I’ve shot Agfa Vista Plus 200 for the longest time. It’s a film that’s neutral but with punchy colours and great midtones. To me, it always felt like a faster, slightly more neutral version of Kodak’s Ektar 100. The highlights always had a tendency of being blown out, but I always fixed that in post anyway. More importantly, it was a film for the budget-conscious.
I was going to be in Europe for 5 months for an exchange semester in Switzerland, so I decided to stock up on a bunch of film to bring with me for my time there. Agfa Vista Plus 200 made up the majority of the colour film I brought with me. At the time, I had no idea it was going to be discontinued, had I known, I would have stocked up more. Anyway, throughout my time in Europe, I capitalised on the opportunity to travel more — I am from South East Asia — and landed myself in Seville, Spain.
Knowing that the Andalucian capital even had a Pantone colour for the unique shade of orange (Color Especial de Sevilla) that the city was covered in, I thought Agfa 200 would be the perfect fit.
(Click or tap to zoom)
I made sure to save some shots for my time at the Royal Alcazar Palace. However, I was shooting on an Olympus PEN FT, a half-frame camera, I struggled a little bit with my lens choice. As the Olympus G. Zuiko 40mm f/1.4 AUTO-S — a 60mm equivalent lens on full-frame 35mm film — lens was the only lens I owned for the camera at the time, so architectural shots were challenging at times. Despite this, it has led me to interesting perspectives and photos as I had to adapt to the narrow focal length.
I was delighted to see the images being everything that Agfa Vista Plus 200 was good for when I got the scans back from the lab. All images were shot in or outside the Royal Alcazar Palace in Seville. It was a sunny day, so all shots were probably f/5.6 to f/8 at 1/500.
If you manage to find a roll of Agfa Vista Plus 200 at your local shop, do try it out before it dies for good!
~ Keith
Submit your 5 Frames… today
Get your own 5 Frames featured by submitting your article using this form or by sending an email via the contact link at the top of the page.
Share your knowledge, story or project
The transfer of knowledge across the film photography community is the heart of EMULSIVE. You can add your support by contributing your thoughts, work, experiences and ideas to inspire the hundreds of thousands of people who read these pages each month. Check out the submission guide here.
If you like what you’re reading you can also help this passion project by heading over to the EMULSIVE Patreon page and contributing as little as a dollar a month. There’s also print and apparel over at Society 6, currently showcasing over two dozen t-shirt designs and over a dozen unique photographs available for purchase.
4 responses to “5 Frames… With Agfa Vista Plus 200 (EI 200 / 35mm format / Olympus PEN FT)”
I believe Agfa Vista Plus 200 is just re-badged Fuji C200 these days, so when the Agfa runs out, just switch to that (while Fuji are still making it, at least).
I love these photos! I think agfa was a perfect choice for this spot!
Beautiful photos !!
Great subjects but this is a town of powerful colors and great light. Consider Ektachrome in the Golden Hour. The Agfa seems to be a bit undersaturated. Pastel-like.