, but on the second roll, I did get several streaks at the beginning. They remind me of the light leaks I had on the Fomapan film.
Unexpectedly, in this case, position of the light leaks ended up being a pleasant surprise, complementing the neon-lit scenes rather than ruining them.
Side effects of removing the remjet layer 🔗
Another important role of the remjet layer is that it helps prevent halations, which occur when light reflects off the backplate of the camera and bounces back into the film. Halations are especially noticeable around very bright light sources, like light bulbs. In motion picture film, the remjet layer absorbs this reflected light, keeping the highlights clean.
Since CineStill and Marix 800T lack the remjet layer, halations become a signature characteristic of the film. In my case, I actually wanted to have halations intentionally, to add some glow to the night scenes. If I would be shooting a similar film during the day, I would rather prefer to avoid them.
However, removing the remjet layer also introduces some unwanted side effects. One issue I encountered was static electricity artifacts, which can happen if you rewind the film too quickly. On several photos, I noticed strange marks that looked like red and blue roots. You can see them in the bottom left corner.
I’m not entirely sure if the static electricity is the reason, as another possibility is that the remjet removal process hasn’t been done very carefully, leading to emulsion damage. Some frames have small dots and streaks that looked like imperfections in the film itself. I guess Marix might have same quality control issues, so I had to spend extra time cleaning up these artifacts on scans.
Final Thoughts 🔗
Even though I didn’t expect much, and this was more of an experiment for me, it actually turned out really well. I love the Blade Runner-esque look of these photos. The combination of halations, neon lights, and contrast gave the images a cinematic, futuristic feel that I was hoping for. It’s nice to have another brush in my toolkit!
ISO 500 is good enough for night scenes like these. Don’t expect your camera to be a night visor. You don’t need to make everything bright, unlit areas should remain dark to preserve the mood. That’s why proper metering is crucial.
The best approach is to use spot metering and meter for the mid-tones. If you rely on center-weighted or matrix metering, your camera will likely try to expose the scene evenly, thinking it’s too dark. By spot metering for surfaces that are lit by nearby light sources, you can maintain the natural contrast and convey the atmosphere of a night city.
