It might be coincidence, or it might be entrepreneurs recognizing an opportunity. But in this time of color-film scarcity, a number of small and boutique companies are issuing color films. None of them are manufacturing new films, as they lack the enormous capital required to hire the scientists to formulate the film, and then to build or rent the manufacturing facilities to produce it. Instead. they repackage existing films. Most of them turn to films normally available only in large bulk rolls for specialty applications such as cinema and surveillance. They load these films into 35mm cartridges or onto 120 spools, box them up, and sell them.
Kodak Aerocolor IV is an ISO 125 color-negative film designed for making aerial images — up in the air, pointing down at the land below. It has some strong advantages for use in film cameras: natural color rendition, wide exposure latitude, great sharpness and resolving power, low grain thanks to T-grain technology, and common C-41 development. Any lab can develop it! (A lot of repackaged color films are cinema films made for ECN-2 development. You can develop it in C-41, but it will change the look and might not look natural. There may also be “remjet” on the film that must be removed first.)
One oddity: the film base is clear, rather than orange like most normal C-41 films.
Several small companies sell Aerocolor IV in 35mm cartridges for film photographers. Flic Film is one of them. Based in Longview, Alberta, Canada, they repackage and sell a number of films, including Aerocolor IV. They call it Elektra 100.
Flic Film also offers several repackaged cinema films, as well as traditional black-and-white films. See everything they offer at their Web site here. You can buy Flic Film films at most of the usual places.
One of those places is Film Camera Store in the UK. They sent me this roll of Elektra 100 to review in exchange for this mention. They specialize in selling vintage film cameras, and they offer a smattering of films to go with them. Check them out here, or click the logo.
Film Camera Store also sent me a very nice Olympus OM-10 35mm SLR, which I reviewed here. I mounted my 50mm f/3.5 Zuiko Auto-Macro lens to it and took it out for several danders around Indiana. This included my front yard in early spring. I shot the Elektra at box speed, ISO 100, which is slight overexposure given Aerocolor IV’s ISO 125 rating.
This 50mm Zuiko macro lens is made for getting in close like this. It also makes the most out of any color film behind it. It shows how Elektra 100 offers rich, full tones. It manages to be warm without running to brown.
I found that Elektra 100 prefers full sun to a gray day. On this cloudy day, colors were somewhat muted. I freshened them up a bit with the Radiant Photo plugin I bought for Photoshop.
This 50mm Zuiko macro lens is great for walking-around photography – leave it at infinity focus and you can use the OM-10 like a point-and-shoot. I made this photo on a walk along Zionsville’s Main Street.
Electra 100 renders strong reds. I photographed this Odd Fellows building in Yorktown, Indiana, with my Nikon Df DSLR as well. See that image here and compare the reds.
It also renders blue skies with a distinctive richness, and also finds good color in earth tones. This church sign is on the main drag in Muncie, Indiana.
This defunct jewelry store in downtown Muncie shows how Elektra 100 handles mixed lighting. Everything looks great on the left, but the shadowy right looks a little underexposed.
The sun was shining brightly directly on this building in Muncie, and Elektra 100 handled it like a champ.
One slight gotcha with Elektra 100 — when you load this film, do it in dim light. It is prone to a little light leakage into the cartridge. That happened to me on this roll, and marred the first photo.
Looking around, I see that a roll of Elektra 100 sells for $14-15 in most places. That’s a little eye watering, but we live in a time when workaday Fujicolor 200 sells for as much as $11 in single-roll packs, and a five-pack of Portra 160 approaches $80. Crazy.
But given Fujifilm’s waning commitment to roll film, and Kodak’s ongoing troubles in its consumer film division, anyone who is devoted to color-negative film is probably glad that companies like Flic Film are offering alternatives — especially when they’re as lovely as Elektra 100.
Thanks again to Film Camera Store for sending me this film to try.
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