ORWO NC500 initial thoughts

Tyler Purcell · February 7, 2023

2 hours ago, Giray Izcan said:

Of course it is peanuts in comparison to the 00s and the 90s. Nowadays shooting on film is more of a vanity affair and prestige thing as opposed to then - everything had to be shot on film...

Exactly, the R&D money is still being spent on making a boutique product. So why would you invest tens of millions when you're lucky to make a million in profits over the life of the company? I mean it makes no sense. Small scale production will lead to less sales, but it maybe the only thing companies like ORWO have left up their sleeves. They don't have a massive factory like Kodak, where everything is under one roof. I have a feeling its all super cottage, with the processes being done at individual factories, then transporting between them. It probably took months of work to create the first batch we tested. With Kodak, they can manufacture the film and have it in customers hands in a few days.

It's a bloody shame, Fuji dismantled their factory because it was the last great setup left outside of Kodak. Coating/splitting/perfing still film is much easier, the consistency doesn't need to be there. Remember, Fuji stopped making motion picture film because Kodak dominated the market and had contracts with the studio's.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Tyler Purcell

Heikki Repo · February 7, 2023

There is also Adox that is committed to the R&D goal of bringing to the market a new color (stills) film:

http://m.adoxphoto.com/color-mission/

Joerg Polzfusz · March 13, 2023

Did someone perform additional tests (e6-cross-processing, ecn2 vs. C41, …)?

Robert Houllahan · March 30, 2023

On 3/13/2023 at 3:28 PM, Joerg Polzfusz said:

Did someone perform additional tests (e6-cross-processing, ecn2 vs. C41, …)?

I highly doubt it would run as E6 but we can try it.

I saw the first of the NC500 at Cinelab today and I rather liked the grainy pastel look of it.

Of course because it is client film I cannot share any clips but I found it pleasing.

I was scanning it on one Scan Station and the other Scan Station had a Pro Spot Kodak 500t job shot on a 416 with the best glass it was super sharp and rich. As it was a spot with a big sports figure they really knew hoe to expose and shoot.

It was a huge contrast to the NC500 which was also S16mm but in kind of low light and a bit underexposed. The NC500 was not anywhere near as steady as the 500t on the 416. I don't know what camera they shot on but probably a SR2 as it was student work.

I really liked the way the Orwo rendered flesh tones and colors.

I got a few rolls coming and I will split that amongst Cinelab staff and do some shareable tests.

Richard Tuohy · April 16, 2023

Hi all,
has anybody received any ORWO NC500 lately at all? My order from late January still ins't filled ... and it was a rather hefty order. Is the business dead? Anyone receiving anything from them?

richard

Duncan McDougall · April 16, 2023

Hi Richard. I also have an unfulfilled Orwo order from Dec 15th. It’s only 4 x 100ft rolls but still irritating. Hopefully you will get yours fulfilled soon. Cheers.

Robert Houllahan · April 17, 2023

I got a notice today that Orwo is shipping some NC500 I ordered.

Richard Tuohy · April 25, 2023

Well just for the record and for those similarly interested in the new rem jet free NC500 from ORWO ... last week I did indeed receive a large order of NC500 from ORWO. I had put in an order for 8000 feet of NC500 in 16mm and 8600 feet of UN54, again in 16mm. This was for several thousand Euros. But I had bought large amounts of film from ORWO (filmotec) over the years, so this wasn't unusual. I had also ordered previously from this new British owned version of the company. When i ordered in January I wasn't aware that they weren't going to be able to fulfil the order. There was a long series of not getting much by way of information on my order and not getting reply emails to enquires ... but I got the occasional response. I had had one message reporting a new make was going to take place at the start of April. But then after a further enquiry where I got a reply I was told 16mm colour wouldn't be available still for some more months. I noted that they still had 35mm NC500 listed on their site, so I changed my order to 35mm. So now I have 4000 feet of 35mm NC500 ... and 3 x 100 foot rolls of 16mm nc500. It wasn't what I wanted of course. There is bugger all market for 35mm of any sort in Australia at the moment. But I am pleased to have something for my investment. I really do hope that this 'new' version of ORWO can continue to make film in the future. A remjet free negative in 16mm could be a boon for the artist run film lab community who mostly hand process in Lomo tanks (I use machines, but I am a big supporter of the artist run labs that work with Lomos). Remjet free stock would be a game changer for DIY colour neg processing. But that would only happen if they are able to make it in any kind of volume. It appears this time that wasn't possible.