Shanghai GP3 100 - 120 Film

this was a surprise, i didnt expect this to be that good. its a lush film full of yummy tones and tight grain. top rate budget 120 film. going in my camera bag again.

Red window compatibility 5/5 shot on a Yashica-Mat
Well, this is way better than I was expecting.its sharp with lots of detail and minimal grain. The negatives looked a little thin but there was loads of detail that could be brought out with ease in lightroom. There is absolutely no evidence of the earlier issues with the old stock, namely the printing on the backing paper appearing on the negative. As for the backing paper, the printing on one side is bold and clear whilst the coating on the other is as impermeable as it gets. Spooling the film was easy, I developed it in five minutes in Bellini Hydrofen. This is a great 120 film for a bargain price and I will be using it again

I thought reading all the reviews about this film on the net, that it would not be that good. BUT I was pleasantly surprised. Metered at box speed on a dull day and developed 1/25 in Rodinal, it may be contrasty, but there is nothing wrong with the final images. I ran 12 shots in 120 and all of them were fine. The interesting thing at the end of the roll is that the sticky tape when I pulled it from the film back, was already tight around the film! How clever was that.

I first started using Shanghai GP3 film in 120 format for pinhole photography some years ago. I did experience a few issues early on, these being: no tape to fix the end of roll and badly stored film resulting in numbers from the backing paper transferring to the image (lesson here is take tape with you and buy from reputable supplier!) This film responds well to being used with a red filter, when over exposed grain is not an issue although underexposed images do exhibit a reasonable amount of grain. I have processed GP3 in a selection of developers including Caffinol, Rodinal and lately 510 Pyro to name a few, having now settled with 510 Pyro due to the virtually grain free images it gives when shooting GP3 large format film. Tonal quality is very good, that is not to say that other films don't render better results but for an all rounder Shanghai GP3 is a very good film. Price can be an issue, so as mentioned earlier buy from a reputable supplier. Give it a try you might just be surprised!

If you've ever wondered which one is the absolutely worst of the worst film ever produced - this is it! Not the even the most beat-up and badly developed Foma can't be worse than this. If you want to test your nerves or just looking for something extremely low-fi, vintage looking for your beloved Kodak Brownie or similar war-time camera, this could be a good fit, except photographic materials from war-era factories like Agfa, were a little bit better back in 1944 than this film manufactured now. Try yourself (at your own risk). Here are the examples what this film can achieve with the best development used (stand development in homemade/modified Rodinal).