Dramatic Panchromatic: Nopawach Gajajiva Tests the Fantôme Kino B&W ISO 8 Film

Bangkok-based photographer and musician Nopawach Gajajiva tested our latest black and white film, the Fantôme Kino B&W ISO 8 while in a park with his wife. In this article, he shares the results of their brief photoshoot, as well as his thoughts on our new film.

Did you have any previous experience shooting with slow film? What was the lowest ISO you’ve tried in the past?

I’m pretty much a low-speed junkie. The slowest film I’ve used was an ISO 0.8 that I ordered from FPP but I'm not a big fan of that film. I really prefer the Kodak 2254 Super Slow ISO 1.6. You could see some of the images I took using that film in my Facebook album.

How was your experience shooting with our slow ISO black and white film?

The first thing I noticed after taking the film out of the developing tank is that the film edges and the darker part of the exposed image were very transparent meaning it will surely give an obsidian black shadow on the image. I later found out that the ISO 8 brings out freckles on the model’s skin so it is not a film for beauty shots but this should work really well when you need to capture really saturated details on the skin. This film is also placed at a good speed meaning that I could use my widest aperture ( f/1.0 ) and still get high enough shutter speed for handheld shooting.

Tell us a bit about the photos you’ve taken with our film.

I decided to go for a walk in the park with my wife whom I used as the model for this roll. We got to the park around late afternoon which was the perfect condition testing any film. There were plenty of lighting conditions and I tried to capture my wife in as many varieties of lights possible. Tried both lighter and darker backgrounds, front and backlit to see how the film performs. I also did a couple of shots on other objects around the park during that short walk. It was a fun afternoon for me and her.

Did you have your roll of film developed in a lab or did you develop it yourself? If so, could you tell us a brief explanation of your development process (ie: which developer you used, type of agitation, how long...etc)?

I developed the film at my friend’s lab using HC-110 / dilution: B / 7mins

What could you say about the results? What are your thoughts about the Fanthôme Kino B&W ISO 8 film’s 'look'?

As for the result I got, I was quite amazed at how the film performs. It was surely not a film for all occasions and I don't think it was meant to be used that way anyway. I think it would be really interesting to shoot some dramatic portraits because this film brings out so much detail and blemish on one's face. I also think it could also be used for daylight documentary-style shots as well.

Lastly, what kind of photography would you recommend our new black and white film for?

Like I mentioned earlier, certain portraits which require the film to pronounce the details on the skin and I also think it might work well for street portraits and documentary.

Thanks for sharing your photos with us, Nopawach! Visit his Facebook and Instagram for more of his works!

written by aomschll on 2020-03-31 #gear #people #black-and-white #bnw #portraits #iso-8 #fantome-kino #iso8 #fantome8 #fantome-kino