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Bike. ERA100, 1/60s @f16, Rodinal (1+50) for 14m. 35/1.7 Ultron

Here's a quick test. The subject is black & white films. Now, name a Chinese B&W film. Chances are, if you were able to come up with any at all, you probably thought of Lucky SHD. Lucky was (forgive the word play) lucky enough to enter into a cooperation of sorts with Kodak, giving it global distribution. This partnership also led to rumors that Lucky SHD films were simply "re-branded" Kodak films. Although untrue, this helped to increase Lucky's visibility in the international market. Of course, due in part to Lucky's unwillingness to improve its film quality and QA process, this relationship is now seemingly on the rocks and Kodak has decided to focus primarily on building its own brand in the PRC. But that's not the end of Chinese films. There are other film manufacturers there, some producing films with quality and history that matches the more well-known flavors. Shantou ERA100 is one such film.

Shan-who? Shantou. No, I'm not surprised you've never heard of it. I live right at China's doorstep in Taiwan and I was only introduced to this film a year ago. Not that it's not common. Rolls can be bought all over mainland China right next to rolls of Tri-X. The company has been producing films for over half a century now. It's just you have to remember that the PRC has been closed to the world culturally and economically for the vast majority of that time. Also add to the fact that as of yet they really don't have any distribution outside of the PRC with the exception of a few eBay sellers, most of whom either have "friends" in China who buy the film for them or are able to afford enough volume that they can make large purchases directly from the manufacturer. Finally, Chinese films in general have been far overshadowed by the influx of Eastern European-manufactured films such as Fomapan and Efke/ADOX, whose fanbase and distribution channels started developing over a decade-and-a-half ago with the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and the opening of tourism and free trade.

So here I am helping one of the better Chinese brand films play catch-up.