Atlanta Film Co. provides a solution for stills photographers to use cinema films as an affordable alternative to photographic color-negative films. Atlanta Film Co. works in collaboration with Dunwoody Photo who utilizes Kodak Motion Picture Film Lab Atlanta's ECN-2 processing services to provide a commercial solution to process cinema films for photographers in TRUE ECN-2 processing.

Atlanta Film Co. films are special motion picture films that require an entirely different development process. Most labs will not accept this film. It is highly recommended to send Atlanta Film Co. films back to Dunwoody Photo to process them in their intended chemistry.

Rem-jet (or remjet) is a black carbon layer adhered to the back of the film to minimize halation and static discharge on the film. The rem-jet also acts as a layer of protection to reduce the risk of scratching to the film. Motion Picture film passes through a camera at 24 frames per second (or more). This movement creates static build-up. The carbon backing displaces that static and minimizes the risk of an arc exposing the negative. Halation is intense light passing through the film and bouncing back into the film from behind it creating a glow on your image. Because of the black carbon backing, much of that light is absorbed and reduces the effect of that glow. When processed, the rem-jet goes through a "pre-bath," which removes the adhesive allowing the carbon backing to be washed off the film in the rinse steps before the development step. This is why most labs cannot accept this type of film. If a motion picture film enters a C-41 machine, the rem-jet will result in contaminating the chemistry and costing the lab a significant loss in money and resources to dump the chemistry and clean out the machinery.

We purchase our fresh Kodak Vision3 film directly from Kodak. Atlanta Film Co. currently offers three color negative films in 35mm: Kodak 5213 200T Kodak 5207 250D Kodak 5219 500T

Most electronic film SLR cameras have a 250 or 500 ISO setting. Setting it to those ISO ratings is recommended. However, if your camera does not have a 250 or 500 ISO setting, you may set it to 200 (for 250D) or 400 (for 500T). These will slightly overexpose your image by 1/5 of a stop. This setting is entirely acceptable within the image latitude this film supports.

The "D" stands for daylight balanced. The film is balanced to capture images outside during the day. This comes out to 5500K lighting. The "T" stands for tungsten balance. Images captured in soft yellow light (3200K lighting) will appear as white light. Images captured in daylight with a tungsten film will look "cooler" or with a blue hue. To correct this, you may use a warming filter like an 85B or W12 filter. Adding filters will decrease the amount of light passing through the lens and may require increasing your exposure by .5-1 stop. You don't "need" a tungsten filter for daylight. If you use our commercial scanners, we will white balance the scan to daylight for you.

Similar. We do not modify the Atlanta Film Co films. CineStill Film modifies its color-negative films by removing the rem-jet in their manufacturing phase. This allows their films to go to your traditional film labs safely. However, removing the rem-jet leads to a red halation (red glow in areas of intense light) and an increased risk of static discharge on the film if advanced/rewound too quickly in dry environments. This does not mean Atlanta Film Co films are "better" than CineStill Film, it is a film that creates an aesthetic that has grown popular in the stills community!

Yes, it is! However, we spool this film with purpose! We hope to expand and promote the growth in the ECN-2 processing services we offer.

Similar. While we do spool our own motion picture film, you don't have to purchase our film for access to ECN-2 processing; it is open to anybody who wishes to use this service. Our ultimate goal is to be completely transparent with this process.

Not yet. Cutting 65mm film into 61.5mm to fit the width of 120 backing paper is a time-intensive process. However, we are considering it in the very near future.

Yes! Atlanta Film Co. will ship to mostly any country around the world. We provide shipping options across multiple carriers to minimize your shipping cost as much as possible!

ECN-2 stands for Eastman Color Negative (revision) 2. It is a film development process used in the motion picture industry to process long lengths of films, as long as 50-1,000 feet (or more) at a time. This process is different than traditional films, and most photography labs cannot process it due to a special layer on the back of the film called the rem-jet. As a photographer, you don't need to do anything with photographing this film. Put it in your camera and make the magic happen! The only thing we *highly recommend* is sending it to a specialized lab (like Dunwoody Photo) to process it in the correct chemistry.

Atlanta Film Co. and Dunwoody Photo utilize Kodak Motion Picture Film Lab Atlanta processing services to use the most authentic ECN-2 process. Other labs will process it by hand in small batches or cross-process it in C-41 by hand. By sending your film through Atlanta Film Co., your film will go through the exact process of major Hollywood motion picture productions.

After receiving the film, it can take 7-10 business days to process and scan your film.

Yes. However, these require longer lead times depending on Kodak Motion Picture's schedule. Films requiring 1-stop pushes can take up to 2-3 weeks. Pulling and Pushes requiring more than 1-stop may take longer. We do not recommend pulling your cinema film. Expect an upcharge for push/pull processing.

After we receive the processed film from Kodak Motion Picture, we scan it through our commercial scanners. We use Noritsu HS-1800's and Frontier SP-3000's. We offer scans in 3 sizes: 8, 10, or 12 Megapixels (Regular, Large, XL).

One isn't necessarily better than the other, they are simply intended for different end results. Traditional C-41 negatives are intended for printing on photographic paper which accentuate the color profiles built into the film. ECN-2 film is intended for "print film" where a motion picture film is projected onto a screen. Alternatively, some motion picture films, like Kodak Vision3 films, allow motion picture colorists to digitally modify the tones of the film (color grade) to produce a look that accentuates the story the director intends to tell in their film. Films processed in ECN-2 are *not* recommended for photographers who print on color paper (RA4) in a darkroom.

Yes! We are happy to process your ECN-2 motion picture films. You can fill out an order form on Dunwoody Photo's website and ship your film to their lab. Once processed, they will ship the film back to you. We highly recommend adding tracking on the package.

Yes, you can! While we recommend bringing Atlanta Film Co. films back to us for processing (you get a discount on processing and scanning!), there are a couple of different kits on the market where you can process cinema films on your own. QWD Lab, Bellini Foto, and CineStill Film offer kits that can process cinema films. Alternatively, you can "cross-process" this film in an at-home C-41 kit, but you will need to add a special rem-jet removal step (as well as the CineStill CN2 kit) before the developer step. For more information on how to remove the rem-jet, watch this video.

If you cross-process your Atlanta Film Co. film at home in C-41 chemistry, it will result in added contrast and more saturated colors than you would see in traditional ECN-2 processing. While C-41 and ECN-2 are similar chemistries, it is not guaranteed the film will have the same archiving stability as it would in the chemistry it is intended for.

Yes! While different films will react differently to ECN-2, do expect shifts in color and contrast in your C-41 films. Also, because this is a "cross-process," there is no guarantee that your film will retain the same archiving stability as it would in its intended chemistry.

We currently only support 35mm motion picture film for ECN-2 processing due to limitations in the size the rollers can accept. However, we are looking into options to support this in the future.