A lot of film shooters give The Lomographic Society a hard time and I’ve often asked myself why. I see it time and time again on forums, photo sharing websites and in person…and I’m not afraid to say that most anti-Lomo rants seem to come from people of a certain ilk, who believe that photography in its entirety belongs solely to them.

Sorry folks, that’s never been the case. 

Objectively speaking, this collective has done more for film photography in the last ten years than Kodak, Fuji, Hasselblad, Leica, Rollei, Nikon and Canon combined.

It’s probably a good time to also say that I’m not affiliated with Lomo, nor do I take any money from them.

Take a look at these NEW products from 2010-2015 (no particular order):

  • A new Nikon/Canon mount Petzval lens (2014)
  • The “Spinner” and “Sprocket Rocket” 35mm cameras released
  • A new M-mount lens (Russar)
  • A new 6×12 medium format camera with AE (Belair)
  • A DIY 35mm SLR (Konstructor)
  • A smartphone film scanner and app
  • Another new Petzval lens (2015, Nikon DC style, Kickstarter in progress)
  • New glass lenses for the Diana F+
  • A new medium format AE camera (LCA 120)
  • New cameras and new 110 film
  • A fantastic Instax camera
  • Two new film stocks in 35mm and 120 format

I’ve yet to mention all the instant cameras, disposables, and lenses created since 2015 and won’t link to them here, as they’re easy enough to find with a bit of Googling. Here’s what’s covered in this article:

Fanboy alert

Please don’t color me a fanboy. In the interests of openness, I have one of Lomo’s 110 fish eye cameras, their DIY SLR and I brassed up a Nikon FT3 as a birthday gift for a friend, so it would match his shiny brass Petzval lens.

I also scan or develop about 30-40% of my film with my local Lomo store because they’re close, their prices are cost-effective, they don’t skimp on changing developer and their scans are pretty damned good.

Fighting the fight

Can we say that anyone else is out there fighting the good fight as hard as these guys? Sure, some of their older (film stocks are no longer available and their prices can be a little on the premium side but at the time of writing in 2015, I can’t name anyone else whole has done as much for getting film back out into the public consciousness, or has been responsible for as much growth in second user cameras and expired film sales (search eBay for Lomo).

Rant ends, review begins

So, with that rant out of the way, let me get into the review. Lomo’s LomoChome Turquoise XR 100-400 (which I’ll be calling Lomo Turquoise, as my fingers are cramping), is the second new stock from this Austrian operation in two years.

It’s not a film to everyone’s tastes but rather fun to play around with and it certainly has its creative applications.

I’ve done the hard work testing this films at various speeds and with various filters below. But before you check out my EI and filter tests, let’s have a quick look at what Lomo have to say about this utterly weird film.

“Here’s a brand new film that will transform ordinary photos into magical scenes. Warm colors will be bathed in cool blue gradients – ranging from aqua to cobalt to emerald – and blues will be glowing in golden hues.


LomoChrome Turquoise XR 100-400 is a regular color negative film which gives fantastic results. Color tones transform from one color spectrum to the next, and in turn, create wild and wonderful outcomes! Let this colorful gallery inspire you to try out our limited-edition film!”

LomoChrome Turquoise XR 100-400
LomoChrome Turquoise XR 100-400
NameLomoChrome Turquoise XR 100-400
VendorLomography
TypeColor Negative
Format35mm, 120
Speed (ISO)100-400
Exposure latitude+/- 2 stops
Push processing2 stops
Cross processingNA

What’s it like?

Weird. Really, really weird but in a good way. Unlike Lomo’s previous new film – LomoChrome Purple XR 100-400 – Lomo Turquoise doesn’t really change a hell of a lot under different EIs, or when shot with different filters on your lens. (This is based on the very bright sunlight in my test, your results may vary).

I’ve added some images below, all shot at EI 400 with no special filter.

The almost fluorescent blue “piping” effect on the roof here looks like it’s straight out of TRON. Very, very cool.

Compared to “normal” color film, the color shifts are quite striking. Here’s a quick comparison shot on Kodak E100VS color slide film.

It has to be said, this film has a special something about it. The color shifts are intense to say the least. Although it’s not something I’d use every day, the results are rather pleasing and lend themselves to plenty of creative possibilities.

Testing

Time to give the film a run through it’s paces. Turquoise (as we’d expect) is the dominant color and you’ll find plenty of blue and green in there to boot. Like Lomo’s LomoChrome Purple, the shifts will deepen the closer you get to EI 400. Although they diminish a touch towards EI 100, they still dominant the results. I didn’t test this film down at EI 50 but I’d have to guess that it’ll shift to pastel blues and greens based on the EI 100 results. I’ll let you know in a future update.

Ok, time too move on to the proper EI and filter tests.

Lomo Turquoise at EI 400, 200 and 100 – no filters

The first set of shots below were taken on a 35mm roll of Lomo Turquoise using a Nikon F100 with a 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. The images were shot in sequence at EI 400, 200 then 100 with only a simple UV filter attached to the lens. To start, here’s a reference shot (of sorts) from roughly the same location. It was shot on Kodak E100VS (35mm) and then cross processed.

Set one: EI 400, 200, 100

As you’ll see, there’s not much difference here. Trust me, they were shot at different EI s and developed for EI 400. Strange, right?

Set two: EI 400, 200, 100

This is more like it.  The difference is much more pronounced than above. Granted, skin tones only go from a very deep blue to not AS deep blue but as you’ll also see, more colors start coming through as we get down to EI 100.

One point of note is that skin tones in the shade will become a deeper shade of blue than those in direct light.

Lomo Turquoise at EI 400, 200 and 100 – colour filters

This is where things start getting interesting. Following my filter tests with Lomo’s Purple film, I expected quite a big color shift when using different filters.  Using the same filters and process with Lomo Turquoise yielded rather surprising results but maybe not for the reasons you expect.

Lomo Turquoise and colour filters at EI 400

As with the other tests below, the following shots were taken with the following filter sequence:: none, red, orange, yellow, green, blue.

Here we go:

Lomo Turquoise and colour filters at EI 200

Here we go again, this time at EI 200.  Same filter sequence: none, red, orange, yellow, green, blue.

Lomo Turquoise and colour filters at EI 100

One last time, this time at EI 100.  Same filter sequence: none, red, orange, yellow, green, blue.

Conclusions

Aaaand that’s a wrap! I’d like to let the pictures speak for themselves but will say this; Lomo Turquoise does a great job by itself without the need for additional filters. If you’re planning on using some, don’t bother.

As I mentioned at the top of the article, I think that taking the film down to EI 50 will yield some really interesting results.  Stay tuned for another review in the near-ish future.

The point of this film and it’s sibling, LomoChrome Purple, is to work with the colour shifts in the search of something creative.  For this purpose, LomoChrome T EI urquoise XR 100-400 is a great film and hands off to Lomography for putting it together.  I just hope that next time they decide to make a film like this, they’ll try a red shift, so that I can finally replace my much loved Kodak AEROCHROME and EIR. One can dream.

To sum up:

If you’re looking for something totally unique to stretch those creative muscles, LomoChrome Turquoise XR 100-400 is well worth investing time, effort and money in.

It’ll give you sometimes overwhelming, alien colours, which will leave you overwhelmed, surprised but never unsatisfied.

Thanks for reading and let me know about your own experiences in the comments below.

~ EM

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15 responses to “Film stock review: LomoChrome Turquoise XR 100-400 – 35mm and 120 format”

  1. Very Nice test, I have done one like this myself:

    https://www.lomography.com/homes/kritsalos/albums/2218702-lomochrome-turquoise-experiment-athens-eretria-nikon-f80-02-february-2020

    Unfortunately this film is out of stock for a long time…

  2. I wonder how to get a similar effect on different film – should it be IR or cross processed? Or IR cross processed?
    Any thoughts?

    1. The colours from this and Lomo’s Purple are dependant on the layers present (or missing) on the film. You could approximate certain shifts by filtering and cross processing certain films. IR sensitivity varies from film to film but the colour options are limited to long discontinued stocks. Finally…you could look towards lighting subjects with UV light and filtering. There are a few examples out there!

  3. @lomography bring this film back asap!!!

  4. Blue film base? Do they still manufacture it? I haven’t seen it around for a bit.

  5. Based on your filter tests, it looks like they bound blue dye to the red sensitive layer and vice-versa.

  6. Hi everyone,Would be grateful for your help. Want to use 120 size Turquoise, but cannot get hold of any. N o one has any for sale. No end of websites have turquoise film, but then go on to tell me they are sold or no longer available I don’t understand why they won’t do anything about it. . So, what do i do now? Thank you Chris

    1. Lomography get far too much stick from so-called serious photographers. It’s all about the right tool for the job and when you strip it all down, those guys have done more in the past decade to support film photography than any other person or organisation I can think of.

  7. You like Turquoise or Purple best, on the whole?

    1. Purple….ugh, it’s hard to say! Turquoise requires a little too much forethought in an urban environment, so yes…purple!

    2. I might splash out, for my holidays.

  8. Very cool! I’m about to try my very first roll of Turquoise. Thanks for the tips and generous tests!

    1. Please make sure you share the results and thanks very much for the kind words!

 

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