What is Aurora 800? Discussing A New Color Film From Flic Film
First impressions from two rolls...
I haven’t given Aurora 800 the amount of spotlight it deserves.
When this film came out, Flic Film graciously sent me a couple of rolls to test out.
Flic Film exudes a quiet confidence in their business practices and there’s not too much fanfare upon product releases, compared to others in the industry like Ilford (think Phoenix) and Lomography (think every new design for each camera, plus the latest Color ‘92 film).
No promises, kickstarters, or pre-orders (Orwo), most of the time, it’s ready and orders can be placed by retailers and distributors.
I can’t say what this film is exactly but if you’d like to speculate then feel free. What I do know is that it is an 800 ISO film fresh from the manufacturer, finishing (meaning packaging into canisters) done by Flic Film.
Their set-up in Longview (Canada) excels at efficiency (watch this factory tour by Ben Fraternale to see) and they can to reflect this in their prices.
Aurora 800 is retailing now for $16 (35mm 36 exposures) at B&H while equivalent (only in ISO) films like Portra 800 and Cinestill 800T retail (B&H) at $17.95 and $16.49.
You can’t get Lomography 800 at B&H at the moment so I’m excluding this from the price comparison.
Of course, Flic Film uses plastic cassettes to house the film. While I and many others prefer the metal ones, I tip my hat to Flic Film’s creation of the ‘Quick Pic’ to help unload this type of canister which is easy to use. Some automatic cameras struggle with the plastic canisters and some are okay, it depends on which one you have.
I shot these two rolls on my Canon L3 using the Jupiter-12 lens in winter.
The results? I could have done better with the processing and scanning work but I think the film is great and worth shooting…
I processed the film myself using Flic Film’s latest C41 kit and the images came out ok! The negatives look normal but scanning color film and getting the right balance has always been frustrating for me.
Having left the lush 35mm OpticFilm scanner with Silverfast software back in the UK for now, I am using my old friend, the Epson v600 with the Epson scan software.
The Jupiter-12 lens can only be described as characterful. It’s a beautiful lens and I LOVE it, but it’s not as smooth as others I’ve used.
The outdoor shots were my favorite, indoors came out okay, but I think this was not because of the film, but more from what I used to shoot and how it was processed and scanned. I accidentally pushed the wrong roll (or something like this).
I’m eager to redeem myself and do better for this film, so I’ve bought more and am excited to shoot it over the next couple of months. Stay tuned for Aurora 800, round 2!!
Have you shot this film yet? What do you think?
Wishing you all a wonderful week!
~MK
Have not tried it yet (let me check my Google sheet of film inventory -- nope, I don't have any in the fridge/freezer) -- but -- to me -- it has more of a Kodak look than a Fuji look, but still a little on the subdued side even for Kodak -- but not the smooth pastels of Portra. Sure does not look like an expired stock -- the grain is decent for 800 ISO and the colors are pretty true. The indoor shots are great also. I am a bit wary of the cartridges based on the issues reported -- but I'd like to shoot it anyway! Now Molly-Kate! Don't you know that it's dangerous to take pictures while ice-skating! Especially of yourself! (OK -- angry/overprotective Dad rant off!!!) Thank you!!!
Something is really wrong with their plastic canisters. I blew two rolls of this film; one in Olympus 2M, the other in Canon ML. Under exposed terribly and/or film pulled too tight in the camera for over exposure. Just a disaster. I'm sticking with LOMO 800.