Cars & Cameras Social Club Launch & CineStill 400D First Impressions

2 months ago I hosted my own take on the "Cars & Coffee" style of event that we all know and love.

I called it "Cars & Cameras Social Club" with the idea of bringing together like-minded automotive enthusiasts, creatives and content creators to network in one place.

The launch event was a success and I was blown away by how many people committed to the extremely early 7am start and embraced the overcast, almost studio-like natural lighting.

I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to load up my first roll of CineStill 400D ever, be a little different to the crowd and finally tick off the photoshoot with Brock that I had been trying to fit in for far too long.

Preparing for the session, I was focused on capturing the best images possible and knew there would be limited time and space to make the most out of the morning.

I chose to use an SMC Pentax-DA 50mm f/1.8 lens so I could start taking photos as early as possible and to isolate Brock's SLOWWAGON amongst any other cars in the parking lot with some nice bokeh.

I used my Pentax SF7 body set on fully automatic mode so I could maximise my time, focus on good composition and not worry about wasting a scarce film stock.

The exposed film was developed and scanned by Silver Halide Studios.

The Fuji Frontier colours are great straight off the scan with a dreamy, blown out look that I love.

I did slightly drop the highlights in post to cut the glare, bring back some colour and show off the early morning sunrise.

My favourites images from the morning were taken during blue hour, really showing off the film's versatility, cinematic roots and great colour with minimum halation.

Once the sun came out from the horizon of tree cover, you can see heavy halation effect in direct sunlight which transitioned to a subtle red glow when the lighting was diffused by the clouds above.

Overall, I am very happy with the outcome and can't wait to shoot my next roll.

Big thanks to @jimmyolsencars for his help on the day and for organising the 400D order.

See you at the next Cars & Cameras!

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