I've been on a roll (...get it?) recently with experimentation. Sometimes I get bored with my regular work, and so I force myself into something new: new film, new camera, new lens, new subject, etc. Last weekend, I loaded up an Olympus XA, a gift from my dad, for the first time. As if shooting with a new camera wasn't a challenge enough, I also decided to use some Retrochrome (government surplus of Ektachrome that was discontinued years ago) that was graciously given to me by a fellow film enthusiast.

The intriguing thing about this film is that it can be C-41 or E-6 processed. Supposedly the results are best with E-6, but that would've required a lot of waiting and I was feeling impatient, so I dropped it off with my local lab for C-41 instead. The results were interesting and I feel confident in saying that I should put a roll of Portra 400 through the Olympus next, and a roll of Retrochrome through my Leica instead; combine new-with-familiar systems rather than new-with-new systems. I put the film through every kind of lighting I could find and found that it performed best in open shade. I also discovered that the Olympus viewfinder is pointless and I should just study the rangefinder to determine focus. Here are a few from this combination.

Most images came out extremely green/yellow. Here's some dappled lighting/end of the roll :-)

So that was take 1 of really investigating obscure film. I've got 15 more rolls of off-name emulsions to shoot through, so definitely more fun on the way.