Leslie’s Romance with Svema Film!

My Romance with Svema 35mm film!

Blog by Leslie Lazenby

What can I say…I Love Svema Film! I was introduced to it when Michael Raso sent me a few rolls back in 2017. The first roll I tried was the Foto 200 B/W and if you haven’t read my ranting and ravings on Flickr about it I will tell you – I LOVE this film! After seeing the first roll come off the developing reel I felt like this was the first time I had experienced the wonders of film photography. This is fantastic considering I have been processing film since……well……….. lets say just say a few decades and then some.

There is not a lot info about these films available so I was missing data one normally has with a box of domestic film. Such as:
1. Are people shooting it at box speed?
2. Is it panchromatic or orthochromatic?
3. Developing times for my favorite developer, Kodak Xtol.
4. Response to standard B/W filters.
5. Ease of scanning

As mentioned I tried the 200 first, it answered all my questions. Yes “box” speed of 200 iso it perfect. It is an panchromatic film, responding beautifully to B/W filtration. My best  guess on the Xtol times was only off a bit and still yielded beautiful scannable negatives. The 200 speed is on a very thin but tough polyester base. I really thought this was going to be a test of wills getting it on the developing reel but it was fine, although I would not want to use anything over a 24 exposure length. It will crimp easily if it hangs up or is forced so I would recommend using stainless steel reels for longer lengths.

The 100 and 200 are thin polyester based and the 64 and 400 are a thicker acetate based but still not as thick as T-max. They all processed beautifully in Kodak Xtol first time around, even with guessing at the times.

OK here it comes, why I love, love, love this film, the negatives scan easy, are sharp and fine grained and most of all this film dries with NO curl and NO cupping. Super flat. This is BIG, there was no fight using the irritating Epson negative holders, no taping the negs down to the glass to get them flat, just a breeze, such a pleasure to load and scan. My only negative, no pun intended, is with the thin polyester based films, they are a bit of a challenge to load in a Print File negative page, just be patient and take it slow.