What are your favorite off-brand/generic films?

Forrest Conifer · Feb 13, 2015

I like playing with the black sheep of the film world: expired, off-brand, generic and rebranded films. I'm working my way through 5 rolls of expired Tudorcolor XLX 200 and looking for suggestions as to what I should try next. The FPP store seems to have some nice options, but I'm curious as to what y'all have used.

Fixcinater · Feb 13, 2015

I found some Ilford Mk. V bulk film that has a test date of '73 or '76. B&W 35mm cine film originally, works great for old-school look in HC110. Off eBay from a small European country so no tracking and it took over 6 weeks to show up but all was good when I ran the first roll through.

I have a fridge drawer full of weird stuff but I haven't gotten through much of it lately.

Forrest Conifer · Feb 14, 2015

Fixcinater said:
I found some Ilford Mk. V bulk film that has a test date of '73 or '76. B&W 35mm cine film originally, works great for old-school look in HC110. Off eBay from a small European country so no tracking and it took over 6 weeks to show up but all was good when I ran the first roll through.

Sounds like fun! Do you have any examples of photos you've shot on this film?

Fixcinater said:
I have a fridge drawer full of weird stuff but I haven't gotten through much of it lately.

Having a fridge drawer full of weird film is my life ambition

chip j · Feb 14, 2015

I used a lot of ORWO NP22 (B&W, East German) when Freestyle had it. I love Fomapan 100 but my lab's machines are too dirty to process it w/o defects--it's non-hardened. I used quite a bit of Tudor color in the past, liked it. I used some Shanghai 400 speed 35mm in the past--nice film, but the ends were fogged from the factory. I'm switching to Kentmere 100 now because a bad knee won't let me process my own film. I'd love to use Silvermax but it's pricey.

Ricardo Miranda · Feb 14, 2015

[h=2]What are your favorite off-brand/generic films?[/h]

I think the above are making a confusion with expired, outdated or second-hand films.

Nor Fomapan, nor Shanghai, nor Silvermax, nor Kentmere are off-brand or generic films in the way they are known traditionally.

Years ago I used Jessops R100 B&W film which was made by Efke.

pentaxpete · Feb 14, 2015

'Boots Universal 400' film is actually Fuji Superia 400 and I still have some in fridge dated 2005 and rate it at 200 ASA

Glorianna by pentaxpete, on Flickr

'Tudor 100 ' film is actually Fuji Superia 100 and I used a lot of it --was GIVEN about 80 cassettes of 24 exposures -- nothing wrong with it !!

MZ-5 Prints 05 by pentaxpete, on Flickr

gone · Feb 14, 2015

Quite the friendly bunch you captured there Pete :} The guy on the left (sitting sideways) seems to be in every quick snap that I take when shooting unaware strangers. Beautiful colors (and other assorted scenery) in that Christmas tree pic.

blockend · Feb 14, 2015

Chinese Lucky 100 can be great tonally, but my last few batches have had problems with scratches. I shot a lot of Orwo back in the 80s and 90s, see Josef Koudelka's shots of the Prague Spring invasion to see how good it can look. He used outdated cine stock and had to reload cassettes in his Exakta at his apartment between rolls.

In the UK Poundland's Agfa Vista (Fuji) 200 and 400 looks nice. About to test some Foma 100. For serious or paying work I shoot HP5+ or Portra 400 (Fuji Pro400H is great but absurdly expensive over here). Get on top of exposure, development and printing, and almost any film can look good.

Ricardo Miranda · Feb 15, 2015

Very nice ones Pete!

Lucky SHD 100, or the Super Colour 100 and 200 or the older ORWO films aren't re-branded or generic films.
Least are the Foma Bohemia films!

Sirius Glass · Feb 15, 2015

Kodak
Ilford
Fuji
That is about off brand as I get.

Dennis S · Feb 16, 2015

Been having a go with some Kodak 5302 positive film. Really slow @ 8 ISO and developing in Rodinal. Sorry for the watermarks but they were displayed elsewhere that needs marking. I am also a big user of Orwo films with great results.

chip j · Feb 16, 2015

Sirius Glass said:
Kodak
Ilford
Fuji
That is about off brand as I get.

I guess you're not a starving artist like some of us here.

Sirius Glass · Feb 16, 2015

chip j said:
I guess you're not a starving artist like some of us here.

I am not independently wealthy either. Just incredibly handsome and humble. Sometimes I am so humble that I cannot stand the crap that comes out of my mouth and I just want to grab a bottle of mouthwash or hydrogen peroxide!

Les Sarile · Feb 16, 2015

Lomography 100 is quite cheap. Color and contrast seems similar to Kodak Gold 100 but grainier.

Has good latitude.

anfenglin · Feb 16, 2015

I love my old Orwo stock, NP20, 22 and 27, I also have two bricks of Orwocolor NC21, I develop that in C-41 at 30C°, that rocks

nosmok · Feb 16, 2015

Here in California at least, Rite-Aid branded color 400 speed film is a not so great 400 film but quite a nice 300 speed film (or so). I think it's made by Fuji...

Forrest Conifer · Feb 17, 2015

nosmok said:
Here in California at least, Rite-Aid branded color 400 speed film is a not so great 400 film but quite a nice 300 speed film (or so). I think it's made by Fuji...

I didn't realize there was a Rite-Aid store brand film. I'll have to see if my local store has any...

sagai · Feb 18, 2015

There is a Kodak Colorplus 35mm film for less than 2 USD here in EU. I am very pleased with it.

film_man · Feb 19, 2015

chip j said:
I guess you're not a starving artist like some of us here.

On the contrary, I see the expired and off-brand/wacko film game to be for those that can really afford it. You are going into the trouble, time and expense to use something with unpredictable results. That means you're either shooting it for careless fun (ie shots you don't care about) or have a specific purpose (think Lomo..which is kind of careless fun). Neither of these are prudent or the norm for someone with no money. Saving $3/roll to buy 10 year old expired film only to find it is garbage means you wasted whatever you paid to buy and develop the film and missed out on some photos.

Not saying people shouldn't try expired or off-brand or whatever you define as non-mainstream film. Personally I shot a lot of expired and off-brand stuff in 2013. I got frustrated and never got anything consistent but whatever floats your boat and I am not saying that you cannot get good results otherwise (as demonstrated in this thread). I just want to know what I'm in for so now just go for fresh film from Kodak and Ilford plus I'm thinking that by giving them my money they stay in business that little bit longer.

Sirius Glass · Feb 19, 2015

film_man said:
On the contrary, I see the expired and off-brand/wacko film game to be for those that can really afford it. You are going into the trouble, time and expense to use something with unpredictable results. That means you're either shooting it for careless fun (ie shots you don't care about) or have a specific purpose (think Lomo..which is kind of careless fun). Neither of these are prudent or the norm for someone with no money. Saving $3/roll to buy 10 year old expired film only to find it is garbage means you wasted whatever you paid to buy and develop the film and missed out on some photos.

Not saying people shouldn't try expired or off-brand or whatever you define as non-mainstream film. Personally I shot a lot of expired and off-brand stuff in 2013. I got frustrated and never got anything consistent but whatever floats your boat and I am not saying that you cannot get good results otherwise (as demonstrated in this thread). I just want to know what I'm in for so now just go for fresh film from Kodak and Ilford plus I'm thinking that by giving them my money they stay in business that little bit longer.

He gets it! I agree. But then anyone who agrees with me is brilliant; those who do not, not so much.

Much of the use of off brand films is just false economy. My opinion, but if you disagree with me, then you are just plain wrong!

railwayman3 · Feb 19, 2015

film_man said:
On the contrary, I see the expired and off-brand/wacko film game to be for those that can really afford it. You are going into the trouble, time and expense to use something with unpredictable results. That means you're either shooting it for careless fun (ie shots you don't care about) or have a specific purpose (think Lomo..which is kind of careless fun). Neither of these are prudent or the norm for someone with no money. Saving $3/roll to buy 10 year old expired film only to find it is garbage means you wasted whatever you paid to buy and develop the film and missed out on some photos.

Not saying people shouldn't try expired or off-brand or whatever you define as non-mainstream film. Personally I shot a lot of expired and off-brand stuff in 2013. I got frustrated and never got anything consistent but whatever floats your boat and I am not saying that you cannot get good results otherwise (as demonstrated in this thread). I just want to know what I'm in for so now just go for fresh film from Kodak and Ilford plus I'm thinking that by giving them my money they stay in business that little bit longer.

I'm obviously also with that, to a large extent. Certainly I always use fresh film for all pictures of importance...or at worst slightly expired film which I bought new and froze right away.

OTOH, there is a certain interest in trying out old or obsolete films or ancient developer formulae....not sure why, perhaps there's an element of nostalgia in using Panatomic-X or Selochrome, or just our human curiosity for experimentation. Maybe illogical...but perhaps if we were "logical" we wouldn't still be messing around in the dark with obsolete processes using nasty chemicals, but sitting comfortably in a nice clean warm room with our computer and photoshop making our masterpieces on a screen?

film_man · Feb 19, 2015

railwayman3 said:
OTOH, there is a certain interest in trying out old or obsolete films or ancient developer formulae....not sure why, perhaps there's an element of nostalgia in using Panatomic-X or Selochrome, or just our human curiosity for experimentation. Maybe illogical...but perhaps if we were "logical" we wouldn't still be messing around in the dark with obsolete processes using nasty chemicals, but sitting comfortably in a nice clean warm room with our computer and photoshop making our masterpieces on a screen?

I agree and it is fun to try things to see what the results are but I would consider these a luxury as I know that I may or may not get usable results, ie it could be a waste of money. My point was that for someone with little money gambling as such is not very wise vs paying just a tiny bit more for guaranteed results. Though we're kind of mudding the distinction here between expired wacko film and off-brand but fresh film, which can yield very acceptable results.

Les Sarile · Feb 19, 2015

With regards to old obsolete film, I found a local seller in 9/2010 who was selling a box of over a hundred rolls of Kodak Ektar 125 that has been stored in his hot Atlanta garage for years with an expiry date of 4/1992. Cost was for me to come get it since he didn't want to throw it out for some reason.

Of course the cost is your time to test and process which is much more than the cost of any film. So I shot the first roll at various ISO settings and got these results.

A couple more examples from rolls I have shot since.

Not bad for grossly expired and poorly kept film . . .

PentaxBronica · Feb 22, 2015

blockend said:
In the UK Poundland's Agfa Vista (Fuji) 200 and 400 looks nice.

Yep, I use it for testing cameras. Image quality is more than good enough to check that the camera is exposing correctly. Other bonus is that it's cheaper to have 24 exposures processed than 36!

Can't really beat £1 per roll, the six rolls I bought yesterday have a use by date in 2017.

Black Dog · Feb 22, 2015

railwayman3 said:
I'm obviously also with that, to a large extent. Certainly I always use fresh film for all pictures of importance...or at worst slightly expired film which I bought new and froze right away.

OTOH, there is a certain interest in trying out old or obsolete films or ancient developer formulae....not sure why, perhaps there's an element of nostalgia in using Panatomic-X or Selochrome, or just our human curiosity for experimentation. Maybe illogical...but perhaps if we were "logical" we wouldn't still be messing around in the dark with obsolete processes using nasty chemicals, but sitting comfortably in a nice clean warm room with our computer and photoshop making our masterpieces on a screen?

Me too-also it can work really well with the randomness of pinhole.

What are your favorite off-brand/generic films?

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