New Roll / Wolfen NC500 Review (Patreon)

I decided I would try one of the only other color stocks on the market I've not tried yet: Wolfen NC500 Color. NC500 is an ISO 400 film produced by ORWO that is not respooled Kodak or completely vibes-based unreal colors (like Lomochrome stuff). It is actually its own thing, and was newly introduced shortly after COVID began.

Before I ramble: zipped folder with all the photos, and individual shots on Flickr.

For the film: it is unique, but it isn't quite actually new. ORWO is a zombie-company consisting of bought-up branding (like current-day Polaroid). The name stands for ORiginal WOlfen. Wolfen, Germany was the location of an Agfa film/dye plant originally constructed in 1910.

Agfa ended up part of a chemical conglomerate that used slave labor and produced Zyklon B during World War II, and so it was broken up by the Allies. The GDR got the Wolfen plant, and West Germany took some of the other Agfa properties. The ORWO name debuted in 1964, to cede the Agfa name to the West. ORWO produced film until the collapse of East Germany.

The trademarks changed hands a bunch of times since then, and the company that owns ORWO now primarily focuses on black-and-white archival motion picture film. NC500 was introduced in 2022 as a "limited-edition" still film stock, although it is still in production today.

The data sheet is very thin for it. All ORWO has said is that this film is based on an earlier (Western) Agfa XT320 cinema stock that debuted in the 80s.

Anyway, this is an East German brand name selling West German film produced in a factory dating back to the Second Reich.

Unfortunately, the film itself is not great. It has very little dynamic range, massive amounts of grain, extremely inconsistent colors from shadows to highlights. In shade, it is so low saturation it feels like it's suggestive of color film, rather than actually color film.

In direct daylight it's not terrible, although shadows can get muddy fast and reds never really pop much (and this is after I overexposed it by half a stop).

The vibes are good for if you specifically want to explore the hauntological themes of using East German-branded film to shoot a declining empire, but otherwise, I will probably stick to Kodak as usual.

Thanks as always!

Vicki