Chinese film manufacturer China Lucky Film is in the final stages of developing its forthcoming colour films and may release them before the end of this year, according to reports.
The intention to produce colour negative films was originally announced in May this year, during an event in the company’s film factory in Baoding in China, as reported by Kosmo Foto.
At the time, the company said it hoped to release the colour films at the end of the year.
Now, a report posted on the Reddit board r/AnalogCommunity by user Usual_Alfalfa4781 suggest development of the films is almost complete – and the suggested retail price could make them significantly cheaper than any other colour films on the market.
If the film is sold at $5.60 a roll, it will be the cheapest colour film on the market and considerably cheaper than any of Kodak Alaris’s consumer colour films.
There is speculation the new films may be based on the old Kodak colour recipes China Lucky Film produced for the Chinese market earlier this century.
China Lucky Film produced three colour negative films – GBR 100, GBR 200 and GBR 400 – between 2003 and 2012. Its colour line-up was produced initially with the help of Kodak, who signed a 20-year partnership with the Chinese manufacturer which was abruptly terminated in 2007 because of the rapid uptake of digital photography in China.
The Reddit post followed up a YouTube video posted by the Reformed Film Lab (embedded below) which showed them taking delivery of China Lucky Film two relaunched black-and-white films, SHD 100 and 400.
Interestingly, China Lucky Film’s website shows packaging for the two new black-and-white films in 35mm and 120, but also includes a rendering for an SDH400CN film. The packaging states this is a “black and white film” in English, but CN usually stands for “colour negative” in film designations.
China Lucky Film website currently lists no other information on the colour films and their release date.
- Many thanks to Le Ha for help with this article.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
Being the cheapest colour film on the market is meaningless if it’s not backed up with good photographic results. It needs to be a good performer, including archival stability.
Also, when I see “CN” in a film name, I don’t associate it with “colour negative” but rather with “chromogenic” – for example, Kodak’s T400CN. Chromogenic black and white film gets developed using the standard C-41 process.
I dont think people’s gonna see this new rather experimental film stock as archival stocks. this will be the everyday-use stock for general audience. the pros and serious photographers will still choose portra or others over lucky’s 5 dollar film.