If someone asks me what my favourit film is, I would probably answer Kodak Portra. Recently I also shot a few rolls of Kodak Gold 200, which is also a film I really started to like a lot and since it is also now available as 120 film, I like it even more. A separate review on this film will follow soon.
But this review is not about films I use all the time, but rather about a film I never used before, the Lomography Metropolis. I got one roll of it and of course I used my trusty Mamiya 645 to test in on a sunny spring afternoon in Klagenfurt.
Metropolis
The name of this film pretty much tells you exactly what this film should be used for, cities and urban settings. Unlike Kodak Portra or Kodak Gold, it totally misses all the warm tones I like so much about these other films. It is cold, blue and a little grainy. In other words, it is perfect to capture dramatic urban scenes.
I took a few photos of street art, an overpass and also portraits in this urban setting and the results are exactly what I expected. Really cool scenes with a limited dynamic range. So if you are trying to capture the cold and industrial side of your city, than this film is for you.
Since spring is also the time in which you have to capture the cherry blossoms in the parks of Klagenfurt and I had a few frames left, I decided to use them to capture this event as well. These shots are an example of what this film isn’t for. If you expected bright pink trees and colorful spring scenes, you will be disappointed. This is not what this film is for, but still I somehow like the results since they turned out to be a very different view on spring time, not the optimistic and joyful style you would expect.
Will I use this film again? It won’t replace Kodak Portra as my favourite film, but if I ever need to capture urban and more industrial scenes again, I will absolutly pick up another roll.
