Richard Haw's Classic Nikon Repair and Review

Hello, everybody! Are you a fan of zombie movies? They have become popular again recently, I do not like watching them so much even as a child. I find them depressing to watch just because of the mood the cinematographers set them in, it’s usually gloomy and at night or a dark forest. I want things to be a lot more happier so I like comedies more than zombie films. Today, I am going to show you something depressing. That’s because of the look that you get with it and the cost purchasing one. I’m not into the type of films that people with fancy tastes in coffee are into but maybe it’s something that you’ll like.

Introduction:

The Retocolor Aqua 400 is new to me, I will admit that I do not know anything about it and I have never seen any pictures taken with it. It was sold to me as a specialty film in the camera shop. I was curious so I bought it. Little is known about this film except that it comes from a small company in red China. They’re trying to follow the footsteps of Lomography, at least that’s how I saw it.

The packaging it’s nice, it’s so appealing that it caught my eyes. The substrate felt thicker than usual but I am not sure. The canister is the usual one that you would expect from a smaller company, at least it’s not cheap in terms of vibes.

I do not have reliable information about this film, so I can’t tell you if it’s a new emulsion or repackaged. I suspect that it’s the former because I can’t think of any other film that looks like it off from the top of my head. If it indeed is something new and then it’s a cause for us to celebrate because new products are still being made for people like us who love shooting using film.

I used my Nikon S2 along with a Nikkor-H•C 5cm f/2 to take some sample photos. I do not know what to expect from this roll at that moment so I was shooting with an open mind.

Let’s see how things turned out, I will admit that I was never this excited to see my photos but I was also kind of disappointed when I saw the results. I mean, not all of them are bad it’s just that I had no idea on how things are going to look like. I hope that my photos and commentaries will help you avoid the same mistakes that I have made while shooting with this roll.

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This is how it looks like when underexposed. I don’t know what to make of it, it seems like it doesn’t have a lot of latitude in this regard. It’s not forgiving at all when it comes to underexposure. I am beginning to suspect that this film isn’t what it says on the box. I will learn it the hard and expensive way, you shouldn’t shoot this at box speed! This is more like an ISO125 film for my experience.

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At least it looks a lot better when overexposed, this is definitely the way to shoot this film. I did not know anything about this so I was shooting blindly to the fact that it is actually much slower than advertised. It’s also going to depend on the lighting conditions but it is still behaving mostly the same on a sunny day. I took these photos on a very good day, compare these with my other photos that were taken on a slightly cloudy weather.

Yes, it’s not really good at all. I took this photo because it has both dark and bright elements so we’ll see how it will perform under both conditions. I want my money back.

It has the characteristics of really cheap film from a 3rd tier manufacturer. The grain looks ugly, the colors are even worse. This is definitely a film for the most hardcore of hipsters.

This should have been overexposed by about 2 stops worth of light.

As if baroque architecture isn’t oppressive and depressing enough, this film makes it look like something that belongs a horror film. Even Jesus won’t have the power to save this photo.

This is a tough photo for this film. If you overexposed it, the highlights will look too pale but at least your shadows will look better.

Oh, what a waste of film. This is a lovely part of the building, I’m sure it’s going to look so much better if I have taken it with more light.

Skin doesn’t look good either, I know that this film sells the “blue look” but damn, they should have told us that it requires more light in order to make this look more decent. I’m not going to buy another roll to test it by shooting it at ISO125.

It looks like a zombie apocalypse, there’s nobody in the photo and the grading makes this look gloomy. It does have something that you can work with though, you can shoot high-fashion with it so long as you’re using a really warm flash to illuminate your model. That will help counter the ugly bluish look.

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I has never been so glad to finish a film review, thank goodness it’s now over. At least we only have a few frames to shoot because it only comes in 27 shots. I know I keep on shitting on this film but it does have a little charm to the photos it creates. I’m just upset that it’s being marketed as ISO400 when this looks a lot better when shot at ISO100.

I’ll never recommend this film to anybody, not only is it expensive but it also comes in 27 shots only. It is not something that fits into my style of photography, but I am sure that people can find creative use for it especially when experimenting good colors, through using lighting, gels or mood filters. If you’re the type of person who has money and would like to experiment with different concepts, then you may want this as your next project. Hipsters will want to try this out as well because it’s different. Whatever the resulting look is and no matter what country and oppressive regime it comes from, I think it’s still welcome to see a new company selling film; at least it keeps the industry alive.

That’s all for today’s article. Depending on how you see it, it’s either I have saved you time and money by reviewing this film or I have inspired you to get creative. If you have enjoyed this article, please send me a little tip. It will help me offset the upkeep for this website because it is using a lot of space for storage. It’s also better to tip me instead of the entitled brats serving you over the counter, even if you are dining out! But don’t worry, I will not guilt trip you nor give the stink-eye if you don’t. We are all here to promote and enjoy shooting with film. Thank you very much and see you guys again, Ric.

Help Support this Blog:

Maintaining this site requires resources and a lot of time. If you think that it has helped you or you want to show your support by helping with the site’s upkeep, you can make a small donation to my paypal.com at richardHaw888@gmail.com. Money is never my main motivation for this blog and I believe that I have enough to run this but you can help me make this site (and the companion facebook page) grow.

Helping support this site will ensure that it will be kept going as long as I have the time and energy for this. I’d appreciate it if you just leave out your name or details like your country’s name or other info so that the donations will totally be anonymous. This is a labor of love and I intend to keep it that way for as long as I can. Ric.