5 MINUTES WITH

Film
makers
on a roll
Brandon and Brian Wright of
CineStill Film have high hopes for
a new flm that gets great efects
under continuous artifcial light,
as Tom Smallwood discovers
igital is now the
default technology
for most amateur
photographers
and pros, so its easy to forget
that there are people out
there still making innovative
photographic lm. Brandon
and Brian Wright are great
examples. The Hollywoodbased twins have developed
CineStill 800T a stock
that claims to be the only
high-speed (ISO 800) colour
lm currently made that is
compatible with incandescent/
tungsten light.
This opens up a whole new
world of possibilities for
photographers, says Brandon.
You can shoot with the lm
cameras you love in limited
available light, or in the studio
with continuous hot lights,
similar to those used on the
set of a movie.
Brandon and his brother
started delving into

Movie heritage
Original beta testing for
CineStill began in 2012, but the

1
concept of using motion-picture
lm for still photography and
original development tests
began years before, when the
twins started shooting Kodak
Vision3 500T 5219 emulsion.
We did this by shooting
long-roll, 250-exposure,
bulk-lm backs and through
developing a special
relationship with a local
motion-picture lab, says
Brandon. We did this because
of the costly minimum lengths
required by motion-picture
labs, and because the more

splicing that occurred, the

more the lm became damaged
and contaminated.
When people began
contacting the twins about how
they could use this lm, they
were inspired. We came to the
conclusion that we had to nd
a way to make it usable in
standard 135 canisters with
standard photo developing,
adds Brandon
In order to make this
technology accessible for any
lm photographers workow,
and avoid the need for costly

ALL PICTURES BRANDON AND BRIAN WRIGHT UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

photography about 15 years

ago, after they found their dads
Olympus OM-1. We asked him
a few questions, and kind of
gured it out ourselves from
there, adds Brandon. We
started shooting photos of each
other skateboarding, trying to
reverse-engineer the creative
photography in skateboarding
magazines, by hacking
together our own lighting.
We have collaborated
together our whole lives,
and that transitioned into
photography as well. Our
main interest is photographing
people. We have also shot many
weddings on lm, mostly stills
but some Super 8 and 16mm
video. Thats what got us
interested in using cinema
lms to do colour lm
photography in low light.

34

3 January 2015 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0844 848 0848

5 MINUTES WITH

SANDY PHIMESTER

Our secret sauce

BRANDON reckons the
biggest technical challenge
in developing CineStill 800T
was removing the black rem-jet
backing. This protective
backing allows for cinema
camera lms to move through
the camera quickly without
becoming scratched or
developing static electricity
that would then spark and
expose the lm, he explains.
This rem-jet must be

removed in order to make it

safe for standard processing.
Furthermore, this must be done
in darkness, without allowing
any chemical contamination
or damage to the highly
sensitive emulsion. How we
do this is the trickiest part of
all and is sort of our secret
sauce. It is a bit laborious and
very meticulous, but increasing
demand is motivating us to
become more efcient.

long-roll processing with

motion-picture labs, the twins
had to nd a way of making
their lm compatible with
a standard stills lab. Brandon
adds: After years of R&D, tens
of thousands of feet of wasted
lm and thousands of hours of
experimentation, efcient and
clean Premoval of the rem-jet
layer was achieved.

Film resistance
Brandon believes CineStill
800T came about because
photographers have very
limited options when shooting
in articial continuous light. At
a wedding, for example, most
lm photographers end up
switching to a combination of
high-speed black & white lm
and high ISO digital colour
photography to capture low-lit
receptions, he says. Although
this works OK, CineStill 800T
allows for beautiful low-light
results. Brandon reckons the
success of CineStill 800T
will help achieve a loftier goal,
too. You are investing in the
future of analogue photography
and fuelling the lm

People are now discovering that all

important things in reality have an
analogue beginning and end
renaissance, he adds.
While its great that many
people still shoot lm, is there
really a lm renaissance? Brian
thinks there is. As we enter into
what I call the post-digital era,
digital is no longer a new and
shiny revolution, and people are
now discovering that all
important things in reality have
an analogue beginning and
end, he says. People are now
taking new technology and
blending all the benets of
digital and analogue, old and
new. It is an exciting time with
growing possibilities and a
passionate community.
CineStill, while not exactly
cheap at about 10 a roll, puts
less strain on the pocket than
some specialist lm. If its so
different, why didnt the twins
peg the price higher? We want
the lm to be accessible and to
inspire photographers to shoot
more, Brandon counters. We
are trying to produce

subscribe 0844 848 0848 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 3 January 2015

Despite the popularity of

lm-emulation Lightroom
presets from companies such
as VSCO, Brandon is wary of
producing a CineStill preset.
We have known the creator
of VSCO for a while, and
understand all that goes into

creating the preset, he explains.

Wed love to see a preset that
would try to match CineStill,
but we also know that no preset
will ever replace the nuance,
dynamics, and experience of
shooting lm. Another
company, MastinLabs, is also
working hard to help lm/
digital shooters match their
digital snaps to the lm images
they capture. It really is
impossible to match without
having a standard to rely on.
This is why it is important to
have lm around, to keep
digital in line!

1 An example of shooting under

artificial light from Canadian portrait
photographer Sandy Phimester

3 CineStill is a repackaged and

reworked 35mm Kodak Vision3
500T 5219 movie film

2 CineStill film lends itself beautifully

to portraits shot in either daylight or
studio-based settings

4 If shooting in daylight conditions,

you will need an 85B (orange) filter
to lift the film from 3,200K to 5,600K

something we ourselves would

be willing to buy and use.

No presets

Brandon and Brian Wright became interested in photography

after messing around with their dads old Olympus OM-1 lm camera,
before deciding to develop their own lm for great results under
articial light. They have set up a company called CineStill Film and
are currently expanding their business and product range. For more information and
details of retailers, see www.CineStillFilm.com
35