Cinestill 50D

Today I wanted to talk about Cinestill AGAIN…but not the famous 800T. This time we’re talking about it’s daylight balance Lil bro, Cinestill 50D. Like before, I won’t get into the science of the old cinema film, but Remjet layer has been removed from the film emulsion. This causes the highlights to bloom with pink and white halation. 

The internet talks a lot about the versatility of the film and its generous exposure latitude. I typically shoot this film at box speed, but it can be shot anywhere from 12-100 ISO. The film provides plenty of dynamic range so depending on the scans, I’m generally able to get whatever I need out of it in Lightroom. 

After shooting a few rolls I realized that I love most how sand, water, and greenery render with this film. So for this video, I found a spot out on Pensacola Bay that had just that. I shot a roll with my friend Samantha at sunrise and with Brittney at midday in hopes of showing the effects of the type of light on the film. 

The sunrise shoot came back looking more like a typical film stock…think Portra or Fuji. Some images did benefit from the highlights in the water and sun peeking through the trees. Overall the colors in the shade were consistent with good contrast and some halation.