NoColorStudio No. 5: just in case it wasn’t slow enough
Recently I’ve got wind of a very interesting film: the No5 from NoColorStudio. It’s not the fifth, but rather the second film they made, after the No10, which is a 100-speed panchromatic film. The 5 however stands for ISO 5, which is not something you find very often in the film world.
It should be noted that they have no DX coding.
I ordered the box of 10, because why not and I knew that I’d go through it in a breeze. Well, a couple rolls later, what I can tell you is that it is highly satisfying and frustrating at the same time. But if I didn’t want to be frustrated, I wouldn’t be doing film now would I?
A bit of background on the film itself. It is a very high contrast, very slow film that’s originally been designed for archival duties. It’s a completely transparent negative that doesn’t seem to have any grain whatsoever when inspected at very close range. Very nice so far. It’s also very cheap, costing about as much as a roll of HP5 (albeit only in 29 frames). For the amount of sharpness it delivers, I’d honestly compare it to Delta or Tmax film!
Shooting the film is a blast! Have you ever shot 1/60s at f/1.4? You surely have. In broad daylight? Impossible without an ND, but then you lose most of the ability to see through the finder. With this, you can. Inside, you can get minute long exposures at relatively wide apertures as well, making it great for many, many kinds of work that requires some movement. I imagine that using a flash to freeze some of the movement can be also very nice, but that’ll be for another time.
Developing the film was also a satisfying process, as you can do it under red light and gauge the exposure as you go. Using a Paterson tank without the lid and funnel is the way to go in my opinion. I was using Kodak Xtol, with times varying around 8’ to 9’, before factoring developer depletion. Unlike other ortho film, it’s very easy to see the image before it’s dunked in the fixer. It’s very gratifying, compared to regular, closed lid development.
Working in the darkroom was also a fairly fun process, since the film is very transparent it’s very easy to work with. You can see very well what you’re doing, but short exposure times make it very hard to dodge and burn. Also, since the film has no grain, and I mean no grain, micro focus is basically impossible to do. But since you can basically see everything at f/2.8, it’s a non issue. If you tend to do a lot of printing, I recommend using a #2 or less contrast filter. It’ll have about the same look that a #4 or #5 would provide.
All images shot were with my trusty Pentax Spotmatic SP2, along with an SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 (7 elements version). Some shots also feature a tripod, which was a Vanguard VEO2 265AB, a wonderful, lightweight tripod, perfect for 35mm cameras.
By now, I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve fallen in love with the No5. It feels so different from regular film that it made me love what I do even more. It’s often said that film makes you slow down, to perfectly frame your shot, and it’s even more the case here, with a stock that requires pin perfect exposure to have maximum resolution. Shooting digital really makes photography feel bland and mechanical. I love my camera to death, the results are always perfect, but I love to suffer (read: experiment), so I’ll continue shooting film.
It also makes you realize how shooting different formats can be important in a creative process. In digital, having only one sensor that can do it all is nice, but it lacks the involvement you need to have with 35mm photography. Having interesting results you didn’t think you’d have, seeing your negatives coming out of the soup, the dance while exposing a print, and seeing it come to life before your eyes, it truly makes you wonder what’s next?
Special thanks to Arnas Špaka, the owner of NoColorStudio for letting me use his images, and for making me fall in love with what I do once again.
