One Roll Review - SHD 100 Pro

Last month, I stopped into my local photography store - Ball Photo, in Asheville, NC.  I bought a few rolls of film that I hadn’t seen before, and one of them was SHD Pro 100.  I was a little surprised, as I thought that Lucky film in China had disappeared from the scene, so I was certainly curious and eager to try this film.

The box containing the film has an expiration date of October 2023. While there is no mention of the Lucky brand on the box, the web site for the film is www.yangziyicn.com - which took me to a Facebook page.  However, the film is available online at the Reflx Lab website at $5.99/roll, and the information from Reflx Lab states the following:

“The SHD 100 film stock is using the emulsion formula from the time-honored Chinese brand Lucky Film.”

Well, it was many, many years ago that I shot with Lucky film, and if I recall correctly, it suffered a bit from halation.  Not a bad thing, if that’s what you want. Well, what the hell.  I loaded the roll into my Leica M2, and shot the roll on a sunny afternoon along the French Broad River N of Asheville.  I used my Doomo light meter that I keep on my M2.  

The box actually has development times for D-76 and HC-110 printed on one of the flaps. The film cassette is one of those plastic two-piece units that Lomography’s been using.  There is also a separate DX code sticker to go over the paper label if your camera requires DX codes to set the ISO to 100.  

I developed the film in D76 1:1 at 20°C for 11 minutes, rinsed in water for the stop, and fixed for 7 minutes. A couple of observations right away - the film is on a triacetate base and lies flat when dry- which makes it easy to scan on my Epson V700 flatbed.  The sprocket holes don’t seem to be die cut nearly as smooth as other films — maybe it’s the thicker film base, but it’s just an appearance, not something tactile.  

The film is fine-grained and damn, I love it.  I am very happy with the results from this first roll. I did not see any halation problems or artifacts.  I like it so much that I ordered 5 rolls (each roll is 36 exposures) directly from the Reflx Lab web site.

Here are some sample images from this first roll.