Silberra Color 100 Film Review

18th June, 2021

Photo that shows two rolls of Silberra Color 100 film. — Yellow packaging color fits the film character well.

Much of the things surrounding the Silberra Color 100 film I already covered in the Silberra Color 160 review. Read it if you're interested in:

Silberra "The Company";
Silberra film buying experience;
Silberra film shooting experience.

Like the 160 version - the 100 is also a C-41 color negative film. I'm not sure whether this film is freshly coated or not. There's conflicting information. In one place Silberra say that they found a batch of color negative film that they are selling as Color 100. In other places they imply that it's freshly coated for them ( although they didn't create the formula ). Film base on both 100 and 160 appears to be the same so I imagine both are coated for Silberra. It's possible that the first version of Color 100 was old stock and they found a way to get it coated again. Speculation is fun after all. More detailed information can be found on Kosmo Foto.

In any case it doesn't matter. I'm quite certain that it actually is a film stock not available elsewhere and that's all that matters.

Results

Silberra Color 100 is a more consistent film than Color 160. At least in my results. Where 160 seemed to have a "warm vintage" look in sunlight and some magenta cast when underexposed - 100 is consistent. Or I got better with scanning the weird base that this film has ( it's still not orange - instead it's dirty blue ).

Colors are soothing and natural with a slight shift to warm colors. Not the "vintage warm" where it has hints of green. Pure, sunny warmth that makes you feel good. I did not notice any color shifts in any of the shots.

It has some contrast but it's not too strong. It works well with the warm, natural colors that the film produces. Colors are not super saturated which again works well with the other aspects of the output. In many ways it has similar attributes as professional grade films like Portra or 400H. I like the look.

From a grain perspective there's not much to say. It's a 100 ISO film in medium format. There is no grain. Or more precisely - my scanner doesn't have the detail to resolve the grain for this film.

I did have the same film flatness issues as I did for the Color 160 film. Frames around 3 - 6 don't have 100% straight top and bottom edges which suggests that film was not laying flat. It could be down to my camera but I have not had these issues with other films. I will test it out with other cameras to know for sure. Once I do I will update this review with my findings. If it is an issue with film flatness then you can expect the focus point to move unexpectedly which is not great.

Photo of my wife eating pizza on the beach. — The shutter wasn't released at the best point but the photo shows the feel of the film well. Bright, airy and warm. Various shades of light captured with detail in them all.

Photo of my wife on beach. — Here's a potential case for the film flatness issue. You can see that the top edge is not straight but has a slight curve. It was scanned flat as the film is sandwiched between two glass sheets.
I might have missed focus. And I probably did. But there's still some weird focussing issues in this photo. The very sides are more blurred than the center. That's not the character of the lens. Bottom of my wife is largely in focus but the head isn't. It could be all my fault. But I have my doubts.
From actual color rendering perspective I have no complaints. Were this photo in focus I would've liked it.

Photo of an abandoned house being refurbished. — A photo that I scanned very flat and then brought some dynamic lighting in post. Still the color profile remains consistent.

Photo of a field. — A photo that doesn't look good as a square. But colors and detail that the scanner resolved is nice.

Photo of sun shining through tree branches. — Shot of sun and film handles all the light and lack of light very well.

Photo of bright purple flowers in otherwise green surroundings. — In the right light the colors out of Color 100 are vibrant. Ignore the purple left edge - it's a scanning issue.

Photo of a tree with bright flowers. — This was shot on an overcast day. There's still a hint of warm colors coming through the photo. And I like how the colors are rendered in general for this photo.

Photo of my wife with a colorful tree in the background. — And lastly a photo of my wife with the same tree as the backdrop. Whilst I think that Color 100 works well in sunlight - the truth is that every film works well in sunlight. Color 100 also works well on overcast days. It has a natural look that has a hint of some color splash that makes everything look dreamy and pleasing.

Verdict

I prefer Color 100 over Color 160. It's more consistent and has a look that I find more pleasing. It's also slightly cheaper. After all the taxes and everything it comes out roughly as 12 EUR per 120 format roll. Color 160 was about 1 EUR more expensive.

Price is still quite high. But it's easier to justify because it does deliver results like more professional grade films. For example Portra and Portra is also not cheap. I wouldn't make it the default film I buy. It's still too expensive for that. But as a film you shoot from time to time - why the hell not.

Film flatness is still a concern of mine. Other than that - I recommend trying this film.

Discussion

Loading comments - please be patient.

Results

Verdict

Discussion

Add Your Comment