Testing the New Cinema Shorts 50D and 250D Films

9 min read by Dmitri.
Published on . Updated on .
Cinema Shorts 50D with Yashica T2. Processed in C-41.

I think I found my favourite film. In this article: What is “Cinema Shorts?” Developing ECN-2 film at home using standard C-41 chemicals. Developing ECN-2 film at a local lab. Scanning. Cinema Shorts 250D. Cinema Shorts 50D. Where to buy this film. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

What is “Cinema Shorts?”

Last week, I announced Cinema Shorts: an anniversary-edition colour film pack with your choice of three hand-spooled Kodak Motion Picture films in recycled & branded 135 canisters.

50D and 250D are some of the most modern and technologically advanced photochemical products on the market. These films were used to make movies like Oppenheimer and Blade Runner 2049.

Unfortunately, Kodak does not sell this film for still cameras. You can only get it in 400-foot rolls via an order form. But sometimes, movie studios will sell “short ends,” which are leftover reels from a production. They’re just as good as the new reels, only less giant.

Cinema Shorts are those short ends after being split and repackaged into my personal metal 35mm film canisters — which are better than the new plastic ones.

Cinema Shorts is a celebration of this blog’s seven-year run and a small-scale experiment to see if buying, testing, and packing Kodak Motion Picture film is something this community needs.

Cinema Shorts is still available for preorder with just about six packs left as of this writing.

Cinema Shorts 250D with Yashica T2. Processed in C-41.

Developing ECN-2 film at home using standard C-41 chemicals.

Film labs use the C-41 process to develop colour-negative film. I also use those chemicals for home processing. This is fine for most films, but not for Kodak Motion Picture films (and thus, not suitable for Cinema Shorts).

But you can “hack” the development by simply pre-washing the film with an alkaline solution of baking or washing soda in warm water. I used 30g in 1L.

C-41 developer chemicals are a little different from the ECN-2 ones, but they produce excellent results with a touch more contrast and saturation.

The process is a little messy because the simple pre-bath solution is only an approximation to the Kodak ECN-2 formula. The purpose of the pre-bath is to remove the remjet — a black carbon layer on the back of the film that helps prevent static discharges and halation. The alkaline baking soda solution lifts the remjet quite well, but it does not dissolve it fully in water, which means that the remainder needs to be cleaned off by rubbing the negatives gently while wearing gloves.

It’s a bit of a hassle, but I think it’s worth the effort. Alternatively, you can make an actual Kodak ECN-2 pre-bath using 20g of borax, 100g of sodium sulphate, 1g of lye, and 800ml of water. But I’m always short on time, so instead, I ordered two packs of Flic Film ECN-2 pre-bath, which is a ready-made formula that only needs water.

Cinema Shorts 250D with Yashica T2. Processed in C-41.

Developing ECN-2 film at a local lab.

Kodak Motion Picture film uses a remjet layer, which, if not properly treated, can contaminate chemicals and cause all sorts of havoc. This is why photography labs historically rejected this film. But as analogue photography gained popularity, more people discovered these advanced Kodak emulsions and many labs opened their doors to processing them.

Cinema Shorts boxes include a comprehensive list of 87 labs in North America, Europe, and Asia that can process the film. If you live in a city and read this blog, chances are there’s a lab nearby — or that you can mail-in process your film.

Some of those labs will process Cinema Shorts in regular C-41 chemistry, while others will use the ECN-2 chemicals Kodak prescribes for this film. Both methods would yield similar results with ECN-2 yielding a little more dynamic range and a little less colour saturation.

Whichever chemicals Cinema Shorts gets developed in, you may like to ask for TIFF or uncompressed “flat” scans. Kodak Motion Picture film is designed to offer extensive flexibility during post-processing, and these types of scans should preserve that for you. At home, you can bump the contrast and adjust colours freely without seeing any distortions or changes to the grain structure. This film is built for the modern era of photography, which almost necessarily includes post-processing.

Cinema Shorts 50D with Yashica T2. Processed in C-41.

Scanning.

Cinema Shorts 50D and 250D tend to render minty-green hues when scanned without adjustments. This can look really good in some cases, but it’s also easy to balance towards a natural palette.

Cinema Shorts 250D after edits (left) and before edits (right).

Both 50D and 250D render colours in a way that’s easy to adjust without affecting the quality of your images. Even if you work with JPEGs, you’ll have options for setting moods. TIFFs and uncompressed files will ensure that the slight gradients (like the skies) don’t get banding as you edit contrast curves.

If you can afford high-res scans, both 250D and 50D can be worth the investment. These films have the finest grain for their respective ISO speeds. You can print larger without any visible grain and crop without significant consequences to your resolution. For example, the below scan had about 20% of the image cropped on the sides and it still shows less grain than most other colour films:

Cinema Shorts 250D with Yashica T2. Processed in C-41.

Cinema Shorts 250D.

250D is perhaps the most popular Kodak Motion Picture emulsion among stills photographers. It has an exceptionally tight grain structure while still appearing as distinctly film in all displays and in print. It has an extensive dynamic range, which makes it easy to meter and edit.

Cinema Shorts 250D under-exposed by 1 stop (shot as ISO 400 film) with Yashica T2. Processed in C-41.

I’ve tested Cinema Shorts 250D with my camera set to ISO 200 and ISO 400. Both tests produced good results, but I prefer the box speed (ISO 200).

When under-exposed (shot at ISO 400), Cinema Shorts 250D shows colours that are closer to typical print films, like Kodak Ultramax and Kodak Portra 400. But at 200, it looks airy and more welcoming to edits.

This film handles over-exposure well, almost as well as the incredible Kodak Portra 800. TIFF or 16bpc files are best for dealing with over-exposure as highlights can display banding.

Despite the thick remjet layer, 250D can still show small amounts of halation (see the shadows next to the window frames at the top-right of the image above this chapter’s heading).

But the halation is far more restrained than that of CineStill 400D or Harman Phoenix 200.

Cinema Shorts 50D with Yashica T2. Processed in C-41.

Cinema Shorts 50D.

Us stills photographers have a rich selection of colour films. Though not as diverse as it used to be, we still have five distinct looks from Kodak in various formats, a series of films from Lomography, ORWO, Harman film, Fujifilm slide emulsions, and Polaroid (plus Instax) instant films. Not to forget a huge cache of expired films and Kodak Aerocolor IV.

But the 140-billion-dollar movie production industry has only Kodak Motion Picture film. Nevertheless, it’s been used with great success thanks to its remarkable ability to take various shapes as envisioned by the directors. 50D and 250D are some of the easiest films to scan and edit because they can take significant contrast and colour balance adjustments without degrading.

Yet the fact that both 50D and 250D films have similar looks is not surprising. They are built for the same purpose: to capture light and render it in a way that’s easy to scan and edit. Allowing the editor to copy their digital settings between the films can save a lot of time.

Despite being a similar-looking slower emulsion, the 50D offers some advantages over the 250D. The grain looks finer and it’s easier to use with wider apertures in daylight. For example, if your camera’s fastest shutter speed is 1/250s, you’ll have to use an 𝒇16 aperture for a correct exposure. But that’s not the sharpest setting you can have on your lens (due to diffraction), and it’s not conducive to background separation. With 50D, you can shoot at an optimal 𝒇8.

Another reason to shoot 50D is that it’ll work with most point-and-shoot cameras without a DX code. All P&S default to either ISO 100 or ISO 25, both of which are just a stop away from the box speed, which this Kodak emulsion can handle without issues. Putting 250D into a point-and-shoot camera that defaults to ISO 25, on the other hand, is not advisable.

Where to buy this film.

Cinema Shorts is a pack of three branded metal 35mm film canisters, each with 36+ exposures worth of film. It comes with a booklet that lists 87 labs in North America, Europe, and Asia that can develop this film. There are also instructions for home development and a coupon for 3 months free of the GOLD membership on this blog ($15 value).

You can buy Cinema Shorts using the links below:

Option A: 2×250D plus 1×50D

Option B: 2×50D plus 1×250D

Price: $39 for three rolls. Shipping to the US and Canada: $5.

This film has a limited supply as I’m packing it all at home.

Shipping before the end of August 2024.

✪ Note: Because this film is spooled by hand, the last frame of the roll should be discarded. Don’t worry: I’m adding a couple of extra to ensure you get all 36 (or more)!