Film Washi - Z

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Ian
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So I recently listened to a podcast where Lomig Perrotin was being interviewed about his "film company" - Film Washi. I liked the guy and his ethos.
The first films he did were on paper, but what interested me were his "speciality" films, namely Z (infra red) and F (x-ray). After having a bit of a hunt about for these films, I ordered A (leader) and S (sound) too because reasons - mainly postage.

Washi Z is "near infra red". It's rated at 400 ISO and I slapped a red filter on the front which typically took it down to 50. Metering was auto on the M6. Development was as per instructions: 7 min for Rodinal 1+25.
I really like this film - even though I think it's going to take some work to get it how I want it, and it's really made me pay attention to the light.
It's very sensitive - similar to Kodak HIE in that even though I loaded it in subdued light, I had fogging of the first couple of frames.


Washi Z Test II: Leica M6, Voigtlander 35mm f2, Rodinal 1+25, 7 min
by Ian, on Flickr

This image was taken in full (almost) mid-day sun yesterday. You can see that where the sun has hit the leaves, it's resulted in a lovely exposure, but where the sun doesn't go, the exposure just gives up. The sky is gorgeously dark considering that it was the "hazy-pale" blue of a hot English summer day rather than the brilliant blue we sometimes see.

Here, the sun has gone in a bit...

Washi Z Test
by Ian, on Flickr

We're not getting the white-greens that something like HIE would deliver, or Rollei 400IR with an IR filter, but it's really nice to my eye. However the light is absolutely needed, as shadow detail out of the sun is pretty bad.

Bkj1ZIY.jpg


Here, with the sun being obscured by cloud in the foreground but not in the background, you can see the spooky effect it can have. Part of the tree on the RH side has caught the sunlight and it's quite obvious.

8CVPFZ8.jpg

And here you can see how the area bottom left has just not received any light and has just given up, even though in reality, there was plenty to see...

So I'm not sure if it's poor dynamic range, or (more likely) this film needs lots of sunlight to make it work. I think with my next roll, I'm going to maybe shoot it 1 stop over at 200 and pull the development to try and reign in the highlights a bit and get some more detail in the shadows.

Either way - I've not been inspired by film stock for a while, and this is worth experimenting with because I really like the results (alongside the F which is hanging up to dry at the moment). I just wish it was easier to get hold of and also that it came in 120. I'd consider bulk ordering but don't fancy bulk loading in the dark. I think a daylight loader would fog considering the sensetivity.
 
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Really like the look of the first shot Ian, there's a real "3d" quality about it. Thanks for the review.
 
Second attempt. Sadly I couldn't get out for long so couldn't give it a proper test, but I pulled it by shooting it at 200 and developing for 6 minutes instead of 7 as a wild guess.

Red Door by Ian, on Flickr

Really very please with this as the shadows are muchly improved, and will be shooting another roll on the next blue-sky day I get when I have some spare time.
 
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