The Lucky Film Company in China were once one of the major contract coating plants that produced film for Kodak for the massive Asian market in the golden age of film. Declining sales with the advent of the Digital Revolution saw Lucky Film slowly wind down, cease production and mothball the facility in the mid noughties. It was just one plant amongst many around the world that closed or was mothballed as demand for photographic film plummeted.
The Film Renaissance we have been enjoying over the last decade has seen Lucky Film restart production with a 100 iso Black & White film that is available in 35mm and 120 medium format. My friends at Nik & Trick Photographiques got hold of a few rolls and found it to be an excellent budget B&W film. Then came news from the company that they were bringing back colour film in the form of Lucky Film C200.
Nik & Trick went straight to the source and talked to the manufacturer. The initial production runs were purely for the Chinese market and, after some discussion, Nik & Trick were able to order some and asked the community to pre-order at least two rolls in 35mm and/or 120 medium format to make the size of the order worthwhile. In a short space of time, enough folk pre-ordered and it arrived at Nik & Trick just in time to get it sent to those customers before Christmas 2025. It's also competitively priced, A 36 shot roll of Lucky C200 in 35mm is around the same price as the equivalent roll of Kodak ColorPlus.
I bought 2 of each format. No sponsorship here or a crafty roll sneaked to me by a stranger in a trenchcoat wearing a fedora. I paid for it with my own cash. I loaded a roll of 35mm into my Canon EOS300, a roll of 120 medium format into my Agfa Isolette and got stuck in. The 35mm film is DX coded and set at 200 iso automatically upon loading. Packaging is well designed with bright colours on the outside and all the information printed inside the box is in Chinese. Well, it was made for the Chinese market. When it is officially released into the wild here in the UK it will have all that info in English.
Christmas time is always full of colour, from decorated trees to people dressed up as Santa for the occasion. The slight problem here in Wigan is it's a bit grim weather wise in winter. My photos were taken in a range of lighting, both indoors and outside. Thankfully my Canon EOS300 has a built in flash and it made life easier for me indoors. I shot my medium format rolls outdoors on the rare sunny days over the festive season. Once done, I sent my film back to Nik & Trick for developing and scanning.
When I got my scans back I was pleasantly impressed with the colours. Indoor photos were well exposed and outdoor shots taken on Boxing Day to finish my second roll really showed off the colours produced in bright sunshine, a commodity in short supply over the winter of 2025-26. Getting to shoot this film outdoors as well as indoors gave me a good range of lighting conditions and a chance to experiment a little.
I am a Kodak ColorPlus fan. Kodak's cheapest colour film has been my personal choice of colour film for a long time, through all it's incarnations. I could tell immediately that Lucky C200 is NOT repackaged Kodak ColorPlus. The colours are different enough to be able to distinguish between them quite easily. Also, it is NOT repackaged Kodak Gold. Again, different colours, easily distinguishable between them. I also don't think it is repackaged Kodak Aerocolor IV. I have shot a roll of Santa Color 100, which is definitely repackaged Kodak Aerocolor IV and it too looks very different to Lucky C200.
What it does remind me of is the film I used extensively when I returned to film back in 2017, Agfaphoto Vista 200. It has a similar rich and vibrant palette of bright reds and deep shades of blue that is very pleasing to see in a new film. They are rendered beautifully in my obligatory photo of the Uncle Joe's Mint Balls sign. Wigan also has a lot of terracotta clad buildings, built during the golden age of the Coal and Cotton industries that transformed Wigan from an ancient market town into the thriving Metropolitan Borough of today. They too have rendered beautifully on Lucky C200.
Would I use this film again? Yes! Because it is available in 120 medium format as well as 35mm, this is a film that I will definitely consider when choosing colour film in the future. Are there better films from Kodak? Yes! Gold, Ektar and Portra all hoof this film into the weeds, but for an alternative to ColorPlus it's a big contender, especially with it being available in 120 medium format. ColorPlus isn't available in 120 medium format and, as far as I know, never will be. I am very impressed with Lucky C200 and will definitely be using it again soon.
Here's a few favourites from my photos taken around Wigan on Lucky C200 with my Canon EOS300 and Agfa Isolette. If you fancy trying the film for yourself, visit Nik & Trick and pick up a couple of rolls. I'm glad I did I have placed these photos and more in albums on Flickr you can visit using the links below. I hope you enjoy them.
Lucky 200 - Agfa Isolette
Lucky 200 - Canon EOS300
Nik & Trick Photoworks Lucky C200 35mm colour negative film
Nik & Trick Photoworks Lucky C200 Colour 120 roll
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