CineStill 400D – A Bittersweet Review

There are a couple of things I should preface before we get underway with my honest opinion regarding CineStill 400D, the latest colour film release by Cinestill. First off, I am not a huge fan of colour film. I much prefer black & white for its dramatic look, options in developers, and creative control. I have the unpopular opinion that digital does colour better and so if you had a visceral reaction to that warning, you may want to stop right here. The other thing is I’m not a huge fan of rebranded films, something CineStill is known for, and I touch on in my controversial video Why CineStill Sucks.

All this being said: I like this CineStill 400D and I was an initial backer, as it was advertised as a unique emulsion. To what extent I’m not entirely sure. Crazy though right? Why would a pixel loving, colour film hating photographer even bother? A couple of great reasons.

The first is I liked the look of the film right off the bat. I thought the feel of it really grabbed me. There was also the prospect of 220 film being developed as well as 4×5.

I was disappointed when the idea of 220 was scrapped but as you may have read recently, I have thrown in the towel on medium format so it’s not a huge loss for my personal workflow, but one of my complaints was lack of shots per roll and 220 would have certainly quashed that.

For my test, I shot both 35mm and 120. For 35mm I loaded it in my Nikon F100 and snapped on an AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f4G ED VR, and for medium format I shot it on a Pentax 6×7 with an SMC Takumar 6×7 55mm f3.5.

Both performed amazingly. Often when I shoot colour, I need to make adjustments to the white balance and there are certainly a few that came out with a green cast, but the examples throughout this article are all non-adjusted other than levels/curves and the removal of dust. What you see is what the initial scan gave me for whites, which is pretty rare, at least from my experience. The silver paneling of the side of a grain elevator was particularly on point and the blues in the sky were striking, as well as the reds rich in tone without going overboard. I’ve said that once scanned and compressed, 35mm and 120 don’t have a massive difference in quality but my Pentax 6×7 shots do edge out over their F100 counterparts. Of all my Pentax 6×7 gear, I will miss that 55mm the most.

The bottom line is that while I don’t shoot colour on a regular basis, I may have just found my new default colour film. I’ve always thought of Portra as a decent film, but I think the 400 is a bit washed out for my taste and the 160 is great, but a little slow for the diversity I seek. To me, CineStill 400D gives the range and rich colour of Portra 160, but faster.

I feel like Kodak has too much power when it comes to colour film and even though CineStill offers us something different they still rely on them and I wouldn’t be so annoyed at Portra fans if they were choosing it based on stiff competition. I have a poster in my darkroom showcasing 41 different 35mm films developed by Kodak in 1990. We like to throw around the phrase “analog resurgence” a lot but the hard truth is golden age of film is long over and until a company sticks their neck out and produces a new SLR camera that appeals to a more mainstream consumer, film manufacturers will be reluctant to provide much variety for the aging used film camera market.

Whenever I speak like this I’m told by a select few elitists I should just give up on film because I obviously hate it so much, and the opposite is true. I want to see a true resurgence, like we have seen with vinyl. That’s why I supported CineStill 400D despite my hang-ups with colour film and CineStill. I will support any step in the right direction but I refuse to just love everything film. It’s the discerning and critical tastes within each of us that will spark new competition, not those who just “love it all.”

If you like the cut of my jib, be sure and follow me on Instagram and Threads @azrielknight and check me out on YouTube where I discuss the history of photography.

And as always, stay classic!

Share this post: