Kodak Vision3 250D

NOTE: I’ll begin this experience report with a brief disclaimer. It’s been less than three years since I returned to shooting 35mm film after switching to digital photography over 20 years ago. I’ve inundated myself with as much film education as possible between web articles and advice from experienced film shooters. But, since my prior experience with film is decades old, this review is from a rather novice point of view.

I saw the email notice from Old School Photo Lab to download my scans of the negatives from my roll of Kodak Vision3 250D 35mm film. I exposed this roll of film in May of this year. We were all vaccinated, so Jeremy and Neha wanted to visit so their baby, Ronith, could meet the rest of his family. It was great to see them. Neha is Bhavna's cousin. We were all still getting used to being with people, so we sat outside and wore masks when we were close to Ronith. The family event allowed me to expose a 24-exposure roll of Vision3 250D Colour Negative Film, which I purchased from the Film Photography Project. FPP sells Vision3 Motion Picture film, which they hand-roll into 35mm canisters.

This is one of the challenges I have with film photography. With digital photography, the image has dense metadata about the photos - camera, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation etc. Unless I take copious notes, most of this information is lost when I expose the film. I may remember that I used my Minolta XD-11. I remember that I used my MD Rokkor-X 45mm f/2 lens. I know that the film I used is ISO 250. Unless I write it all down, I can remember what aperture ad shutter speeds were used.

Some of the images were blurry, but I liked the look of the sharper ones. Perhaps it's how the negatives were scanned, but the photos have a slight reddish hue that I do not see in the examples I found online.

Unfortunately, I can't just send Kodak Vision3 250D to any lab. Like most colour motion picture film stocks, 250D has a protective layer called Remjet, which helps deal with the tremendous heat generated while running through a camera. This Remjet layer must be removed during processing and requires specialist developing equipment unavailable at most film development labs. The film ($10) and the development and scanning ($24-$34) are expensive. I think I'll shoot this film again, but not often.

Author: Khürt Williams

human being, information security architect, avid photographer, nature lover, F1 fanatic, drinker of beer. View all posts by Khürt Williams