Redscale 35mm Film Taster

Updated: Feb 1, 2021

I recently ran a roll of special 'redscale' film through one of my old 35mm Canon SLRs. Below are some of the more successful results... The colours have not been edited in photoshop these were how they arrived having been scanned in by the lab - some look pretty garish to the extreme but I do quite like them! Redscale is a technique of shooting photographic film where the film is exposed from the wrong side, i.e. the emulsion is exposed through the base of the film. Normally, this is done by winding the film upside-down into an empty film canister. The name "redscale" comes because there is a strong color shift to red due to the red-sensitive layer of the film being exposed first, rather than last (the red layer is normally the bottom layer in C-41 color print film). If you prefer not to faff you can buy rolls of redscale film which are 'ready to go' from specialist sites such as Analogue Wonderland which is where I purchased mine. This particular film was FPP Redscale film which is ISO25 and had 24 exposures on the roll. I had some issues early on with the camera jamming mid shot and the flat battery symbol flashing, coudn't get my head round this, mainly as it seems to be something that happens on both the EOS300 and the EOS30 but I think from having a google around it might be 'a thing' that old Canon SLRs tend to suffer from...I bought a new set of batteries and from then on removed them after ever session with the camera. I also swapped to using a 50mm prime lens instead of the old DSLR kit lens for the remainder of the film which seemed to stop the jamming issue...I did lose a fair few frames though because of this problem, which was a shame. There's nothing like blindly crashing your way through a roll of film not knowing if anything is going to actually come out to make you appreciate how easy life is with digital technology and all the hundreds shots you can fit on a memory card (and of course preview on the screen instantly!). The film was processed and scanned by AG photo lab, I also had some prints made which I was very happy with (the colours on the prints came out a bit more mellow than the scans which was probably a good thing!). It was certainly a fun film to try out - mainly as I had no real idea what sort of subjects, colours and lighting conditions would work best. I would have liked to have shot some more urban images but sadly as this was all mid-lockdown I was really only getting out with the camera when dog walking etc. I do have one more slightly unusual 35mm film in my kit bag to try out so watch this space... Emma