One Roll Review - Orwo Wolfen NC500

I recently shot a roll of this new release (2022) from Orwo, and while it’s certainly not a complete test of this film, I thought that I’d share my results from it. Orwo NC500 is a C-41 color film rated at ISO 400. There is no orange mask that one usually associates with C-41 films, so I have to assume that this film was originally designed for cine use. There is no remjet layer.

According to Orwo, "At the core of our new color film lies a unique chemical formula based on the wonderful and legendary Agfa stock last used in the Oscar-winning film ‘Out of Africa.’ Famous for their greens, desaturated shadows, and enhanced grains, these are all aspects that we are embracing for our new addition. With WOLFEN NC500, we are not trying to imitate current stocks available on the market, we are creating an alternative, something with different characteristics and a different palette." In other words, don’t expect results that you might get from a typical C-41 color film. Think more along the lines of using something like a Lomography film such as their Metropolis C-41 film. 

It makes sense to put something out on the market that’s a color C-41 film, but not the same as every other film, and the NC500 is truly that. It’s got a unique palette that emphasizes the greens, and as I found with my photographs was perfectly suited for woodland images. Since I wasn’t testing this on more colorful subjects, such as strolling along all the street art in the Asheville River Arts District, I can’t comment on how it renders that type of scene. However, given that I shot it while in South Carolina in early May, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Not wanting to bias the results in any way, I had the film developed at my local film lab, Ball Photo, in Asheville.

A few examples, all shot with my Nikon F3HP, and 28mm and 35mm Nikkors...

As you can see, it’s a different film than something like Fuji Superia. Tones are muted, the shadows quite nice, and the images I got from it are quite lovely. To me, the only reason that I might not use this more often is the price. At $16/roll, it's pricey. I don’t shoot a lot of color anyways, but it’s good to have a film that stands out as different from the rest. Scanning the film was easy on my Epson V700, and the film lies relatively flat. I usually do my post-processing in Corel Paintshop Pro, and I did very little with these images. 

Some people might really appreciate the “retro” look of this film, and it does have sort of a faded snapshot look to it. My view is that once you know a film’s characteristics, you can tailor your choice of shots to that film’s strengths, and in doing so, you can create images that match your expectations. However, you need to try these unique films for yourself, so that you become familiar with them. It’s an interesting film, for sure, that does not fall into the super-saturated category that many have come to expect.