My fiancé Kelsey likes to go all out for me on holidays because I didn’t get to celebrate them while growing up. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my posts for the 12 days of Christmas when she gave me a surprise gift each day counting down to Christmas, and luckily for me, they were all film related. Most of the gifts were 3 packs of Lomography’s color negative film in different formats, and different ISO ratings. In this article I will share my results shooting Lomography Color Negative 800 film in both 35mm and 120.
What is Lomography
Lomography is a popular and creative photographic style based around fun cameras made by an Austrian manufacturer called Lomo. A cult following grew around the brand and has evolved over time with films, cameras, and lenses among some of their products.
My Results with Lomo CN 800
I processed these rolls myself using the Cinestill C41 powder kit and scanned them using an Epson V800 scanner.
Right off the bat, as I was scanning this film, I noticed that the colors are more saturated than other color films I have shot. In some instances I really like this, as in the photo of the orange bowl above. In other instances I had to lower the saturation a bit.
This film is very similar to Kodak Portra 800, but in my experience, Portra 800 is a bit warmer.
Right Photo Lomo CN
I’ve also noticed that this film does well when lifting shadows, unlike my experience when under exposing Portra or Kodak Gold. I found there to still be a great deal of detail in the shadows.
This film is often sold out and hard to track down. I can see why. It’s probably one of the most beautiful color films I’ve seen, next to Portra of course.
The really vivid reds and greens make me think of the old Kodak films from the 1960’s, or the Canon colors I have always experienced with my digital cameras.
Final Thoughts on Lomography Color Negative 800
I really love the look of this film, and I hope to get my hands on some more of it for the future. I would like to do some street photography with it, and see if I can capture some of the colors of everyday life.
Stay tuned for my upcoming results with Lomo CN 400 and 100 as well.
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Until next time, stay motivated and keep shooting.
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Aly, it’s wonderful to come across this post! It’s great to see your images with Lomo 800 and hear of your experiences with this film. Your photos are beautiful and captivating. It motivates and excites me to shoot the three 35mm rolls of Lomo 800 I have (a film I’ve never shot before). Thanks so much for the inspiration—it’s greatly appreciated!
Thank you! I’m glad to hear that. I hope you like the film too