Yesterday I shot a test roll of Astrum Foto 100 (35mm), a Ukrainian film that is a reinvention/rebranding of an old Svema film, from what I can tell. For the first time in 15 years, I used my FM2 from college days, with the Tamron 70-210 (surprisingly good lens).
The Astrum web site offers precious little information about their films (
http://www.astrum-ltd.com/en/kino-foto-materialy.html) - not even the speed of some of the emulsions. Since the Foto 100 is definitely presented as a 100ASA film, I shot it at 64ASA and bracketed. In the future, I will shoot it at 50ASA and probably choose a different developer (Rodinal seemed to enhance contrast, which this film definitely does NOT need)
The negatives are very contrasty, with a rather abrupt transition from dark/middle tones to detail-less shadows. Not what I would call a forgiving film. (It might be a misnomer to call its characteristic "curve", a curve!) But the "graphic arts" contrast aside, it has remarkably fine grain (I can barely detect it) and very high acutance. The negatives kind of reminded me of old Tech Pan. Curious stuff. Also, the polyester base is VERY thin, but dries so dang flat. In fact, it is one of the flattest films I have used, ever. I was given a few rolls of four different Astrum films to test, and each one has surprised me, in a good way. For a $4. roll of film packaged in CHEAP disposable bulk roll canisters, it has surprised me, big time. I'm going to explore the Foto 100 emulsion a lot more, processing in different developers to find the best contrast/curve behavior.
Here is a test image from that roll. Its from a negative that likely received half a stop over 64ASA:
View attachment 206301