• Home
  • Reviews Index
  • Best Gear
  • Inspiration
  • Learn
  • Disclaimer
  • Staff/Contact Info
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Education Learn

Question: Why Are There Light Leaks on My CineStill Film?

Chris Gampat
No Comments
03/21/2019
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer CineStill 800T with Leica CL Leica 40mm f2

A founder of CineStill weighs in on what’s caused Light Leaks on their film

Tons of photographers absolutely adore CineStill’s films. They give you a look that you simply can’t get at all in digital due to how they’re treated and developed. But one of the biggest problems that has been consistent with CineStill film though is the light leaks that they can give off. And in most cases, one of two things tend to happen.

The first thing that can happen is you’ll see these sort of weird emulsion marks on your film. They’ll be typically a lot more random than light leaks. These occur because there was some sort of error usually with the way that the film was treated. For CineStill film to become what it is, they take Cinematic film and remove the Remjet layer for development with normal C41 processes. Sometimes though there are remnants and this is what I’ve been told is the case. Either way, if you contact CineStill and show them what happened, they’ll typically send you new film with no problems.

But then there are other things that happen; like actual Light leaks. According to Brandon Wright, who is one of the founders, it’s because the film is very sensitive to light. Here’s what he said in a Facebook group chat.

Indeed, I haven’t seen it happen with any of the CineStill 120 film emulsions but I’ve seen it happen in earlier years a lot with their 35mm emulsions. The film has been improved over the years though and I don’t really see it that often. To boot, I also keep it in dark pockets within my camera bag.

After using CineStill film for a couple of years, what I’ve learned is that you need to be super careful with it. It’s a versatile film but you need to store it safely and carefully. When you shoot it, you need to thread it carefully and roll it back up carefully. Otherwise, it can get destroyed. However, the results are pretty much always beautiful. Even if they won’t be what you want, the beauty of this film is that it’s virtually impossible to get a bad photo with it.

120 35mm brandon cinestill Development emulsion facebook group film light leaks remjet
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
Previous Post

Why Every Photographer Should Have an 85mm Lens in Their Bag

Next Post

Marina Weishaupt’s Swiss Mountain Photos Are a Compositional Dream

The Phoblographer © 2023 ——Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
  • Home
  • Our Staff
  • Editorial Policies
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
  • App Debug