Film photographers will be pleased to hear that not all camera film producers are discontinuing their ranges. Russian-based company Silberra, predominantly known for its black and white films, has just introduced a new range of color film for 35mm and 120 formats.
In a week in which we have heard that Fujifilm has bought forward plans to discontinue its hugely popular Fujicolor PRO400H professional color negative film, Silberra has announced three new films – a Color 160 C-41 color negative film and two limited edition films, a Color 50 C-41 and a Color 100 C-41, each at approximately $13 per roll.
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This new range signals something of a departure for Silberra, which until now has only produced black and white film stock. The company describes the film as having “slightly different taste for everyone. Some photographers say that it reminds them Kodachrome colors, some would say that there are tints of another film. Actually, the film will certainly show you that it is different from anything you’ve seen, right from the first look at the emulsion.” The film is available from Silberra's online shop, as well as from limited web retailer in Europe, Japan and the US.
Because it is expensive to produce, new color films are a rare thing to see. Many film producers stopped manufacturing film stocks in the 1990s and 2000s after the advancement of DSLRs caused demand to plummet. However there are still plenty of die-hard analog photographers looking for good color film and the emergence of analog brands such as as Lomography has introduced a new generation of photographers to film photography.
In fact the reason Fujifilm discontinued its Fujicolor PRO400H earlier than it had suggested was because the announcement of its withdrawal caused a surge in demand. Perhaps camera film is not quite dead yet after all.
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