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Lomography recently announced LomoChrome Metropolis, the company’s first new film stock in five years. It’s currently available for pre-order, however Lomography was nice enough to send us an early production roll to experiment with. We’ve had some rare sunny Seattle days here recently, so I took advantage and loaded the roll up in my Leica M6 + Rokkor 40mm F2 combo and got shooting.
Metropolis is pitched as a film stock with muted tones, desaturated color and heavy contrast. And though the results of my test roll aren’t exactly my cup of tea, I think it’s accurately advertised.
Then again, my initial choice in subject matter, dogs in halloween costumes, may not have been the best match for Metropolis. The greenish hue of the film doesn’t lend itself particularly well to scenes with a lot of bright colors. But I could certainly see this being a tempting choice for moody cityscapes and street photography. I’d also be curious to push it a little and shoot closer to dusk (I shot it at ISO 400).
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| Dogs in Halloween costumes may not have been the best choice of subject matter to compliment Metropolis’ unique characteristics. |
This is not an everyday film, of course, its a subject-specific film. And choosing subject matter based on your film stock is sort of a foreign concept to me. I’ve always been in the mindset that the film being used should be adaptable to whatever subject matter you choose. But I think it’s cool that Lomography is coming up with creative new films for people wanting a specific or novel look.
Ultimately, of the images I shot, those with urban elements are the ones I think look the best. And I look forward to putting another roll through my camera, this time with the intention of shooting subjects that will complement its unique characteristics. Until then, I’ll stick with my standard film stocks.
See our ISO 400 LomoChrome Metropolis sample gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)