China Lucky Film has released the first sample photos of its forthcoming colour negative film and says the film could be released in a matter of a few weeks’ time.
In a post on its blog, Chinese film brand Reflx Lab drew attention to a post from China Lucky Film’s parent company Lucky Group on the Chinese social media platform WeChat. The post said the colour film was being produced to meet rising demand for films from Chinese consumers.
China Lucky Film was historically China’s biggest producer of films since the 1960s, and released a number of colour films in the 2000s following investment from Eastman Kodak.
According to Reflx Lab’s post, which was published on 13 June, China Lucky Film intended to release the film as soon as June or July.
The blog post said: “According to a contact of Reflx Lab who is closely connected to Lucky, the company is currently brainstorming names for the new film, which will be ISO 200. A venue at a university in Hebei Province has already been reserved for a potential launch event this summer, with June or July being the likely timeframe.
“However, large-scale production is not expected until early next year. Sources suggest Lucky is approaching the release cautiously, aiming to test market reception before ramping up production.”
The new film, which was first teased last year, is likely to be considerably cheaper than other colour films on the market. According to previous reports, the film was intended to be called Lucky Color 200, but Reflx Lab’s post now casts some doubt on that name.
Reflx Lab said: “The new film is expected to retail for around 50 yuan (approximately $7 USD). While this is higher than some had hoped, it remains significantly more affordable than Kodak’s colour films in the Chinese market.”
On Friday (20 June), Reflx Lab shared on its Instagram page an image of an event showing a presentation of the new film and said it would be released in mid July.
In addition, China lucky Group has released what it says is the first tests image of the new film, which was shared on the Chinese social media platform Rednote.
“The image features Mr Guo, the chief engineer leading the colour film project,” Reflx Lab said. “The tone of the photo is somewhat cyanish. They created this sample using a small coating machine. Once all the ingredients are prepared, they will switch to a larger machine and begin mass production.”
The image can be seen below:
China Lucky Film’s impending launch comes amid an interesting period for colour film, which has largely been divided between Eastman Kodak and Fujifilm in the last decade.
Harman Technology, the makers of the Ilford and Kentmere brands of black-and-white film, has entered the colour market with its Phoenix and Red films, while a newly revitalised Original Wolfen (ORWO) has so far released the NC400 and NC500 films, with NC200 expected soon. That film has already been released by German lab Optik Oldschool as Opticolour 200.
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.
