Pushing Cinestill 400d +2 Stops

Today's episode is sponsored by Frames. Ever wonder what Cinestill 400D looks like pushed two stops? Me neither. Cinestill 400D was released in 2022 and is a totally brand new formulation if you believe everything Cinestill says. But you know, I think most of us kind of just see it as, you know, Kodak Vision 3 250D on the rocks. Add two thirds of a stop, hold the rim jet, purple back. A lot of people shoot amazing work with that stock, but not me. I don't know why I said that like I'm bragging. My time with it has yielded nothing of the sort over the years, which makes it seem like I'm the problem, but that's probably not it, right? Recently, I started to wonder about doing some downright drippy and freaky things to Cinestill 400D, like pushing it. Traditionally, pushing your film is to intentionally underexpose in camera and then boil your film a little bit longer in development to compensate. And also traditionally, this is more common for black and white film stocks as color film, like the 400D that we're shooting with today, tends to produce dramatic color shifts. However, on the canister itself, Cinestill is basically begging us to test their gangster. Just off of the side, it says push one, two, or three. And boy, do I fear the souls that push it three stops. But I guess technically it is possible, just like how it's possible to keep transferring debt between credit cards forever. Anyway, because I'm a coward, today I'll only be pushing it two stops because I'm still holding onto some semblance of hope that we can have a color negative at 1600 ISO film stock, like what we used to have with Fuji Natura 1600. May it rest peacefully in beautiful Valhalla. I'll see you again one day, my brother. Actually, probably not. Is Cinestill 400D push two stops the new Natura 1600? Let's find out. I was able to get away from my parole officer just long enough to head out to New Orleans, the city of partying, at least at this time of year, with Mardi Gras just on the horizon. And no, before you ask, sadly we did not get our asses beat by Shia LaBeouf. I was in town with Ian and Tim, two Chicago nights who live and die by the creed of Chicago-based liquor that's more, you know, horse dewormer than actual alcohol. And wouldn't you know it, they brought that same energy with them, so we would definitely need to stock up on snacks. I'm just gonna eat the marshmallows. Whatever, let's get this show on the road before I delete the next five days of existence from my own memory. I grabbed my party camera, the Budweiser, I mean, the Contax T2, and did the only thing that I know how to do well. I loaded up a bakery-fresh roll of a Cinestill 400D and then changed the exposure compensation dial to minus two to simulate a 1600 ISO film stock, two stops under the box speed of Cinestill's 400 ISO. So what better way to start off the roll than a mirror selfie at 3 a.m. in a dingy New Orleans toilet? Gotta stay on brand sometimes. I'll say 400D looks surprisingly okay in this process. It's usable and not too ugly, I suppose, which is more than I can say about most pushed color negative film stocks, or my own reflection. Freshman. Freshman Street. You mean Surrender Street? We're out there looking like a total ******* loser with no beads. I decided to show the girls to some strangers on a balcony and finally be rewarded with jewels. I just wish they weren't super sticky. Anyway, like usual, there we were, feeling like ---- after a long late night of sobriety. And it was only day two, so I don't know why we always do this to ourselves. Whatever, we headed out on the town during the less crazy part of the day to get breakfast, where we discovered the god loaf of pure intestinal clog that should finally put to rest all those rumors about me being on Ozempic. A king cake French toast with cinnamon butt interior. It was better than crack cocaine, from what I've heard. That's so ridiculous. I can't, like, I can't fix my braids. You got this, big dog. I don't understand this one. Ha ha ha. Ow. I guess the reason that you'd wanna consider pushing 400D is to just open up your options. 1600 ISO is pretty great in low light. It'll give you shutter speeds that, you know, don't give you drag. And in an overabundance of light, it allows you to close down the lens to increase your depth of field. However, I do think it is important to acknowledge yet again that we are not actually physically increasing the speed of the film by pushing it. By doing this, it's still only as sensitive as a 400 ISO film. It's just that we can more or less get away with underexposing it two stops. Regardless, I can see this technique actually working pretty well for street photography, you know? Prioritizing the extra stops to increase your zone of focus may go quite a long way. Speaking of street photography, when I mentioned it like an hour ago, this shot is really solid. Sure, yeah, these guys pepper sprayed us later that night, but at least we got free drinks from the whole ordeal. There is layering and the depth of field is nice and clean because the lens is closed down and sharp. And best of all, this stock doesn't produce a muddy mess of shadow fall-off. I pushed some Cinestill 50D three stops a couple of years ago and the shadow fall-off on that got pretty gnarly from what I remember. But comparatively, 400D holds itself together pretty well, especially during a nice orange sunset. However, to be fair, I am still seeing the typical purple color cast that 400D delivers on a usual basis at box speed, which I guess can be interpreted as a good sign that the stock is relatively stable. Jazz bars that evening, Ian jammed with the band till 4 a.m. arrived again and we somehow made it back home. I don't know, I can't remember. I swear they put magic forgetful juice in those hurricanes. Next day was a Mardi Gras itself and the costumes were definitely out. Even Tim thought I was dressed up as some dude from some movie. Jason's dressed like Steve Zissou. To counter those purplish 400D overtones and pretend like this film stock is the ghost of Fuji Natura 1600, I used the Fuji Frontier setting in Naked Vlab Pro and leaned some of these shots a bit greener as Natura and most Fuji films were known for the color green. But I wouldn't really say that it got there, to be honest. Maybe I shouldn't really be trying to smash a square peg into a round hole and just let Sinistil 400D be what it is. This must be what it's like to be a parent. But apparently, I'd like to first take a moment and thank today's sponsor, Frames, for their support. Looking for the next place to experience the joy of photography? Look no further than Frames, an aptly named photography publication that can take your photographic journey to the next level. The small team over at Frames curates a plethora of content about the oftentimes challenging art of photography. Every quarter, they release a physical magazine covering a wide range of topics that highlights the work of contemporary photographers from all around the world in a very detailed and meaningful experience, which reminds all of us that at the end of the day, photography is still a very profound creative practice. If you're like me at all, you can find yourself getting swept up in things like the gear, the technicalities, or the fast trends that seem to blow through our field pretty quickly sometimes. Finding a chair, some quiet time, and flipping through frames has recently become my own approach to not only finding inspiration again amongst the publication's smorgasbord of incredible photographers, but it has also invited me to slow down, be more intentional, and more thoughtful about my work. Recently, the coverage of Moving Sands by Kate Barkley drew my interest, not only because the work is stunning and definitely speaks for itself, seriously, a 20 by 24 print of this on the wall would be insane, but I could all too well relate to being in the field and shooting under challenging conditions. Flipping through Frames, whether the monthly digital edition or the quarterly physical print edition, feels like a stroll through a museum or a gallery with the artist right there beside you. Frames isn't about noise, it's about beauty, substance, and a lasting connection to photography. So what are you waiting for? Go to readframes.com and join the thousands of people already enjoying Frames and use code GRANNYDAYS for 10% off both yearly and monthly membership plans. Anyways, pushing Cinestill 400D two stops a viable replacement for Fuji Natura 1600? Yes and no, mostly no. Yes, in the sense that color negative 1600 ISO film can be done with this technique. Present from the chemical push are the typical things that plague color negative film. Perhaps that's because this film stock comes from Kodak's Vision 3 Cinema line. In my own experience, that Cinema line is far more high-end and seems to handle a push a little bit better than some of Kodak's photographic lines. As an added bonus, depending on your view of glowy orange blobs, the classic Cinestill halation is still present, but because you're underexposing the film, that halation is likely to be less prominent. Will I use this technique again in the future? Probably not. I was getting a little hung up on the colors to be honest. 400D is definitely a film stock that benefits from certain scanners over others and I cannot afford a Fuji Frontier, much less afford one breaking down on me. I already drive a 30-year-old car and that's bad enough. Not all is lost though. I can see this technique being valuable for people who shoot medium format film where the amount of light required to cover a bigger format oftentimes results in slower lens speeds. You can thank Sir Isaac Newton and his stupid laws of physics for that. At 1600 ISO, you can kind of offset the slower lens speeds and that's a powerful tool. Anyway, yeah, this isn't a carbon copy of Fuji Natura 1600, but I think we all knew it wouldn't be, right? I surely never convinced myself completely that it would be the exact same thing. I guess in the end, it's kind of like being on a diet. Not that I would really know what that's like, but picture it, you're on a diet and you're really craving ice cream. So you get the low carb stuff. You eat the whole gallon because you have no self-control and bam, you yourself. Again, that's Cinestill 400D pushed two stops.