I Shot a Roll of Revolog Texture
I’m always interested in trying some new films, and looking for special films, whether they alter colors or add some intriguing effects to my pictures. I first heard of Revolog films a few years ago, and I’ve had a few tries with some of their films, lately.
This year, looking for artisanal films in a Kodak shop dedicated to analogue photography in Paris, I ran into the Revolog catalogue and saw they had some nice stuff. The Texture film got my attention. I bought it, along with a bunch of other films, which I had never tried before.
Last summer I finally had the opportunity to take some days off in Brittany, so I loaded my Olympus Trip 35 with this film. I took most of the pictures there and had a few frames left on my roll when I came back in Paris. I had it developed by my favorite photo lab and soon got to enjoy the results.
It’s a 200 iso film, so in my opinion it’s better used outdoor, where it will fit bright sunny days, as well as cloudy ones. All of my pictures were shot outside. You get 36 exposures on a single roll of film, which gives plenty of room for experimenting.
Simply put, pictures shot with this film get covered with a texture which looks like stem cells. These cells are of various sizes, but very condensed. There are lots of them and there’s little space left in between them. They don’t follow a regular pattern but are dispatched randomly over the whole surface. Which makes me think the film has probably been in contact with some kind of chemical solution. The bubbles will be very prominent in darker areas, and less visible (though still clearly apparent) in lighters one. The film itself tend to offer a lot of contrast.
As usual with this kind of special film, it’s hard to predict what the results will look like. They will mostly be influenced by your subjects. The texture gives landscape photographs a very interesting pictural aspect. Some of my shots just look like paintings.
I would mostly avoid to use it for classical portraiture. The effect tends to eat up people’s details and lines, making them hardly recognizable. I guess this might be of interest for creative photographers, though ! I believe the texture film by Revolog could give its best results with simple, contrasted subjects.
It’s one of these excentric Revolog films that rely on a fancy effect. I’d definitely recommend it to someone willing to experienced with some unusual film. It will surprise you with its unique organic touch.
My name is Romain, living in Paris, France. I like to collect and use old film cameras. I have a crush for TLR and little rangefinder cameras from the 1960ies. You can see my experimentations on my site : www.filmisundead.com.
I also like instant photography a lot. You cand find out more about my polaroid collection here : www.polaroidmania.com
