Lucky C400 - 35mm Colour Negative Film
Pre order now. Limited to our first 30 rolls, arriving end of August and despatched in the order orders were placed.
The one everyone has been waiting for. Lucky C400 is the second modern colour emulsion from Lucky Film, arriving a year after C200 proved the factory in Hebei could genuinely make colour film again rather than just talk about it. This is an ISO 400 daylight balanced colour negative film, processed in standard C-41, and it is the film that answers the obvious complaint about C200: that 200 speed is lovely right up until the sun goes behind a cloud. Not a rebadge, not repackaged surplus, not somebody else's emulsion in a different box. New coating equipment, new chemistry, new recipe.
What Makes Lucky C400 Worth Shooting
ISO 400 - A full stop over C200. Overcast British afternoons, interiors, shutter speeds fast enough to actually stop something moving. The speed most people reach for by default, for good reason.
Better Colour Accuracy - The headline improvement over C200. Reds, greens and blues were never the problem before, but scenes with mixed and secondary hues used to fall apart. C400 holds them together properly. Early testers have been noticeably more complimentary about this film than the last one.
Strong, Warm Saturation - Punchy without going full Phoenix. Reds in particular have real presence, which is very much Lucky's house signature and not something they seem inclined to apologise for.
Visible Grain - Grain has gone up with the speed, as physics demands. It is well behaved for a consumer 400 stock and holds together on dull days, which is more than several of its contemporaries manage.
Daylight Balanced - Optimised for natural light. Handles mixed lighting with the sort of colour shifts that flatter a scene more often than they ruin it.
C-41 Processing - Standard colour chemistry. Any lab can handle it without a phone call or a raised eyebrow. Or send it to us and we will develop, scan and print it for you.
DX Coded - Automatic cameras will read ISO 400 correctly off the canister. Load it, shoot it, no dial fiddling required.
36 Exposures - Full length roll. Enough frames for a proper day out without rationing.
Freshly Manufactured - Made now, not decanted from something that expired during the last recession. Lucky Film has been producing photographic materials since 1958 and is one of very few manufacturers actively expanding what it makes rather than quietly discontinuing it.
Best For
Street and travel work, overcast days, indoor available light, portraits with warmth rather than clinical neutrality, and anyone who has looked at the price of Portra 400 recently and made a small involuntary noise.
Perfect for: shooting 400 speed colour without the premium, backing manufacturers who are still investing in new emulsions, and having something genuinely worth discussing when someone asks what you have loaded.
Colour film from a factory that stopped making it in 2012 and decided, more than a decade later, to start again from nothing. C400 is the proof that the first attempt was not a fluke. Pre order now and it will be on its way to you as soon as it lands.