Cine Film Guide

Cine Film Shooting Guide

When shot properly, cine film is beautiful. However it's a film that is more difficult to get the best results out of compared to standard C41 films such as Ultramax or Superia.

We've put this guide together to help you master your cine film.

1. Remjet

The key difference between cine film and C41 film isremjet. Cine film is designed for shooting in movie cameras at multiple frames per second. This environment creates a lot of heat and also means there is far less room for error.

To help avoid damage and light leaks, remjet is applied as protection.

Remjet is a thick black layer on the reflective side of the film. It's also the reason most labs can't process cine film. It generally doesn't remove easily and has the potential to contaminate the chemistry in automatic film processing machines. At WFL we remove this layer through hand processing before developing the film in ourChromabox-4 film processor.

2. Chemicals

Cine film has its own recommended process for developing known as ECN-2. ECN-2 uses CD3 developer which is an older compound. Cine film can also be cross processed in C41 chemistry (CD4 developer) once the remjet layer is removed.

ECN-2 process results in more true to life colour replication and better resolution of the film grain. It also produces flatter negatives with less contrast (designed for cinemas) where as cross processing in C41 may see some colour shifts, denser negatives and greater contrast.

3. Tungsten & Daylight Balanced Film

Cine film varieties will either be Tungsten (T) or Daylight (D) balanced. Tungsten balanced film is ideal for shooting in studio conditions under artificial white light. Daylight balanced film is perfect for shooting outdoors on bright sunny days.

Shooting tungsten film outside or daylight film inside will generally result in a few odd colour shifts, manipulating these shifts can provide cool/experimental results.

The use of an 85 filter can allow tungsten films to be shot in daylight with much more accurate colour.

4. Processing

Regardless of which chemistry used, we recommend following the below process for best results when developing at home. Refer to the manufacturer data sheets for processing time for the developer.

Cine Film Process:

ECN-2 Prebath >
Rinse >
ECN-2 or C41 Developer* >
Stop Bath >
Rinse >
Bleach or Blix >
Rinse >
Fixer** >
Rinse >
Remjet Clean*** >
Photo Flo >
Dry

Notes:

*Push 1/4 to 1/2 a stop
**Not required if using Blix
***Use Isopropyl alcohol on reflective side of film to loosen remaining remjet then wipe off with a microfibre cloth

5. Sensitivity

Understanding the impact the remjet layer has on cine film sensitivity is the single most important factor for getting great results. For instance, Cinestill 800T is a film rated 500 ISO (Kodak Vision3 500T) - but after Cinestill remove the remjet layer prior to sale sale, they recommend shooting it at 800 ISO instead due to increased sensitivity.

For cine film that still has the remjet layer still present, the opposite logic applies.

We recommend shooting most cine film at HALF the box ISO for best results.If your film is shot underexposed, there will not be enough detail in the blacks and shadows of your image, resulting in noisy scans that don't look good. We recommend slightly pushing the film in development to compensate - however this will not rescue substantially underexposed images.

Below are examples of how shooting at different ISO levels impacts cine film:

500T metered @ 500/250/125 ISO
250Dmetered @ 250/125/60 ISO

Fuji 500T

The noise in the scans in the bottom left corner decreases substantially as the ISO is reduced with little detail captured when shooting the film at 500.

These example shots have been metered for the shadows. If you are using an in-camera light meter, your camera is likely metering for the highlights instead. This means your effective ISO could be 800-1000 or even higher, resulting in even less detail captured compared to these example scans.

Fuji 250D

This 250D stock has been better stored than 500T so the sensitivity difference is not as dramatic. 60 ISO is slight overkill as it blows out the highlights with 125 sitting as a happy medium. At 250 the blacks in the fireplace have a decent amount of noise but resolve in the 125 and 60 ISO images.

6. Expired Film

The sensitivity of cine film is also impacted by whether the film is fresh or expired stock. Expired stocks (such as the 500T and 250D used in example images above) will have less sensitivity to light and will be more prone to colour shifts. Shooting these stocks at a reduced ISO is vital for good results.

Fuji stopped manufacturing cine films in the early 2010's so if your cine film is Fuji -it's expired. Kodak Vision2 stocks are also well out of production and expired.

Kodak still manufacture fresh cine film in their Vision3 series and there are many retailers (including us) that bulk roll and sell this stock. If the stock is fresh, it will handle fine as its native ISO.

We recommend checking with the seller to see if Vision3 stocks are either fresh or leftover ends from film shoots. Leftover ends are common (the bulk of Vision3 stock on eBay) and by the time the film is made ready for sale, the stock can be several years old and will no longer hold up well at its native ISO.

Our experience is even still with fresh Vision3 stock, these films are impacted by the remjet layer and benefit from some overexposure.

7. Quick Summary

1. The remjet layer on cine film means it cannot be processed in standard labs
2. Cine film can be processed in ECN-2 or C41 chemistry
3. For best results, use Tungsten balanced films for night shooting & Daylight balanced films for daytime
4. An 85 filter can be used to shoot Tungsten balanced films in daylight
5. Remjet impacts the sensitivity of cine film, especially expired stocks
6. For all Fuji/Vision 2/expired cine films, shoot these at least half the box speed
7. For Kodak Vision3 films, check these are fresh with the seller. If so, they can be shot at native ISO