With the recent release of Lucky Films new SHD400 35mm film, I had to pick up a couple of rolls to try it out. I won’t go into the details of the film as this has been done many times, and I am more interested in how it looks than technical specs. Here are a few images, and my thoughts…

The first roll was shot in my ever reliable Olympus µ[mju:] II as I’ve shot loads of different film stocks with it, and could get a proper feel for the Lucky.

What the actually hell is this!!

When I got the scans back I initially thought my trusty mju had suffered multiple issues since I last used it - Winder issues, light leaks and under-exposure, but how could this be when it has been stored in a case in a dark cupboard for the last few months? surely not! To check I loaded a fresh roll of Kodak Gold 200 which was absolutely fine, proving it was in fact the film. Lucky have used plastic cassettes for the SHD400, so can only assume the leaks have come from this.

The images did not improve through the roll, and these couple of examples were the best believe it or not! The majority are not even useable.

This water tower was shot in sunlight, with blue sky but has come out terrible. The exposure is so dark that for the second roll I adjusted the ISO to 200 and shot in my Minolta Maxxum 70 to rule out camera issues.

Minolta Maxxum 70 - Lucky SHD400 @ ISO200

Phew, these are better! Although some were still a bit underexposed, but at least they are acceptable.

I don’t know if it is fair to compare to my usual go to stock Ilford HP5, but I will anyway! HP5 is superior in every way - there, that is all that needs to be said!

I don’t like the grain structure, I don’t like the inconsistency, I don’t like the cheap feeling film canister and I don’t like the quality. Hmm I can’t actually think of any positives from shooting it!

This is my favourite composition from the two rolls, but it is spoilt by the underexposure, even though I metered for the mid foreground to give some detail in the tree, and brighten the sky. Also the grain structure in the foreground is horrible. It is definitely a scene I will have to shoot again, but on HP5.

Even when the exposure was good, the image seems too flat, and shadows are too black - there is not enough contrast to make it a pleasing image.

So what situation suits Lucky 400? I have tried it in sunshine, overcast, in dark woodland with dabble sunlight - in the city and out in the landscape, but it doesn’t work to my liking in any of them.

I will be sticking to Ilford FP4 and HP5 for black & white for sure.

Lucky SHD400 review…

Morocco with Kodak Gold…