A film review of Ferrania Solaris 400. Very little noise for a 400 negative film. Colors are well-represented and I can’t say much more than that. This only the second time I’ve shot a roll of Solaris ( the first one came packaged with my (Golden Half). This was all with my Olympus Mju2.
The following images are shot with negative film Agfa Vista Plus 400 in my Olympus Mju2, aka MjuII aka Stylus Epic.
Mural of the fearsome TigerBunny in the Korean neighbourhood of Hongdae. This was taken on new years eve 2010.
Chinese Korean dish called Jajangmyeon consisting of wheat noodles topped with a thick sauce made of chunjang (a salty black soybean paste), diced meat and vegetables. Delicioso.
Korean streetvendor in Hongdae, Seoul.
Pretty versatile film. I like it allot. Almost all my shots came out properly exposed with nice colors. Works well at night combined with a fast lens. Will consider this film for sure in the future. I do wonder if the Plus is just a marketing gimmick. I guess I could google it to find out, but why spoil the mystery ?
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The following pictures are taken with Lomo 800 Negative film taken with my Olympus Mju2 aka MjuII aka Stylus Epic.
Because of the pretty small size the of the Mju2 it is good for more inconspicuous shots. Also because 800film is so fast in combination with the 2.8 lens I felt pretty sure there was enough light for a focused and well exposed frame.
The higher you go with asa, the more grain you expect. The lomo 800 doest pretty well in wel lit situations and not much grain is noticeable.
The film also does well with flash photography. There is grain noticeable in the dark areas of the image but not to the detriment of the photograph.
A film used in more exceptional situations. I was pretty satisfied with its performance in low light situations while using flash, but I wonder if 400 film would have done the job just as well.
In certain images ( like the example posted above) the grain was really bad showing lots of tiny white spots in the black portions of the image especially when it is overexposed.
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The following photos were taken in Seoul, South Korea with my Olympus Mju2 aka MjuII aka Epic Stylus.
Conclusion
Pretty good film. It was my first time shooting with APX 400. Relatively little grain. I will pick this up again.
Read MoreLove them or hate them, but when you are a fan of older film camera’s these unpredictable elements are often a reality. I am myself caught in between. More often than not I prefer my images without light leaks, but sometimes, they do make an image better in an unpredictable manner.
I have three cameras with light leaks, my Lubitel 2, Holga 120N and cheap older Olympus Mju 2. All of them except the Mju 2 I can tape up and make light leaks proof. Despite rolling my Mju2 in kilometers of tape, somehow light is still coming in through a hole that wasn’t the lens. In the end I resorted to buying another Mju2.
Some opinions on Light leaks I found across the wide world of the web
“Yuck, how do I get rid of these things? Is there any hope or should I suck it up and buy a new camera?”
“I love my Holga light leaks, I often drop my cam on purpose in order to create more exciting and unexpected leaks. Does this work on kids too?”
“These non-visible lights are actually auras and gives us an insight into other dimensions and spirit worlds that communicate to us through light leaks and expired negative or slide film”
I carry my DSLR as my main camera but I always carry my Olympus Mju-2 along in my camera bag. Its nice and small and I like to load it with Black & White film or some slidefilm to cross-process later. Its has a very sharp lens and I am always impressed with the quality of images it takes. I have shot quite a bit with a film SLR and a 50mm 1.8 lens and after comparing the images, I did not see many differences besides the extreme shallow depth of field my film SLR manages to shoot. So for a similar quality of picture I would rather carry around the smaller and fully automatic Mju-2.
I like the fact the Mju-2 is fully manual with exposure and focusing and it is a fixed lens ( so no zooming) this allows me to focus a 100% on composition. If I want more control over the situation I will shoot with my DSLR.
It is incredibly compact and fits in my pocket (may not fit in yours, I have big pockets). The 2.8 lens is awesome and fast, allowing you to take pictures some other cameras can’t and provides a depth of field shallower than most point and shoots film cameras. It recognizes film up to 3200 ISO.
I like to stick in some grainy black and white film ( like 400 Tri-X) or some expired slide film (Kodak EXB) and cross process it. Because you are unable to get the immediate gratification of seeing the image you will be surprised at the images you get because our brains doesn’t typically visualize in black and white or funky cross-processed colors.
Since this is a pretty modern film camera it is no problem finding its lithium battery (CR2) in most camera shops which is not always the case dealing with some older film camera’s.
The Mju 2 shoots wide open, meaning it will automatically choose the highest f-stop which leads to a shallow depth of field. Personally I prefer this and I like the look of these images, but some people perhaps shooting landscapes may not be happy. Although I know people who shoot with 800 or 1600 film in daylight in order to force the camera to stop down.
The Mju 2 is a fully automatic exposure and focus camera so if you are looking for play around more with something more manual, this is probably not the right camera. It is a fixed lens camera so people loving to zoom can have a look at its cousin the Stylus Epic Zoom. Which is found really cheap on Ebay but I personally don’t like since the lens is slower and the camera is bulkier.
One annoying feature is that when you turn on the camera the automatic flash also turns on. It only takes two button presses to turn the flash off, but it’s still a minor annoyance.
I bought my first Mju-2 for 250 guilders ( Dutch currency pre-Euro, yeah I’m old) and its been one of my favorite camera’s since. Depending where you are in the world it may not be the cheapest. If you leave near any thrift stores you may be able to find one lying around since it was successful camera and many were sold. If you have a look at Ebay they usually go US$60 for the champagne colored ones and $80 for the black versions without looking at shipping charges. Remember to search for both “MJU 2” and “Epic Stylus” since it was marketed under different names in US and in the rest of the world. The second Mju-2 I bought has lightleaks and no matter how much I taped it up, they somehow always showed up on my pictures. Some people like the charm of it, I am not sure about it.
And even though it is just a tool, I love this small camera.
