The Fuji Chrome T64 120 Color Explosion

With the Fuji T64 120 (Tungsten) film your pictures might get a great colour explosion, but you have to choose your subjects wisely. Otherwise, you will probably wonder about pale pictures like I did. As this is a great film, you should take care to achieve those great popping colours you aim for. Read on after the jump!

About three weeks ago I was on my way out in the morning and the weather was so sunny that I thought I had to load the Holga CFN I had in my bag to take some pictures. I already had two loaded cameras in my bag but thought, “it’s Holga time!” Unfortunately, a quick look in my bag showed that I had only one roll of slide film left — a roll of Fuji Velvia 100 which I had already planned to shoot at a special occasion.

But just around the corner where I was at that moment, there was a Photolab, so I stopped there to get me some rolls of slide film. I asked what they had in stock and my choice was the Fuji Chrome T64 (Tungsten). A good choice I thought because I already had used the Lomography X-Tungsten 64 35mm and so I knew what I could expect: great, colourful shots!

So I loaded my Holga and as I had to buy a few things here and there it was just perfect to take pictures on my way. At least that’s what I thought. But sometimes things are not like what you think they are. I took a single shot of that pigeon above sitting on the window sill of a school. I didn’t see anything else that was worth stopping for and shooting at. So the Holga remained loaded with 11 pictures left in my bag.
A few days later, I was playing a Beach Tournament and took another single shot of a parasol. Perfect Tungsten opportunity, I thought: blue sky, a cloud, and something else on the picture. But again, nothing more.

Again, after some days I took another single shot — a double exposure — of this woman relaxing on the bench and the clouds. Normally, I shoot rolls within a day or two. I had a hard time with this roll.

I was getting a bit impatient with this roll so I took the opportunity on the next sunny day to go to a street corner, where there are a lot of people pass by on street market days. At that time I didn´t care anymore about the light conditions and sun and whatever to get this great Tungsten atmosphere on the pictures.

After finishing the roll I went to the lab to get it developed. I got it back the same day and was really pretty satisfied with the results. Except for one multiple exposure I took, all shots have strong colours. Exactly what I had expected. I could still see the difference between those shots with good light and those with a bit less light, but definitely, those are the Tungsten-x-pro shots I wanted.

I had another roll I loaded my Seagull 4A with it and thought I’ll shoot some more of these amazing colourful pictures. It must have been only two or three days later when I went for a walk with the baby and got enough opportunities to shoot the entire roll during this walk. This time it took me only about 2 1/2 hours. When I got the roll back from the lab I was a bit disappointed, and asked myself, “Where did all the colors go?” It looked so pale. But I didn’t really take a closer look on the pictures and what was on them. I even thought that the roll was not cross processed, but the scanner settings told something different.

The only shots I really liked very much were those two of these guys chilling outside a hospital on a bench and a wheel chair.

Being disappointed I didn’t think much about it anymore. But a few days later, I took another look at the Holga shots and those taken with the Seagull 4A. Comparing those two rolls opened my eyes. Without noticing I almost hadn’t shot any colorful subjects on the second roll and if you don’t have strong colors, cross processing doesn’t help in matters of pale colours.

I shot an all white building with only a hint of colour (the flowers on the balcony you can’t really see), and I took this shot exactly to show this:

I took a shot of a building with flags and a banner on the balcony to capture the mood of a non-football-fan in between football-fanatics:

Then, I shot a backyard where there is a parking of a supermarket. A shot I really like but without strong colours:

A parking deck, and again a parking of a supermarket, plus an overexposed picture:

The three photos remaining have colorful subjects, and therefore, are pretty much different from all the others (except the two guys):

Conclusion: You can’t be wrong with this film unless you keep in mind that a colorful cross processed shot needs color on the picture itself. It could be a nice effect having only a blur of colour on the picture — as long as you achieve to capture it well — but if you think about it, you might also come across what I think about it: that’s not the reason why I use slide film. I can get strong contrast with black and white film either way.

I really like this film and I have already in mind on which occasion I’ll shoot my next roll. Next time, I’ll really take care and think twice about what I want to capture with it. Then, I can hopefully show you some color explosions that you’ll like.

Thanks for reading!

written by bloomchen on 2012-06-25 #gear #school #review #film-review #cross #chrome #street-photography #backyard #berlin #t64 #motorbike #lomography #fuji #x-pro #hinterhof #seagull-4a #motorrad #user-review