Candido 200 = Kodak Vision 200T

 Well, it's my first post for 2025, and it's about film - imagine that!  In the fall I picked up a roll of Candido 200 C-41 film from my local camera store, Ball Photo.  I hadn't read anything about it previously, and finally gave it a try in mid-November.  Before I delve into what I shot, and my comments about the film, let's see who "Candido" is.

Candido is a Portugal-based seller of  repackaged  ECN-2 films.  Their aim is to offer lower-cost color negative film, which is a noble thing, but perhaps the cost is only lower in Portugal.  They have attractive, simple designs for their packaging, and offer three films - 200, 400, and 800 ISO.  All are Kodak Vision 3 films with the remjet removed, ala Cinestill.  I've see older Reddit posts about the Candido 200 in 24 exp. cassettes, which may have kept the cost per roll down, but by the time you add in processing, it's actually more expensive per frame.  The packaging states that it's "designed in London, packaged in China."  Film is of course, from the USA.  So, I'm not sure how the Portugal/London/China/USA thing came about, but I do know that some Chinese companies have figured out how to remove the remjet from the ECN-2 films, and perhaps that's the crucial part of all of this.  

If you have been using Cinestill -branded color  films, you have been using ECN-2 films that are typically rated at a 2/3 stop higher than the native ISO of the particular Vision 3 film with remjet.  Now, I don't agree that removing the remjet makes the film more sensitive - that's Cinestill's claim, for what it's worth.

The Candido 200 color film is Eastman 5213 -Vision 3 200T ECN-2 film with the remjet removed.  Now, it's strange that they don't suggest a warming filter with this film, since it needs one for the proper color balance.  However, I just shot it as if it were a normal color fil, like most of the people would  that buy this film. Note that it is in a metal cassette, which is nice to see.

I loaded my Nikon N80 with the roll of Candido 200, and shot the entire roll while on an afternoon meetup with the Asheville Camera Club in downtown Asheville on November 17.  I eventually dropped it off at Ball Photo in Asheville to get it developed.  Here is the sheet of negatives:

Here are some examples from the roll... no adjustments or corrections.

The images look pretty good, and I did not see residual remjet spots in the scans, which is a good thing.  If you are selling this as a C-41 film, then that has to be done well.  The Vision 3 200T film is one that I have shot quite a bit of, and it's fine-grained.  Colors look good, and I can make them warmer post-scan, if necessary.  You can see halation in the images with bright lights. 

I paid more for this roll of film than I have for Ektar 100, so for me, it's not really a cheaper alternative to say, Gold 200 or Fuji 200, which are good every-day films. Is this film worth it?  I suppose it depends on where you live, and what access you have to color film stocks.  As a re-packaged film, there are other brands out there for less money, so do your research.  

Anyhow, 2025 is here, so get out there and shoot some film.