I was gifted a roll of Santa Rae 1000 at the end of last year and having let it mature in my fridge for a few months, I took it out for a spin and a review in a photowalk around Nymphenburg Castle, Munich. Join me for a review of this curious new emulsion.
Towards the end of last year, I was graciously gifted a roll of Santa Rae 1000 film, a brand new high-speed black & white film emulsion on the market! This generous gift came from Holly Hilman, analogue shooter and author of a number of articles at 35mmc blog (link here), in addition to hosting a new Youtube channel (link here), with some really great content (also trend setting with dancing whilst developing film routines!). Thank you, Holly!
A bit more about the film
Santa Rae 1000 film is a brand new, high speed B&W emulsion, released sometime towards the end of 2020. There isn’t much info online about its background (other than stories of elves preparing the film), so I can’t provide much more detail other than highlighting it being a crazy fast ISO 1000 film, with extremely wide tonal range, and some of the thinnest negatives I have ever seen. In fact, it reminds of the Washi sound film (reviewed on my blog here) in terms of how thin the negatives are. It is amazing there is any information on the negatives at all actually.
A bit more about the photowalk
I didn’t have any theme in mind, I decided a simple walk around Nymphenburg Castle in Munich would be a good place to start. This Baroque palace is situated in the west of Munich and has a lovely grounds and park around it. Perfect for a Sunday stroll with some film to review! All shots are taken with my Leica MP + Summicron 50mm f2 lens.
I probably didn’t pick the best time and weather (middle of the day and sunny) to venture out with an ISO 1000 film, so I actually rated it for ISO 800. Although now that I think about it I am not sure it made a lot of sense to overexpose this film. My train of thought was around ability to use apertures that were not f16 1/1000 shutter speed all the time. Regardless, next time I will use this film for indoor photography, which is where it likely really excels.
I am not 100% happy with this composition, but I really like the overall tonality. I am surprised the sky is not completely blown out, especially as I was not using any filter.
I love this shot, great texture and grain. Nice car, too!
This shot was completely dark and looked unusable when I scanned it, I am amazed I was able to recover anything at all. Of course, the more exposure you add in post processing the more grain there is, but better than no image at all! I noticed that for many of the shots that were taken under direct sunlight and at first glance looked like they were meant for the bin.
One of the many shots of Nymphenburg Castle. It is a really picturesque place.
Whilst completely overexposed and loads of light everywhere, I really like this shot. A patient lady waiting for the tram.
This shot came out a lot grainier than I was expecting, although to be fair it was a bright white wall with sunlight hitting off it and an ISO 1000 film.
I may try to print this shot in the Darkroom. I just love the different shades of grey, the tonal range of fantastic. It is both sharp and grainy at the same time.
If you don’t like grain, look away now. This shot looks timeless though - another one to try in the darkroom in a big print.
Not as good as the previous one. Interesting that the rock comes out really well, but the metal design piece less so.
Probably my best shot of the day and hence the blog post cover. I really like the texture of the clouds, as I said previously in many other B&W films the sky would be completely blown out.
A swan trying to figure out if my camera poses a threat or not. I didn’t stick around to find out its conclusion.
Another favourite shot. Look at that detail!
A bit of a fail shot, as everything seems to just blend into one another. This film is a bit unpredictable, at least in quite strong lighting outdoors.
This was a cropped shot, the original was basically just completely black.
I’m taking a photo of someone I am pretty sure is also taking a photo!
“Excuse me, kind Sir, would you mind watering this patch over here also?”
Grainy mess, but I still like it!
Likely the best exposed shot, amazing level of detail in this shot!
I like how this shot came out.
Overall observations
Judging by the fact that I decided to wait months to try this film out and the one day I decide to go out for a photo walk it is bright and the middle of the day, I feel lucky I got anything decent back at all. Whilst I’ve pushed film many times, especially for those after dark city walks, I feel this film would be perfect for that type of photography.
I think what most impressed me about this film is it broad tonal range and high contrast, both characteristics I like to look out for in B&W films. On the other hand, I found some of the shots just did not come out the way I was hoping for, and this is probably a bit of a hit and miss film until you use it enough to figure out when and how to best shoot it. I really like trying out new things that come on the market, and I am more than happy to support anyone who takes the initiative with new/re-spooled/re-invented film stock.
Of course, a “review” consisting of 1 roll of film is more like a snapshot than anything else. And I like what I have seen from this snapshot. I have also heard this film is available in 120 medium format rolls, so even better, it gives me the opportunity to try it again in both mediums, and next time during more appropriate environmental conditions for an ISO 1000 film.
Thanks again to Holly for the gift, I hope my photos didn’t disappoint!
See you next time everyone,
Neil
