Cheapo Chinese B&W film from TEMU: A Review

[cgw143 168]

Of possible interest to the film faithful hereabouts:

We Bought Black and White Film on Temu So You Don't Have To

A risky experiment to test a series of black and white films from China revealed some disasters, and some hidden gems too.

petapixel.com

 

[smoke665]

Interesting, but I try to avoid anything from China especially if it's bought from Temu.

 

[cgw143 168]

Had mixed results from Shanghai 120. Biggest problem was the backing material that resembled tar-paper--horribly jam-prone in Mamiya and Bronica film mags. 35mm was borderline-OK at best.

 

[webestang6431]

Cheapo is correct. I personally would run far away from such films but my customers shoot these and other low grade films cause there are less expensive. BUT you still pay the same price for dev/scans as a 36 exp roll when some of these are 10-17 exp.

 

[MartinCrabtree134 29]

Experimenting with home development can bring out qualities not found in commercial labs with these budget films. I'd try stand development with Rodinal @50:1 and tweak from there if it's not sufficient.