5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

By Kevan Wilkinson

Blue has always been my favorite color, but not when it shows up in my 35mm film scans. The appearance of a dominant blue hue can wreak havoc on pictures. That said, I was curious to see what would result if I shot a roll of CineStill 800T in broad daylight with my Yashica T5. Given that CineStill 800T is a color-balanced tungsten negative film, and my Yashica T5 is a simple point-and-shoot camera that doesn’t accommodate filters of any kind, I had no idea what the pictures would end up looking like. Would the bright sunlight be too difficult to balance out properly? Would the pictures end up awash in blue and therefore be rendered worthless? There was only one way to find out. 

I loaded a fresh roll of CineStill 800T into my Yashica T5 and hit the streets on a bright sunny day in Southern California. I took pictures of anything and everything that seemed interesting, and that would present me with nice-looking images. These included storefronts, classic automobiles, vintage signs, and old buildings. I made a point of shooting with as much daylight as possible and, as a result, my Yashica T5’s flash never fired. As the late afternoon shadows started to appear, I had already shot two rolls of CineStill 800T. I put both rolls into my camera bag and called it a day.

The film lab I use specializes in C-41 processing and has high quality Noritsu scanners, so I was really looking forward to seeing my pictures. When I did, I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks to the work of the film lab technician who corrected color balance and density during the scanning process, I was pleased to see vivid colors, sharp contrast, and the fine grain that CineStill film is known for. There is only a slight blue tone on several pictures, and it looks really good.

cinestill 800t apartment building picture

In summary, I know that Cinestill 800T is ideal for low-light situations like indoor shooting, nighttime shooting, or under warm tungsten lighting, but given the right process, it is also great for the outdoors. Street scenes look fantastic, and the occasional red or orange halation might appear when shooting with strong backlight. I am a fan of 1970s motion pictures and television shows, so this greatly boosts my appreciation for CineStill 800T film.

I hope you enjoyed this article and the images.
You can see more of my film photography work on my website.

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About The Author

By Kevan Wilkinson
Landscape, travel and outdoor photographer
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Comments

Gordie on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 01/06/2019

Yep have found it to have a lovely fine grain, just excellent for a 800 film. The only time I got a pastel blue colour wash was indoors, w/o flash - skintones and primary colours were less affected, resulting in some quite pleasing and interesting shots. For colour experimentation this stuff is way better than the deliberately tinted film stock that rhymes with 'trouble'.
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Kurt Ingham on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 01/06/2019

who is your lab?
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Kevan Wilkinson replied:

Comment posted: 01/06/2019

Hi Kurt, I use a lab in Southern California called Pro Photo Connection.

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Peter on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 01/06/2019

Great writeup from a fellow Southern Californian! I've been thinking about moving out of my comfort zone of black and white Ilford HP5 or Kodak color films (now that Agfa Vista has gone the way of the Dodo). CineSill is one film I've been curious about but not tried. Thanks for information and photo frame examples!
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Kevan Wilkinson replied:

Comment posted: 01/06/2019

Peter, thanks for the comment. Did you ever end up shooting CineStill?

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Chris on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

The color on these looks great. Really love the last two frames. What lab are you using? I’m based in LA and always interested in what labs people are using.
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Kevan Wilkinson replied:

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

Thank you Chris. I am using a lab called Pro Photo Connection that is in OC.

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Kate on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

Nice that your lab performed a color correction. Mine didn't and I was not so pleased with the CineStill Tungsten But I will give it another try if I am shooting in low light.
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Kevan Wilkinson replied:

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

Hi Kate, sorry for the late reply to your comment. Some of the scans of low-light images looked far too blue, but a slight correction was all that was needed to fix the issue.

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hateful critic on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

i don't understand why you would do this, it looks horrible
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Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

i don't understand why you would want to comment like this, it adds nothing useful

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Robert Gambill replied:

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

Counterpoint: it looks fantastic :)

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Martin Hugh Henley on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

Very interesting experiment, Kevin. You are very right in referencing the '70s - your photos sure have that vibe. I love them! I've been caught a couple of times in the opposite camp - slow film with low light, so I had no choice but to shoot and be damned with most up to 3 stops under. I've now got a ton of fast film and won't hesitate in loading s roll into my Yashica T5. Thanks for sharing.
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Kevan Wilkinson replied:

Comment posted: 02/06/2019

Thank you Martin. How did your images turn out with your Yashica T5?

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Clive W on 5 Frames With CineStill 800T and a Yashica T5 taken in Broad Daylight – By Kevan Wilkinson

Comment posted: 21/02/2020

I’m late to the commenting party but I like this experiment — a brave one in such bright light and a camera with quite a limited exposure range. (Top speed of 1/700 if it’s the same as my T4.)

But the frame I like best of the five is the one of the ‘Warwicks...’ (why the dots?) sign. The blue-shifted colours go with the dated script to evoke the era of independent stores that were once fixtures of our towns and are now almost gone. It’s more poignant on Cinestill than it would have been on, say, Ektar.
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