Kodak Vision3 Film

In the tradition of putting motion picture film in still cameras, photographers and suppliers are loading 35 mm Kodak Vision3 color negative motion picture film into regular 135 film daylight loading cartridges. The differences between ECN-2 process motion picture film and normal C-41 process still picture film include the presence of a carbon black anti-halation and anti-static layer ("remjet") and different developing chemicals. The remjet layer prevents light from diffusing through the film ("halation") and prevents static electricity from the rapid movement of film, 90 feet per minute or more, through movie cameras. The remjet layer also prevents processing by a normal still photo lab because the remjet will contaminate the processing chemicals and machinery. An ordinary C-41 process lab will be very unhappy if it inadvertently tries to develop a roll of ECN-2 film in a C-41 machine and ruins the other films in the batch and contaminates their machine. Motion picture labs can deal with remjet; however, they are set up to process high volumes (a feature can have more than a mile of film) and don't process short lengths of still picture films.



Film Photography Project loads Vision3 film in 35mm daylight cartridges. Their film needs to be developed at home or by a lab that can deal with the remjet. Cinestill removes the remjet before loading the film in 35mm cassettes, which avoids the contamination problem and permits the film to be developed by a normal C-41 film lab. Removal of the anti-halation layer does cause halos to appear around bright lights.

Available with the remjet intact:

Film Photography Project Vision3 500T. Tungsten balanced.
FIlm Photography Project Vision3 250D. Daylight balanced.
Film Photography Project Vision3 200T. Tungsten balanced.
Film Photography Project Vision3 50D. Daylight balanced.

Available without remjet:

Cinestill 800T (Vision3 500T). Tungsten balanced. Rated ISO 800 when processed in C-41 chemicals or ISO 500 when processed in ECN-2 chemicals.
Cinestill 50D (Vision3 50D). Daylight balanced.

"Tungsten balanced" means that the film will render natural looking colors when the scene is illuminated with artificial light. "Daylight balanced" means you get natural looking colors in sunlight. "Color temperature" is based on the fact that hotter objects, like blue gas flames, emit bluer light and cooler objects, like glowing coals, emit redder light. The temperature of the radiating body is measured in degrees kelvin (K).  Normal room temperature is 293K.  Tungsten light is light with a color temperature of 3,200K, like the light from a photoflood lamp. Ordinary household lighting is redder (2,900K). Daylight is bluer (5,600K). You can use tungsten balanced film outdoors and get natural colors with an orange Wratten 85 color balancing filter with a loss of speed (ISO 125 instead of 200 or 320 instead of 500). Daylight balanced film exposed indoors with tungsten lights needs a blue Wratten 80A color balancing filter with a loss of speed of about two stops (ISO 12 instead of 50 or 64 instead of 250). Daylight film exposed indoors with electronic flash does not need a filter, and can be exposed at box speed.

Commercial motion picture labs are set up for processing a lot of film at once and have large minimum orders (a 35 mm feature film would use more than a mile of film). They are not set up to process short lengths of film from still cameras.

There are a few labs that custom develop ECN-2 film exposed in still cameras, according to the Film Photography Project web site:

Blue Moon Camera & Machine
Portland, Oregon
https://www.bluemooncamera.com

Boutique Photo Lab
Mt Juliet, Tennessee
https://boutiquefilmlab.com/

The Camera Shop
St Cloud, Minnesota
http://www.thecamerashop.com/

Old School Photo Lab
Dover, New Hampshire
https://oldschoolphotolab.com/

You can develop film at home using either an ECN-2 kit or a C-41 kit. A 1 liter ECN-2 kit is made by QWD (https://quietweredreaming.com/ecn2-kit). A 1 liter C-41 kit is sold by the Film Photography Project Store (https://filmphotographystore.com/collections/darkroom-supplies/products/darkroom-supplies-fpp-c-41-development-kit-1-liter), and other vendors.  [Update] The FPP store now has a 1 one liter ECN-2 kit (https://filmphotographystore.com/products/darkroom-supplies-fpps-new-color-negative-development-kit-1-liter-powder).

At home you can use a pre-bath to remove the remjet before developing the film in C-41 chemicals or you can simply wipe off the remjet after developing the film. I've used the wipe it off at the end method. This video shows how to remove the remjet layer at the end: Develop Color Negatives at Home. You need to be careful to get off all of the remjet or else you get cloudy areas in your pictures. If you remove the remjet at the end of the process it is a good idea to filter the C-41 chemicals when you pour them back into the storage bottles, to remove stray particles of remjet floating in the solutions.

This video shows how you can remove the remjet at the beginning: Removing Film Remjet. I haven't tried this method.

You don't get a before/after option for remjet removal with the QWD ECN-2 developing kit because a pre-bath using the chemicals supplied with the kit is a required step in the ECN-2 process.  [Update] The FPP Store ECN-2 kit doesn't include chemicals for a pre-bath.  How you remove remjet with the FPP Store ECN-2 kit is up to you.

Kodak Vision3 500T film developed C-41

Processing motion picture film in C-41 chemicals causes color shifts and changes in contrast compared to film processed in ECN-2 chemicals; however, the results can look pretty nice.