Shooting CineStill 800T | My Thoughts & First Impressions

Unique Results, Every Time

I won’t lie, I was pretty intimidated when I first picked up the CineStill 800T. I’ve seen so many stunning images of it over the years and didn’t know if I could get such powerful results. Turns out…the stock does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. I realized that when I got the first roll of scans back. I honestly almost shed a tear, I was so relieved I saw proper exposures and that fabulous halation. Even I could shoot CineStill!? As a Kodak-almost-always kinda girl, I couldn’t believe how my world just opened up with this new look. I’m still ecstatic over it.

It’s very clear that this stock does its job well. My favorite shots with this stock are in conditions it was meant for—plenty of tungsten and fluorescent light sources. I decided to put my first roll to work on a rainy night in Portland, as the neon signs turned on around the city. The wet ground made for lovely reflections and texture, giving the images that much more punch. I shot at box speed and am still amazed at the results.

Although this stock begs for that unnatural light, it certainly doesn’t require it. I’ve used it now in so many situations and it always does a fantastic job. It’s so much more forgiving than I expected it to be. Of course, if you plan on shooting this stock in the daytime or in bright/harsh conditions, it’s highly recommended to meter differently. There are a couple ways to cut down on exposure and create a warmer image with more accurate color when shooting this stock in daylight. One way CineStill recommends is using a 85 or 81 filter for daylight images with this stock. Another is to shoot the film at 400-500 ISO.

In Detail

This 800-speed tungsten-balanced color negative film is prepared from the same motion picture film stock used by top cinematographers around the world. This film is designed for difficult low light tungsten and may be used in many different lighting situations to achieve a variety of visionary scenes. CineStill 800T has quite the signature vibe, which categorizes as a probable better purchase than the Kodak Vision3 500T. Although the two products are intended for different purposes — Kodak Vision3 500T is made for motion picture, whereas CineStill 800T is made for stills cameras; a comparison between the two should be squarely focused on a description of the different look each provides. Without the presence of an anti- halation layer, a red glow may appear around overexposed point light sources. It is not lens specific, but can be decreased with diffusion such as with the CineBloom filters.

Want more film photography content? Follow my YouTube channel and Instagram!