Kodak Vision3 50D - One Good Frame

I was disappointed with all but this one frame.

I shot an entire 24-exposure roll of Kodak Vision3 50D 35mm film that I bought from the Film Photography Project. I exposed the roll while out for a mid-October hike looking for fall colour in Community Park North and Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve. Because of the low ISO, I brought along my Manfrotto tripod, Minolta XD-11 and exposed each frame from the tripod.

The roll was developed at Boutique Film Lab and scanned with VueScan 9 on my Epson Perfection V600u using my normal workflow. I spent $10.00 for ECN-2 processing plus $6.50 for return shipping. The total cost to produce these frames, including the film, was $25.49.

I was disappointed with all but one frame, the one in the post header. All of the other frames look terrible. They look flat—what a waste of money. This is similar to my experience with Kodak Vision3 250D. Fortunately, this was my only roll of Kodak Vision3 50D. I will not be using this film stock again.

I have two rolls of CineStill 400D that I am now apprehensive about using. Compared to the digital versions, there is nothing desirable about these frames.

Name Kodak Vision3 50D
Price US$9.99
Type Motion picture film (negative)
Native ISO 50
Format 35mm
Process ECN-2
Features Exposure latitude from -5 to +5 stops
Lab Boutique Film Lab
Scanner Epson Perfection V600
Software VueScan 9
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2
Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve · Kodak Vision3 50D · Thursday 13 October 2022 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2

Bhavna

I am disappointed by the results I get when using 35mm colour film stock for portraiture.

I am disappointed by the results when using 35mm colour film stock for portraiture. The conventional wisdom around the Interweb is that Kodak Portra 35mm film delivers spectacular skin tones with exceptional colour saturation over a wide range of lighting conditions. However, when photographing darker skin tones, my experience with Kodak Porta 160 and Kodak Portra 400 falls short of my expectations. From what I read, the later update that improved the rendering of dark skin tones from Kodak's colour films wasn't necessarily a consideration for properly photographing darker skin tones but rather the by-product of solving an advertising problem - the proper colour rendering of dark wood and milk chocolate.

While looking at and adjusting the tone curve of scans from the roll of Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow that I exposed in September on the streets of Sandusky, I realised that for 35mm film portraiture. I prefer the results from black-and-white films. I've captured Bhavna's portrait on Ilford HP5 Plus 400, Eastman Kodak Double-X 5222 400 and Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow. The results have been to my liking due to the forgiving exposure latitude of these 35mm film stocks.

Bhavna
Sandusky, Ohio · Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow · Saturday 3 September 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2

Middle School Graduation Pool Party

My wife’s niece Sahana graduated from Stone Bridge Middle School this year. In August, her parents hosted a family pool party which I captured on my Minolta X-700 and my last roll of Lomography Color 100.

My wife’s niece Sahana graduated from Stone Bridge Middle School this year. In August, her parents hosted a family pool party. These scans are from my second and last 36-exposure roll of Lomography Color 100 35mm film. The results are better than the first roll, which I exposed the day before.

Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Ronith and his dad, Jeremy. · Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Ronith and his nana, Jayesh. · Saturday 20 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Brown skin looks like shit wih Lomography Color 100. · Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Cake! · Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
My niece Raina. · Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sahana and · Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2
Sahana's dadi, Jaimini · Sunday 21 August 2022 · Minolta X-700 · MD ROKKOR-X 45mm F2