on films

Finally. A film I will (probably) never, ever buy again. Lomo x-pro slide film. What a bunch of yuck. In addition to spending the past couple of months testing out new (new to me, anyway) cameras, development processes, modifications, etc., I’ve also been testing out different films. Most times, I’ll order something new and like it so much, I’ll order more, leaving behind or neglecting the last bunch of film I loved so much that I just had to have more of. The thing that really stinks about this lomo hooey is that I bought three rolls up at once so I have one roll left to shoot. I hate the idea of just pitching it. It would be great to give it away but since I don’t know of anyone else (i.e., within handing or driving distance) who shoots film, I’ll just have to use it. (That said, my biggest fear is that the final roll will actually look good, making me think the first two were flukes, thereby pitching me back into the ordering more lomo loop.)

And it’s hard to say just what it is that I dislike so much about this film. Maybe I expected more vibrant colors? Or something more like what I’d get with the fuji slide films? I ran the first roll through a non-lomo camera and thought maybe the drab, washed-out and uninteresting colors had something to do with that—or maybe my color dev was shot? So I shot the second roll with the Smena 8 and while a few of the images were do-able/viewable as color, most of them were only salvageable if I flipped them to b/w in photoshop. (As for my color dev kit, I developed other film between and it still seems to be okay.) Suffice it to say that the best part of trying this lomo cross-pro is that I can now say that there’s most definitely a film I will not purchase again. The hard part will be remembering that I ever felt this way (or that I ever tried this film) three months from now when I’m looking for new films to test.

. . .As for brands/types I’m definitely loving. Walgreens' color negative film. Holy smokes. Surprisingly great results with this incredibly low-cost film. Had it not been on super-sale (or had I not noticed it was on super sale) the last time I stopped in to Walgreens. . .well, I’d still be mainly/only using the fujicolor from Walmart. In terms of (far less-inexpensive) b/w film, I’m loving the adox chs art film. Double holy smokes. If I had to choose only one b/w film to work with (and if I could afford to work only with this film), this would be it. Bad, bad lomo. Delightful, delightful adox chs art (see images below).