Every now and then I take out a film and I have absolutely no idea how the results will look like, this being one of those times. Join me for some ultra high contrast black & walk film on a Madrid walkabout.
What on earth is ‘sound recording film’?
Very good question, and one I asked myself when I picked up this roll to try out. Thankfully though, my Dad is a sound engineer, so I do have some concept of what this film was originally intended for. Designed for motion picture, the sound is recorded on the film directly next to the image frame. Washi have an explanation as to how they converted this special film for use in everyday cameras:
“This film is originally made for the motion picture industry for the specific purpose of soundtrack recording. Basically the sound and music of the movie are converted into light signals that are flashed on the film through fast film recorder. After processing, this original “soundtrack film” is copied on the side of the motion picture print copy where it can be read by an optical sensor while the film is moving through the projector. The optical signal is then converted back into sounds.
I like high-contrast films and through Film Washi I love to “hack” special films from their original purpose, so when I knew this particular film stock was still in production, I decided to give it a try. So after few tests to estimate its field sensitivity (50 ISO) I bought few kilometres of 35mm and converted it into 135/36-exposure cartridges under the name Film Washi “S” (obviously “S” for “sound”).
About Washi films
This is the first time I have tried any films from the Washi company, the world’s smaller film company. They have a very intriguing history, having been founded by Lomig Perrotin in 2013 in his flat in Paris. Since then they have grown and setup shop in the south of France, experimenting with new film types and selling in excess of 25,000 films since they were founded. More on the fascinating history of this company here.
About the shots
I was intrigued by the supposedly very high contrast black & white image this film produces. At ISO 50 I knew it would be perfect for a mid August walkabout in Madrid, with guaranteed blue skies and plenty of sunshine. I shot the entire roll handheld with my Leica M2 and Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 lens.
Really high contrast shots with the sky completely blown out. Look how clear the writing is on the shop fronts though, absolutely no grain at all in this film!
Great shot of the Plaza de Toros. Quite a bit of vignetting from my Voigtlander lens, but works well in this shot. Hard to control exposure even though it is ISO 50, it has quite unpredictable results.
I like how the arrows point to a completely washed out white sky, makes you wonder what is on the other side.
Flags are notoriously hard to shoot, especially at ISO 50! Fascinating how black the dark areas are in these images though.
Plaza Colon. It seems anything white gets really overexposed looking.
Nice facade in high contrast black & white.
One of my favourite images of the roll, look at those shadows!
Looks almost like a painting, this is straight off the scanner with no edits made at all in post processing, quite remarkable!
I am a huge fan of shadows and these are some pretty impressive shadows!
I like how the poster makes you look around the scene as that is the direction they are looking…
Talk about a strong silhouette! Another great shot of Puerta de Alcala.
I saw this shot from right across the street as I was waiting at the traffic light, it came out much better than expected too.
As I said previously, this film goes a bit over the top with a bright white scene, but I like the effect.
I like the simplicity of this shot.
I am not a fan of bull fighting, but I am certainly a fan of the architecture of the bull ring, it is quite spectacular.
Reflections.
This reminds me of Ferrania P30 film, extremely contrasty shots.
A vertical shot of the same scene as before, which works a bit better due to some strong leading lines.
Quite an intriguing (and large!) public art exhibition.
Some really nice strong shadows in this shot.
Overall observations
I am a big fan of trying new film stock, and there is plenty out there for everyone. Every now and then you come across something truly special, and that is how I would describe this Washi ‘S’ sounds recording film. I am also very supportive of smaller companies being innovative and creating new film stocks.
This film is super high contrast and extremely sharp, it reminds me a lot of the Ferrania P30 film. The Washi film is very thin, with extremely fine and sharp negatives coming out of the camera. The resulting images after scanning are really small in size, which is quite unusual.
I had a great time trying out this film and was really blown away by the contrast and sharpness of the shots. It is challenging to use though as the results you get are not quite as expected, for example with some areas of a scene being either completely blow out (highlights) or so dark you can’t really see anything. However, the film certainly provides shots that are unique and you will never look at an image and say “nice, but it’s a bit flat”. I feel like this film would be perfect for a series of photos or a mini project, and that would give you time to really get to know how it works under different conditions.
If you haven’t tried this film out then give it a try, you will be blown away by the contrast and sharpness and create some pretty unique shots!
Thanks for stopping by,
Neil
