Film Washi from France is known as "the world's smallest film manufacturer." The founder, Lomig Perrotin, converted an old military shipping container into a workshop in Brittany, France, where he hand-converts various types of special industrial films into formats usable by standard cameras.
Films originally used for aerial surveying, medical imaging, or even circuit board manufacturing are reborn as creative tools in the hands of photographers.
Today, I'd like to introduce two of their most iconic products:
Washi X — a masked color film
Washi Z — a near-infrared black-and-white film.
Washi X
Development options: C-41 / E6
ISO 100 36exp
Washi X is believed to originate from technical surveillance or aerial film. The color negative films we usually use all have an orange mask, primarily used for color correction. However, Washi X is a film without a mask. Because it lacks this mask, the original scanned images have a very unique color tone, presenting a warm, highly saturated look that directly evokes the texture of color negative films that became popular from the 1960s and 1970s onward.
Tones of Warm And Rich Colors:
-The color saturation is high with a warm tone, with red and yellow being particularly striking.
-Suitable for nostalgic themes, street photography, and portraits.
The biggest appeal of this film lies in its development options. You can choose:
C-41 Process (Negative Development):
A vintage, warm-toned color negative effect.
E-6 Process (Slide Development):
If you develop this film with E-6 chemicals, it becomes color positive film (slides)!
The tones shift from warm to even richer, with a cooler (bluish) cast and increased contrast.
Washi Z
B&W Process
ISO 400 24exp
Washi Z originally started as a film used for aerial vegetation mapping — it is a "near-infrared black-and-white film." Simply put, it is especially sensitive to infrared light. Under bright sunlight, plants strongly reflect infrared rays, so greenery appears as a bright white or takes on a glowing, halo-like effect, creating a strong contrast between light and shadow.
Extreme Contrast Tones:
-The image presents strong contrast between light and shadow, with clean and sharp transitions between highlights and shadows.
-Greenery appears as an almost glowing pure white, creating a unique halo effect, while blue—due to absorbing infrared light—turns into deep black or dark gray.
Usage Tip:
Want to enhance this infrared effect? It's simple — try attaching a red filter in front of your lens! It blocks some visible light, allowing the film to receive more infrared rays, making the bright white vegetation effect even more pronounced and the sky appear deeper.
Since the Z film uses a polyester base and has no anti-halation layer, it's best to load the film in a dim environment. Additionally, it has no DX coding — if you're using a manual camera, remember to set the ISO manually!
If you're looking for a vintage look with warm, highly saturated colors,
Film Washi X is your go-to choice for artistic street photography.
But if you want to break out of the conventional boundaries of black-and-white photography, then you absolutely have to try Film Washi Z!
Both of these are niche, experimental films.If you usually shoot with regular films,it's time to inject some fresh creativity into your work!
Both films are now available in stock.Come by our store to pick up a few rolls, and take them out to explore the world of light and shadows!
