My Journey Into Photography: Boutique Film

This week I have been having some fun shooting a new brand to the film market, EZ400 35mm B&W film from New Classic Film owned by You Tube film guru Ribsy. Ribsy's passion for film shines through on his you tube channel and he decided to put his cards on the table as it were and present a film to the world his way. The challenge is in the marketing and packaging and I think Ribsy's done a fine job of it. He put a lot of thought into making film a little more eco friendly and sustainable and he was helped by the folks at Street Candy film who pointed him in the direction of their supplier of fully recycleable cannisters. Even the ink is made fom Soy and wont harm the environment.

I am on record on the Negative Positives Film Photography Podcast group on facebook stating "If you think buying a re-branded film isn't for you, think back to the golden years of film photography. All the film manufacturing companies supplied every last high street Photo Store, from multinational conglomerates to small "Mom and Pop" stores that once thrived in every town and city around the world and I whole heartedly support it."

Business to Business (B2B) contract coating is not new. Kodak, Ilford, Ferrania/3M, Fujifilm, Foma, Agfa etc. all had a share of that thriving B2B sector. The digital revolution tore the ass out of that market, but it is still there, waiting for guys like Ribsy, Stephen Dowling and Bellamy Hunt to come along and put their own spin on emulsions with creative packaging and promotion. This is still the early days of the Film Renaissance and Ribsy investing his money into it is a sign of more to come.

The recent Agent Shadow 400 kickstarter was a success and those of us who invested in it wil be receiving our rewards in the coming months as each item goes into production. Cinestill recently released the legendary Kodak Double X as Cinestill BWXX in 120 medium format. This is the very first time Double X has been available in medium format, I was lucky enough to get hold of a couple of rolls as it sold quickly and you have seen my results on this blog.

Kodak did tease us by saying they would release a new film this year, maybe the partnership with Cinestill was the one or maybe they have another surprise in store for us? The fact the biggest player left in the business is prepared to have a 3rd party company release one of their legendary films in a new format before they do shows the renewed strength of the B2B market.

This is an exciting time in the Film Photography community, more people are putting their money into having their own "Brand". For some it is because they want to share their love of film with as many people as possible, for others they are doing it because the big players are sticking with the few remaining emulsions they have, perhaps reluctant to invest in a new emulsion until the film industry picks up some more momentum.

Yes, this is an exciting time in the film photography community, but we face an uncertain future unless we take control of our destiny. I am happy to spend my money on EZ400 and support 3 film photography businesses, namely the manufacturer of the film, Ribsy for hs creative packing and marketing and Analogue Wonderland my favourite film retailer where I bought it.

Here's a few photo's shot with EZ400 35mm B&W from New Classic Film using my FED 2 and Industar 26m 50mm f/2.8. I developed my film in HC-110 dilution B for 7 minutes. Yes I know what emulsion it is and no I'm not telling you. The fun of shooting a rebranded film is finding out for yourself when you have shot and developed your first roll. I'm going to have some fun over the next couple of weeks shooting EZ400 at different speeds in different cameras. Check out more of my photos on Flickr, Ribsy's you tube channel and buy some EZ400 from Analogue Wonderland or direct from the man himself at New Classic Film using the links below.

Flickr EZ 400 Album
Analogue Wonderland
New Classic Film
Ribsy on You Tube