This isn’t a technical review. There are no charts, no pixel peeping, and no scientific comparisons here. What follows are simply my thoughts and impressions after shooting a roll of Yodica Andromeda 35mm – a film that had been waiting in my fridge for quite a while before I finally loaded it up.
Shooting Yodica Andromeda in Bad Tölz
I’ve been buying experimental films for years. Some I order on purpose, others just end up with me somehow, and then they usually spend months in the fridge until I stumble upon them again. With the Yodica Andromeda, I honestly can’t remember when or where I bought it. But three months ago, I finally shot it in my Nikon F5, paired with a 50mm Nikkor lens, while walking through my hometown of Bad Tölz, Bavaria.
The town is familiar to me in every way – I grew up here. The streets, the landmarks, the atmosphere. But through Andromeda, they looked different. Familiar, yet strange. Recognisable, but at the same time dark and moody.
I chose three frames that felt most characteristic of Bad Tölz: a hat shop, the Winzerer monument, and a church with the mountains in the background.
The hat shop, usually warm and inviting, took on a dreamlike, almost eerie atmosphere under the film’s violet and pink shifts. Tradition suddenly looked fragile, almost ghostly.
The Winzerer monument, a symbol of strength and pride, appeared melancholic – stripped of its heroic brightness and softened into something more introspective. The altered colours made it feel like a faded memory rather than a triumphant statue.
And the church with the mountains behind – normally a postcard scene, bright and uplifting. On Yodica Andromeda it looked surreal, less like a faithful depiction of reality and more like a fragment of a dream, caught between worlds.
About Yodica
Yodica is a small Italian company that hand-produces creative films. Each stock is individually prepared and given a name inspired by the universe – Andromeda, Pegasus, Polaris, and so on. These films are not about accuracy or realism. They are about interpretation and mood.
Andromeda is a 35mm C-41 colour film with ISO 400, designed to overlay strong violet and pink tones across the frame. The results are never entirely predictable – sometimes subtle, sometimes striking – but always distinctive.
As for whether you can still buy it: honestly, I’m not sure. Yodica films tend to come and go in small batches, and availability has always been hit-and-miss. Luckily, I’ve still got one more roll sitting in the fridge, waiting for the right occasion.
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Kodachromeguy on Yodica Andromeda 35mm Film in a Nikon F5
Comment posted: 24/10/2025
Comment posted: 24/10/2025
Gary Smith on Yodica Andromeda 35mm Film in a Nikon F5
Comment posted: 24/10/2025
Thanks for posting.
Andrés Purriños on Yodica Andromeda 35mm Film in a Nikon F5
Comment posted: 25/10/2025
No, that's not interpretation and mood. You choose a film because of their features and you use it to produce your image, according to your interpretation and mood. You know how the film behaves, you experiment in some way to make the film do what you're looking for. It is intentional.
Shooting unpredictable film, with results that can't be consistently reproduced, it's not about interpretaton. It's about randomizing. If that's what you're looking for, go ahead. But it has nothing to do with a creative process. It's a cat walking on a piano.
It's not that I don't enjoy those "experimental" films. There are some out there produced to include fancy effects, such as pre-exposed artifacts or whatever. To me, this looks like these guys are buying old damaged film stocks, putting a cool name to the "batch" and selling them at a premium price. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
Comment posted: 25/10/2025
Jeffery Luhn on Yodica Andromeda 35mm Film in a Nikon F5
Comment posted: 25/10/2025
When I first read your article and looked at the photos, I asked myself, "Why bother with trash film? It takes time to make good photos, so why waste effort with film that's so unpredictable. The results are bad."
Then I read Stefan's reply to Andres and it turned my impression upside down.
"if the cat chooses to walk on the piano, the only living thing being creative is the cat - if it does so for the noise. But what if I intentionally made the cat walk on the piano? What if I could choose between a cat and a Chihuahua? What if I also could choose between a piano and a harpsichord? The question is, does creativity require a high degree of control and the exclusion of as many random influences as possible or can creativity also be intentionally letting chance happen?"
While this didn't encourage me to try oddball film emulsions, it did make me interested in what you're doing. Keep submitting!
Conclusion: 35mmc is such a great platform for all types of photographic exploration!
Jeffery
Comment posted: 25/10/2025