Opinions on Kodak CN400 C41 film

i’ve used this film and had mixed results. it gave me generally flat toned images (even in contrasting light situations). under overcast skies, i was able to get better results but kept seeing similar patterns in the film: really even tonal range with little contrast.

in overcast days, i would overexpose by one stop (for more information) and bring back the detail later and maximum density my zone 2 areas. this was as much a style choice as a choice made to cope with (what i found) to be CN400’s general flatness.

i’ve had it developed at a variety of places, from die hard camera stores to Wal-greens. the wall developed and scanned to CD with every image tinting green or purple and at first, i assumed this was the inferior scanning equipment but had on-off again similarities at the camera stores, so i’m not sure. not a big deal, but someone who knew more about what this could mean in terms of your negative quality might be able to chime in?

i have no experience printing Cn400 in a darkroom.

here is a frame i found using this film and going over it with Levels in LR. i had to delve into deep blacks and slightly overexposed whites to get some type of tonal difference. maybe i just suck at exposing.

hope this helps?

I’d be interested to hear any tips anyone has on how best to scan this film… I’ve heard it’s best to scan it as a colour negative then convert to B&W in Photoshop.

http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000ze6

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=006uZJ

http://bigpicture.net/index.php3?channelnum=40&content=4095&displaynow=yes&openchan=yes

I personally have never shot much with CN, but when I was in school a lot of the freshmen would start their basic classes with this film. Being in the darkroom a lot, I tried to help them print. I’m not a real technical guy, but from my experience, CN was extremely difficult to get contrast from and generally seemed flat (sometimes even muddy), which is pretty much what Mustafah was saying. Also, one of my professors shot some of the CN film half way through a B&W project. She said she had some difficulty toning (after scanning) and getting a uniform look to her work.

Michael

I use CN400 in medium format and have never had a problem. I suggest you shoot it at the speed suggested and process normaly in a good lab. Then get it contacted on B/W paper and ask for a punchy contact sheet. You will like the results.
The film has minimal grain and in my opinion is best suited to portraiture. Never used it in 35mm though but I imagine if you get it contacted as above you will find it OK. Hope that helps.

Michael,

I´ve used and printed that film while ago. I used it mainly in low light conditions and on dark skin/background context and gathered good results on it. Point is I about printed it on Multicontrast paper ( ILFORD or ORIENTAL) using no. 4 or 5 filter on BW enlarger or at a Color enlarger combining normaly + 80 Magenta to increase contrast. Mustafah made some valid points regarding the film behaviour on different light conditions, and Indeed I agree it´s better under overcast skies. What Mark sugested: “…Then get it contacted on B/W paper and ask for a punchy contact sheet. You will like the results.” is pretty valid. But again from my expecience with this film, bottom line is at filtrating on enlarger. Another thing is trying to get a developer dilution which allows you to work it out 2-3 minutes to achieve a beautiful print.

Good luck,
Cheers,
Pupo

Thanks for all your opinions on this, I’ve actually managed to find a source of Neopan, but may still need to use the odd roll of CN400 if my stash runs out. If I don’t have to use it here think I’ll buy a roll and experiment anyway when I get back home. Thanks again, all of your comments have been most useful.