Photos and Writing By:
Edited by: XEONIQ [ Instagram | Tumblr ]
Foreword
With the massive popularity of my Cyberpunk 35mm Film review I wrote last year in 2024 [ SHELLZINE LINK ], now surpassing over 100,000 unique user views, I felt that samples from other photographers in a city outside of Shanghai may be useful for readers interested in trying the film out for themselves.
Three friends and photographers embarked on an evening photo walk in Brisbane city, each armed with a roll of Cyberpunk 800T in their preferred 35mm cameras.
Each provided me with a few of their favourite shots from the night, including any insights or tips they had to offer for shooting the film and urban cityscape low light photography in general.
Photography is often enjoyed as a solitary hobby, however I think as this collaborative photo set demonstrates, there are opportunities for socialisation and networking as well; sharing technical and creative ideas with one another and potentially expanding your own skillsets, if not simply having a fun time with peers.
While Instagram may be waning as a platform for photography sharing, there still exist numerous opportunities for networking with other hobbyists.
– XEONIQ
If you want to purchase any Cyberpunk film, the retailer Color Space ships internationally out of Hong Kong, and they were most helpful in answering my questions regarding Cyberpunk’s products.
Note: Cyberpunk film may be sold in any number of film retailers, I purchase mine locally in Shanghai, and I receive no commission if you purchase from one of the links below.
Color Space Web Shop Links:
Photographer: CUSAQ
Cusaq [ Instagram ] is a Queenslander who primarily shoots architectural photos, exclusively on 35mm with his Ricoh XR-X SLR. His favourite lens is a Tokina 90 f2.5 MACRO, a well-regarded vintage prime lens that provides beautiful bokeh and sharp rendering.
Brisbane is a varied environment, with photo opportunities ranging from dense, foresty hills and arid bushland, to towering modern structures of concrete and glass.
Working and living near the CBD, and appealed to by architecture and gritty nightlife, I prefer to remain around the city areas, especially so when shooting twilight or night time.
When shooting Cyberpunk in higher ISO, I focus on vivid lighting in dark settings, heavy contrast and bright colours. Building windows and interiors are particularly good targets for this. The light halation, grain and color range of the film allows for moody and expressive images from fairly normal subject matter.
A tripod + long exposure is the best method for results, however I often find myself chancing a low F-Stop and long-ish shutter speed while handholding my Ricoh XR-X, for convenience.
The light halation, grain and colour range of the film allows for moody and expressive images from fairly normal subject matter. I tended to prefer my interior shots from this roll of Cyberpunk 800-T over my usual architectural shots. The cinema film for these shots of bars and entrance ways to restaurants created a nostalgic aesthetic that I think was well-matched.
Photographer: Andrew Kirkwood
Andrew [ Instagram ] lives and works in Brisbane and is an avid traveller, which fuels his street photography. He primarily shoots 35mm film with a first generation Contax T and a Canon Autoboy Jet.
Andrew has two published SHELLZINE photography sets you can view here:
I used by Contax T with the aperture priority set to f2.8 for my roll of Cyberpunk 800T. These were my favourite two shots from that roll, both taken at twilight, which I felt gave vivid colours and plenty of detail for the entire scene even on a short exposure, handheld shot.
Shooting Cyperpunk 800T in Brisbane at dusk strikes a balance against the fading daylight. With the film’s higher sensitivity to light , it provides a way to capture rich, atmospheric tones that blend beautifully with the urban landscape with minimal grain.
As the sun dips below the horizon it brings out an aesthetic contrast between the amber glow against the cool blues and purples of the evening sky that gives images a dreamy, cinematic quality.
Photographer: KYEPRW
Based on the Sunshine Coast, KYEPRW [ Instagram ] is an avid portrait and landscape photographer shooting exclusively film on his pair of Canon T50 and Canon T70 35mm cameras and an assortment of Canon FD lenses.
Utilising cyberpunk 800t on my favoured Canon T70, a camera that I predominantly use on full automatic, I wanted to experiment and challenge myself this time by only using a tripod and with shutter priority locked at 2-seconds exposure with a self-timer on to avoid camera shake that can occur when manually pressing the trigger.
Shooting in Brisbane on a weeknight creates an ideal opportunity to take my time with my shots. With little to no foot traffic, I was able to position my setup freely.
I thoroughly enjoyed shooting by the river close to the story bridge with views of the city skyline, and the crowded steel beams presented an array of verticality and scale within the subject to capture.
Overall, I was pleased with the results; having achieved detail, I would otherwise not have been able to execute free-handed. Although an apparent learning curve was how little motion a 2-second shutter speed would capture, for instance, there were shots where I timed perfectly a car or person passing the frame then having reviewed the images to see only a slight blur or trail of light I was wrong in my assumption that a moving subject would be entirely stretched across the frame. However, those experimental shots didn’t turn out as predicted; they still created a interestingly dynamic scene.
If you enjoyed this photoset, you may like to follow CUSAQ [INSTAGRAM LINK], Andrew Kirkwood [INSTAGRAM LINK] and KYEPRW [INSTAGRAM LINK] where they regularly posts photography taken in Queensland and on their travels around Australia and the world.