By: XEONIQ [ Instagram | Tumblr ]
Contents
- 1.0 Introduction
- 2.0 Technical Info
- 3.0 Why Shoot with Cyberpunk 35mm Films?
- 4.0 Cyberpunk 35mm Film Reviews
- 5.0 Verdict and Summary
1.0 Introduction
“Cyberpunk” film is a relatively new and affordable brand of 35mm analog film rolls in a number of advertised ISO and colour-balancing options. There is not a lot of information about the film or many reviews of it online, and as Shellzine covers cyberpunk media as well as features city-themed photography sets, I figured a review was in order.
I bought a roll of each film stock to shoot and have added a number of sample frames I took around Shanghai with a retro-futuristic, cyberpunk aesthetic in mind. First, I’ll give a run down on the technicals of repacked cinema film and a few terms followed by a few of the reasons why you might want to shoot Cyberpunk 35mm. If you just want to see the film results and read my thoughts on each stock, skip straight to Section 4.0.
2.0 Technical Info: Motion Picture Film, Repacking and Remjet
I talked to a representative from Color Space (HK-based film retailer) who informed me that the supplier of Cyberpunk film is based in China.
Cyberpunk film is a “repack” of motion picture film from Kodak called Vision3. Kodak Vision3 is sold in 100, 400 and 1000 foot roll lengths which is purchased by businesses who remove the “remjet” from the roll and then cut it into strips of 36 exposures and then pack it into cannisters so that it can be used in 35mm/135 format analog film cameras. In this way, such businesses can buy motion picture film in bulk to create economies of scale that enable them to sell the re-packed film rolls at a profit as 35mm photography film such as Kodak Ultramax 400 or Fuji 200 become more and more expensive. This business model became quite popular thanks to Cinestill but now there are dozens of other small companies like Cyberpunk who are using the same methodology and undercutting Cinestill’s prices significantly. Below is a list of Cyberpunk 35mm films and the corresponding Kodak Vision3 stock they are repacking into cannisters for stills photography.
Cyberpunk Film to Kodak Equivalency:
- Cyberpunk 100D = Kodak Vision3 50D
- Cyberpunk 400D = Kodak Vision3 250D
- Cyberpunk 320T = Kodak Vision3 500T
- Cyberpunk 640T = Kodak Vision3 500T
- Cyberpunk 800T = Kodak Vision3 500T
The “D” stands for daylight balanced and the “T” for tungsten-balanced. Tungsten-balanced film is formulated to counter the yellow light of halogen lamps, providing a colour temperature of 3200K versus daylight film’s 5500k. Shooting a “T” film during the day with natural light provides a result that is rather surreal in its blue tint.
An important thing to note about 35mm cinema repack films is that some have their remjet layers removed, and some do not. Remjet stands for: “Removable Jet Black” and is a layer added to motion picture film to absorb excess light that may cause halation, reduce static as motion picture films move at higher speeds than still cameras, and to prevent scratches. For “still” analog photography, the problem with developing motion picture film in a commercial C41 colour processing machine is that it will result in the remjet layer contaminating the chemicals. As stated, some cinema film repacks are sold with the remjet layer on them and most consumer development labs will not process it for you.
Luckily, Cyberpunk 35mm films have the remjet layer already removed before packing and you can process them at any lab that does C41 development without concern.
Now, there is one difference between repacked motion picture film and still photography film because of this remjet removal process. When you shoot a frame with bright lights present, such as street lamps, or glare off snow, and so on, these will present as a “halation”, which appears as a red glow on those bright areas. Cinestill has done stringent marketing to make this defect into a desired effect, and for what it’s worth I cannot help but agree with them. The red halation glow provides a mark of distinction over digital photography beyond 35mm film’s grain and colours, and is a lot harder to replicate.
A tight crop of a recent editorial shoot I did for ROSEN using Cyberpunk 800T that features the halation effect
I should also note that stripped remjet film, in my experience, can be prone to scratches and while I have not noticed this significantly on Cyberpunk 35mm films as much as I have from other brands, it is definitely there at times, and something you don’t need to worry about effectively when shooting photographic still film like Kodak Portra 400 or Fuji 200.
3.0 Why Shoot with Cyberpunk 35mm Films?
While Cyberpunk 35mm films are simply a Kodak Vision3 repack, there are a few reasons why you might consider shooting this stock, which I’ve listed below.
- Affordable: Cyberpunk films are among the cheapest motion picture film repacks you can buy on the market. At my local film retailer a roll of Cyberpunk 800T is 4 times cheaper than Cinestill 800T and both are derived from the same Kodak Vision3 500T motion picture film base roll.
- Good selection of ISO’s: Some cinema film repack brands are rather limited and only come in one or two ISO options. You have three motion picture film stocks spread across five ISO products with Cyberpunk films. Now, while you could buy Cinestill 800T or similar and shoot it at 320 ISO and develop it at 320, many consumer labs will not do this for C41, as the development process is automated by a machine. This makes Cyberpunk 35mm films great for having 3 ISO selections for their Vision3 500T repacks.
- Halation effect: With so many digital film filters available, the glowing red highlights provided by halation defects can be an interesting way to differentiate your shots, especially for night photography.
- High latitude and Neutral Colours: Vision3 was designed to for a lot of flexibility in editing for film makers. And this carries over to cinema film repacks, making it great for adjusting to your signature style.
- You’re into the Cyberpunk genre: A little pandering goes a long way. If you are into cyberpunk media and the aesthetic style so why shoot Cinestill or Rainbird when you can shoot the literally named “Cyberpunk” film? I am only half joking here.
- Quality: In my experience, some of the inexpensive cinema film repacks have poor quality control and may have significant scratches on some of the frames, most likely incurred during the remjet removal process. I’ve not noticed this significantly in the Cyberpunk 35mm films I’ve been using over the past year at all.
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:
4.0 Cyberpunk 35mm Film Reviews
Unlike most film review articles, I’ve tried to keep to a roughly retro-futuristic, if not cyberpunk, theme for my test shots. I ensured I always had a camera on me each day while I was venturing out. I’ll leave my thoughts for each film stock under its respective heading.
Note: Film is far less forgiving with imperfect lighting condition than digital sensors are as a medium for photography. You’ll see significant variation in the image quality of the sample shots in this article, even within the same film stock roll. The results I get with my cameras could be wildly different to yours. Please keep this in mind and consider the images together with my written thoughts and reflections.
4.1 Cyberpunk 100D
I used a Minolta A7 for this roll, which had a Sony 80mm f2.8 SAM lens on it for the most part. Despite attempting to shoot 100D during the day only, I found even having a f2.8 lens insufficient at 80mm as the weather was often overcast.
This portrait was underexposed as I had limited light, but that gave the result a bit more grain than the other samples.
It’s definitely sharp enough as a 35mm film.
Chinese characters on architecture, compressed with a telephoto lens. That’s always a crowd-pleaser. The film appears slightly murky to me here.
Construction projects are another favourite of mine. 100D gave plenty of detail and very little grain to speak of.
Another construction shot that could be digital. As noted earlier, 100D took me a lot longer to finish as a roll compared to the other stocks because of the overcast weather. I did not find it versatile to shoot as a daily film.
This is another perfect exposure where the film grain is almost not noticeable and it could just be a digital photograph at this point.
While I am very impressed with the 100D results, I feel like with the added expense of film, I might as well use a vintage lens on a digital camera for a similar effect.
Cyberpunk 320T
I’ve used a Canon T70 for this set, with a Tamron Adaptall 35-100 F3.5 zoom lens. The T70 is not a particularly popular camera in the film community and you can find them under $USD40 in most second hand markets. However, it’s one of my most used cameras because of how reliable and compact it is. It’s multiple program modes are easy to use and provide very accurate metering in my experience.
One of my favourite shots from this review. The grain is considerably more pronounced being underexposed and since it’s based on a 500 speed Kodak stock. There’s definitely enough detail here though.
Underexposed with a lot of grain, but as I’ve said many times, the grain is one of the reasons to still bother shooting 35mm film in 2024 with the costs being so inflated. I want the shots to look different to digital.
Techno-organic aesthetics have to be one of my favourites to capture. Plenty of dynamic range here to capture details inside this green house as well as the much brighter-lit buildings outside.
SinoPunk 2024. I love using telephoto compression from a distance to get a lot of detail into a frame for shots like this. The blue tint on everything is what you can expect shooting 320T or the other tungsten-balanced films outside on a overcast day.
Another greenhouse shot taken on an overcast day. Definitely a lot less detail than 100D’s results.
An interior shot lit by overcast sunlight and white LED interior lights. Again, a lot of blue here.
A proper twilight shot taken at Zhonshang Park. The colours here are getting more close to an old 70s or 80s movie.
Another twilight shot, but the colours not as compelling as the previous example for me. I also was struggling to get enough shutter speed at this point with only 320 ISO and a maximum f3.5 aperture.
A very washed out overcast shot. Not satisfied with the quality at all but I do like the deliberate composition.
A night time shot, shooting through glass into a very orange-lit Gentle Monster sunglasses store.
I felt the 320 ISO limit made this a bit hard to shoot during the evening versus the 640 and 800 options, which use the same base Vision3 stock. For daytime use, there does appear to be a bit less grain than shooting and developing the 640 or 800.
Cyberpunk 400D
I used my Ricoh FF-3D AF point and shoot for this roll. This was my first film camera I was given years ago as a gift. I’ve dropped it, had the back fly off, and taken it all over the world at this point and it still pumps out good shots reliably. The best thing about this camera despite its very 80’s looks is that it has a very intuitive flash system you can pull out or push in that is fully manual. This allows for some great creative photography opportunities, which most point and shoots don’t allow, pushing the flash in low light scenes automatically and not firing during the day at all.
Based on Vision3 250D, this stock is much sharper and with less grain than the 500T repacks.
Shot with elevation to use the scooter riders as part of the frame, the colours are a lot warmer than the tungsten stocks.
Plenty of halation with that red glow in the sky using these Cyberpunk 35mm repack films.
Typical street/lifestyle kind of shot outdoors many people like using 35mm point and shoot cameras for. The 400D seems versatile for that purpose.
A behind the scenes portrait I took while shooting the lookbook for ROSEN’s Noon collection. A subtle grain, good details but a soft film look that is flattering for portraiture, in my opinion.
Half under-exposed, half over-exposed, this film stock has high latitude and good dynamic range for 35mm film.
The sharpness is plenty for architecture while having more grain than the 100D film.
With a steady hand, the 35mm f3.5 lens in my Ricoh and this 400D film produced a halfway decent night shot. The halation on the policeman’s shoulder LEDs is one of the reasons I like using cinema films, especially at night.
Slightly overcast and through the window, the result is acceptable for landscape photography in my opinion.
400D is a lot more versatile than the 100D, has more grain, which is a plus, and can be shot in all kinds of lighting. I’d recommend this film out of the two daylight film options.
Cyberpunk 640T
This roll was shot on my Canon T70 again. I used a Canon nFD 50mm f1.8 lens, one of the cheaper but more effective and compact daily use lenses in the system.
Good timing for a very lucky capture expression on the model’s face in the fast moving LCD advertising display.
A moat statute around Shanghai’s Ritz Carlton hotel that I love capturing for the artificial waterfall and glowing windows behind it. The grain here feels equivalent to the 320T but there is a lot more shutter speed available at 640 than 320, making it more versatile for low light situations.
Wide open f1.8 night time portrait with multiple artificial light sources. Slightly off focus on the zipper rather than the model’s face. I do love this night time aesthetic for portrait work. The grain from underexposure is very strong here.
An interior shot with plenty of artificial light to illuminate the jade displays and provide halation effects. I love how this came out, it feels very vintage to me and the colours are gorgeous with the tungsten balanced film.
With this 50mm f1.8 shot at its maximum aperture, the loss of details is just too much for night time architecture. A better performing lens would be needed for this stock and purpose, in my opinion.
Enormous grain using the 640T film during the day. I think that works quite well though.
For day light and interior use, the 640T is an interesting result. I can’t help but think that the 800T is superior however because you get a little bit more shutter speed flexibility for the same detail level and resolution.
Cyberpunk 800T
This roll was taken on my Ricoh FF3D again. It fits into a little sacoche bag, which I tether to the camera with its strap so I can easily pull it out to take a snapshot. 35mm as a focal length is slightly limiting for both street photography and lifestyle type shots, as well the odd portrait, it can work well.
I can’t take the credit for this shot. Pictured with my T70 and the 50mm 1.8. Lots of grain shot at day but still plenty of detail for portrait work in my opinion.
The 35mm on the Ricoh might only be f3.5 maximum aperture but its very sharp at infinity.
Catching interesting movements on animated LCD displays serving as background has been a fun challenge for my photography lately.
An old shopping mall in Shanghai, it’s top level mostly populated by Japanese izakaya and Chinese hotpot places. The glass roof allows the night lights to penetrate in and I felt the film in this case gave a good impression of what it was like to be there.
The detail and grain render like the other 2 Vision3 500T films, but you get the added flexibility of 800ISO processing with labs. I’d stick with this 800T just because it will give me more options to shoot at night in more of my film cameras.
5.0 Verdict and Summary
With the high price of photography films at the moment I am perfectly happy shooting Cyberpunk film for 35mm analog photography. It’s cheap, it has all the ISO sensitivities I need and the halation effect and grain give it a different look to my digital shots.
I personally stick with the 400D for day time shots and 800T for interior, twilight and night photography.
Cyberpunk 100D, while it looked amazing and rivaled digital photography in some shots doesn’t seem to be worth shooting, for me, because it’s limited to times of the day with a lot of light and without any grain (when exposed properly) however for those without a digital camera or who want that quality, it’s good for the price.
After shooting these film stocks for the review, I ended up using 8 rolls of Cyberpunk 800T to do the main editorial shoot for ROSEN’s AMUR collection, which you can view at the following link: ROSEN AMUR EDITORIAL
Aside from some static discharge due to the cold, at times under -15C, the film gave a vintage aesthetic with a surreal blue look and red halation that I wanted.
If you liked the photos in this review, you can see more of my photography on my Tumblr or Instagram.
Ethical Statement: The 35mm film products were purchased by myself with my own funds and is in no way endorsed or otherwise sponsored by the manufacturer (Cyberpunk Films).