The Film Photography Project has released a new low-ISO color film in 35mm still form, 16mm motion picture format, and even a 16mm magazine option!
Appropriately named SUN Color, the film’s ISO of 1 makes it ideal for any bright lighting conditions. FPP says the color negative film features a unique color palette of “moody blues and vibrant reds” as the film was originally intended for technical use in a lab to make contact prints. Retailing at $11.99 (USD), the price is competitive in the 35mm color film market with rising prices and limited availability in certain places.
In 35mm still format, cartridges are loaded with 24 exposures and the film can be processed in C-41 chemistry. Common with FPP films, there is no DX Code on the film cartridge, so a manual ISO setting would be helpful here. For cameras that don’t have an ISO 1 option, FPP recommends setting the ISO to 25 and adjusting the aperture by 5 f-stops or using a handheld light meter.
Sun Color is available in 16mm with two options; a double perforated 100 ft roll or a 50 ft magazine. Unlike the 35mm format, the 16mm film is meant to be processed in ECN-2 chemistry. The magazine is sold in a bundle for $79.99 (USD), meaning FPP will send customers the film but also develop and scan in-house. However, this option is only available to US customers.
The 16mm 100 ft double perforated option is available in a similar development and scan bundle for $130 (USD) or can be purchased as the film only for $60.99.
FPP says, “SUN Color Double Perf color negative film is for all 16mm cameras that accept a 100 ft daylight spool. Magazine 16 FPP SUN Color is for all 16mm Cameras that accept a Kodak 16mm Magazine.”
They caution the film will not work in 8mm Bolex or other 8mm cameras.
To check out the film on FPP’s website, head over via this link here. The Film Photography Project is an organization dedicated to ‘all film, all the time‘. Founded in 2009 by Michael Raso, the organization aims to educate and inspire photographers to discover and embrace the beauty of analogue film. It’s a positive step for film photography to see them bringing to life new color film options!
In this era of ultra high digital ISO capability, a film with an ISO of 1 is amazing! I have been into photography since the early 1960’s and remember once shooting a roll of ASA 8 35mm transparency film. Can’t remember the brand. Also shot lots of Kodachrome 25 and Ektachrome 64 over the years for work. I still have my 60 year old Sekonic Auto Leader 3 exposure meter from those days that has several settings for various light levels. It still works although I haven’t used it for years. It is great that there is increasing interest in film that is resulting in some interesting new “analog” products.
Great news and informative article! Glad to hear about new films coming on the market. Thank you for the detailed information about the history and mission of the company. It’s always interesting to learn about the people behind the products we use.
The availability of this is great news as it gives filmmakers and photographers even more options to create unique high quality content.
I was just looking at those new film stocks last night, and I am very eager to run a few rolls of the 16mm through my personal Bolex which I have customized myself to have a fixed 170° shutter, the largest shutter opening available on a Reflex Bolex Camera. As a Bolex service, repair, and restoration tech, as well as a celluloid filmmaker, I am always on the look out for new and exciting film stocks that I can use and share with my Bolex customers for their filmmaking projects.
However, it pains me that FFP seems to be anti-Bolex H8. They refuse to offer 100ft loads of their film stocks in Double 8 (the old original regular 8mm), despite selling empty take-up spools for the Bolex H8 cameras. I would gladly pay a little extra to get a decent run of 8 or 12 100ft loads of several of their film stocks. Instead they only offer all but 2 of their Double 8 film stocks in 25ft loads only, and the 2 they offer in 100ft loads are B+W only, absolutely no color options to make shooting 8mm truly viable. There are alot of Bolex H8 owners out there who would be excited for 100ft loads for their cameras!! I truly don’t understand Mike Rasso’s decision about this. With today’s scanning technology and capabilities, regular 8mm could be a fantastic beginners format for cinematographers would want to learn about shooting film. 25ft loads aren’t enough runtime for film students to take it seriously. They want to be able to reasonably complete a short film project, not just dabble.
VERY RELUCTANTLY, I will still try this new film stock out in 16mm, and if all goes well, I will be sharing it with my Bolex customers, even the VERY FRUSTRATED Bolex H8 customers.
Thank you for the article post!!! Loved every word about it!!! And, Thank you for helping keep film alive by covering new film stocks like this!!! They REALLY do help get the word out!!!
Sincerely Respectfully
Robert M Ditto, owner
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