Bhavna and I were on a weekend trip up to Oberlin, Ohio, to take Kiran back for her last semester at Oberlin College. It was a long weekend, and Bhavna and I decided to visit the lakeshore town of Sandusky.
After reading Jim Grey’s first impressions of the Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow ISO 400 135 films, I decided to try it myself. I was a backer of the Kickstarter Project, but I had not yet exposed any of the four cartridges of Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow. I loaded one of the 36 exposure cartridges into my Minolta X-700, a camera I rarely use as I tend to favour my XF-11. I shot the entire roll at box speed. The roll was developed at Black Lab Imaging in Flemington, New Jersey and scanned at home on my Epson Perfection V600 using VueScan 9.
Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow is a 400-ISO panchromatic black-and-white film which the creator describes like this:
The film is an existing emulsion made by a company with more than a century’s experience in making film.
While the film is rated at ISO 400, the film can be push processed four stops up to ISO 6400 with appropriate development. Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow is perfect for shooting at box speed in bright or overcast light, but can also be used in much lower light conditions if needed.
The film is fine-grained at box speed but shows more atmospheric grain when push processed, along with more dramatic contrast.
In September, I exposed a roll of Agent Shadow at box speed while walking around the streets of Sandusky with Bhavna. The grain is noticeable, but the photographs have a fascinating vintage look. I can’t wait to try the three remaining rolls.
| Name | Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow 400 |
|---|---|
| Type | Panchromatic Black and White (negative) |
| Native ISO | 400 |
| Format | 35mm |
| Process | C-41 |
| Features | Kodak T-GRAIN emulsions, Fine Grain, High Sharpness & Edge Detail |
| Lab | Black Lab Imaging |
| Scanner | Epson Perfection V600 |
| Software | VueScan 9 |
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
2 Comments
Jim Grey
28th November 2022 at 10:04 AMYou got some rich blacks on this roll.
Khürt Williams
29th November 2022 at 8:28 AMHi Jim, I think I underexposed some frames because I exposed for to the sky. I had to use the Shadow and Black sliders in Adobe Lightroom to bring back some of the details. I’m still learning and improving. Getting the correct exposure is much easier with the WYSIWYG from the electronic viewfinder in my Fuji.