CineStill has made unique color films available for still photographers for over a decade now. Beginning with our small-batch beta films — making motion picture film compatible for standard photo lab processing and printing for the first time ever! Shortly followed up by the first factory finished versions of 800Tungsten & 50Daylight “Xpro C-41” — based on scaling our original “Premoval” process for expanded worldwide availability. And now to our further improved manufacturing of 800T, 400D and 50D — marrying advanced motion picture technology with professional photography components and specifications, in 135, 120 and 4x5 formats. We have always strived for consistency and technical excellence, while championing the unique characteristics and imperfections of film. But there still is a real difference between a predictable novel quality and a true deficiency. In this post-digital age, it is more important than ever for those who choose to shoot on film (whether amateur, professional, or anything in between) to get both their time and money’s worth. Ultimately, we encourage everyone to shoot more film, any film, and find what works best for you! However, it is our responsibility to manage what consumers can expect from CineStill film, and why their experiences may differ should they choose to go elsewhere.

When searching for CineStill films have you come across any “brand new” color films “made by” random brands lately? Are their claims strikingly similar somehow? Have they cracked the CineStill code? No, they have not. We are not here to be nit-picky or point fingers and name names — which might get a little confusing — but some names may sound familiar to you by now. Those “800T” imitations and “400D” generics (repurposed from existing 500-speed or 250-speed motion picture film, respectively) are not representative of the original motion picture film’s quality nor the performance of CineStill films’ sensitivity and color fidelity. Although they may replicate the signature CineStill red halation glow, they are only somewhat comparable to expired film, in that they appear age fogged with shifted color-balance and exhibit a slower effective film-speed (200-400 ISO at best) resulting in a film not suitable for proposed use, let alone low-light photography; that is unless you like underexposed/expired film. For those looking for fresh film, we are fortunate to still have several other excellent high-speed color films available today (even with the recent unavailability of 400H and C200) — from UltraMax and Portra 400 to Lomo 800 and Portra 800 — but 800T is still the only tungsten-balanced, true 800-speed film made for still photography. Anything else, isn’t…

After years of research and development, we’re are proud to release our reinterpretation of classic cinematic chemistry, the CineStill way. Following the lead of our other chemistry offerings, simplicity is key. As with Cs41 “Color Simplified” 2-Bath kit, the Df96 Monobath Single-Step solution, and the Cs6 “Creative Slide” 3-Bath process, we are making at-home processing modernized, simplified, and safe.

Introducing the CineStill Cs2 “Cine Simplified” ECN 2-Bath Kit. Low contrast, cinema style processing for all color film. A complete, easy-to-use, 2-bath process for photographers, which produces low-contrast color negatives synonymous with the motion picture workflow. A safe and foolproof process, without all of the troublesome byproducts of the original industrial method.

CineStill 50Daylight

You may recognize the above image by Rob Hauer from our web site sample images of our 50Daylight emulsion. Rob was an early tester of our CineStill 50Daylight emulsion, but since then he has continued to capture beautiful images on CineStill 50D and 800T with an incredible eye for composition and light! It is really interesting to see what a director of photography does with...