Analog.Cafe

671 Reviews, Guides, and Essays

How to Overexpose Film
Pick the Right Film, Meter for (Over)Exposure, and Fix Colour Shifts
May 20, 2025
This guide will help you understand why and when overexposure is appropriate, which films to overexpose, how to overexpose your photos without destroying them, and how to scan and edit overexposed frames.
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The Kubrick Code
In Praise of Knowing How Things Work
May 19, 2025
This article explores the balance between technique and artistry, as the London exhibition showed it in Kubrick’s work. It is not a review of the exhibition—there are plenty of those—but a reflection on what it takes to create something well.
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Lucky Mistakes
A Few Words About Accidents on Film and the Workings of the Universe
May 15, 2025
Among all the lucky mistakes I’ve managed to make in the years I’ve been doing film, some of which ended up being exhibition-worthy with a little help from the mysteries of the Universe; the ones that surprised me the most were the double or triple exposures... Oh, those rare lucid moments when you are so grateful you didn’t get what you thought you wanted…
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Film Notes & Metadata With Frames
Modern Metadata Management for Film Photographers
May 13, 2025
Frames is a one-man project born out of a passion for film photography and meticulous documentation. The apps are free (paid in-app upgrades available), ad-free, and respectful of your privacy.
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Where to Develop, Scan, and Print Film in Bangkok
May 12, 2025
Finding the film you want in Bangkok can be a huge challenge, and if you want your transparencies or negatives scanned on something higher-end than a Noritsu or Fuji Frontier, most people will tell you it’s impossible. (Fortunately, they’re wrong!) This article covers a wide range of services: film labs for E-6, ECN-2, B&W, and C41 processing, as well as places to buy film and get film scanned.
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Free Film
Win 3 Rolls of Premium Film Every Month Until September 2025!
May 6, 2025
I have a limited hand-rolled batch of Kodak Vision 3 film, branded with the new signature dark Cinema Shorts design, packed in threes with a signed, updated development guide. If you are a new or existing Analog.Cafe GOLD member, you’ll have a chance to win one of these boxes every month until September 2025!
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Kodak Vision 3 500T 5219/7219 Film Review
Shot as Stills and Developed in C-41
May 5, 2025
Though it has been designed for movies, this film sees strong popularity amongst still photographers for its tungsten-balanced colour palette, fine grain, high ISO, wide dynamic range, and great response to cross-processing. In this review, I’ll cover all the technical properties and creative possibilities of using the Kodak Vision 3 500T, compare it to CineStill 800T, and explain Kodak’s recent crackdown on the sales of this film to individual photographers.
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Where to Develop, Scan, and Print Film in Bali
May 2, 2025
Bali has quite a few film labs with a large variety of services offered by each. Here’s a non-exhaustive summary of the options, locations, prices, and notes of the labs we tried.
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Film Photography News — April 2025 Recap
New Polaroid Camera, Fujifilm Prices, Sissi Lu, Greenscale Aerochrome, 420
April 29, 2025
The new Polaroid Flip instant film camera makes its debut, Fujifilm announces price hikes, I interview Sissi Lu about her DO NOT X-RAY pouch, Bad Film Simulator and cannabis-based film developers exist, a new article series about redscaling/bluescaling/greenscaling colour film, spring photo dump, and software updates to Analog.Cafe’s negative inversion tool — film Q. Plus, ORWO may be releasing multiple new films this year.
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Redscale, Greenscale, Bluescale + Spring Photo Dump!
A Monthly Newsletter for GOLD Members
April 25, 2025
Last month, I hinted at my very expensive Aerochrome redscale experiment. This month, I realized that we can also “greenscale” and “bluescale” certain colour films, too. More on that below. Members: next month’s articles are already in the works, and I’ve got a bunch of photos of an early Vancouver spring I’d love to share with you!
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“Bluescaling” Lomochrome Turquoise
Going Beyond Redscaling for the Rare, Unseen Colours on Film
April 23, 2025
Lomochrome Turquoise is a false-colour negative film designed by Lomography to render freaky orange, cobalt, and marine palettes. Out of the box, this emulsion is already incredibly unique, but it can be pushed even further for a rare and wild look.
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Redscaling Lomochrome Purple
What Happens if You Shoot False-Colour Film “The Wrong Way?”
April 17, 2025
Redscaling means exposing the backside of colour film, which usually makes moody, red-dominant photos. But that’s on regular film. Lomochrome Purple isn’t regular — it’s a false-colour film, which means it behaves differently when redscaled. In this article, I’ll share some thoughts and samples from my week-long experiment shooting Lomochrome Purle loaded “the wrong way” with a dense green filter.
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Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED Film Scanner Review
Small, Fast, Impeccable Colour, Batch Scanning — 23MP Scans in 20 Seconds!
April 15, 2025
Nikon Super CoolScan 5000 ED is Nikon’s fastest dedicated 35mm film scanner, manufactured in the early ‘00s and ‘10s. It is one of the few vintage devices that connects with modern computers via USB 2.0 without issues or modifications. In this long-term review, I’m taking a closer look at what it’s like to digitize film with this scanner and compare the results to other popular tools: PrimeFilm XAs, a professional film lab, and Sony a7III digital camera with a macro lens.
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Analogue Photography Notebook
Stationery Review
April 10, 2025
Analogue Photography Notebook is a follow-up and an accompaniment to Andrew Bellamy’s Analog Photography: Reference Manual for Shooting Film.
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“Greenscaling” Aerochrome
The World’s First and Attempt to Redscale Colour Infrared Film¹
April 8, 2025
Aerochrome is one of the most expensive and difficult films to shoot. This may be why few have experimented with this stock. Today, I’m challenging those boundaries with the world’s first attempt to redscale a.k.a. “greenscale” this colour infrared film.
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The Redscale Film Guide
A Simple Analogue Technique for Styling Your Frames in Red + More Colours
April 1, 2025
If colour film is inserted with the emulsion side facing away from the lens, it will create darker, red-dominant images. That’s redscaling. This guide explains how this works, where to find redscale film, how you can make your own, and a special trick to get even more colours.
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Film Photography News — March 2025 Recap
A New Film Inversion App, New Film, Lomography’s DigitaLIZA, and 4x5 Rolls
March 25, 2025
Lomography’s new DigitaLIZA rigs make scanning film easier 🤝 film Q is a new film inversion app from Analog.Cafe. Cameradactyl invents a new “film” format, plus ORWO teases a new ISO 200 colour film (and we know what it looks like!)
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Can You Scan Film Without Changing Its Look?
And Other Film Digitization Questions Answered
March 24, 2025
The opaque nature of scanning software makes comparing film stocks and understanding the results of different exposures, colour filters, and film brands unreliable. This guide introduces a technique for consistent and predictable film negative inversion. It also answers a few questions about scanning film, starting with an explanation of why it may not be possible to create an image from a film negative without interpreting/changing the colours, whether one film stock can be digitally edited to look like another, what may be the technical advantage of shooting film if it’s going to be scanned with a digital camera, and whether it’s possible to tell if an image was shot on film or digitally.
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“Greenscaling” Aerochrome + New Film Inversion Tool
A Monthly Newsletter for GOLD Members
March 21, 2025
In this newsletter, I’ll share my initial results from the ongoing experiment of redscaling Aerochrome and talk about another project that’s been occupying most of my waking time this March: film Q.
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VueScan Professional Review
A Scanner App & Driver for Legacy and Modern Film Scanners
March 11, 2025
VueScan is an app that works with over 7,400 scanners, many of which were manufactured over twenty years ago. After switching from SilverFast, which I felt was cumbersome, expensive, and frustrating, I’ve stayed with VueScan for over five years. In this review, I’ll go over the interface, capabilities, drawbacks, my workflow, and the reasons why I think VueScan is indispensable for any photographer who scans film at home.
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