Tea Time with Lomography Lady Grey B&W 400 35mm

Lomography Lady Grey B&W 400 35mm was a nice film to experiment with. Photos turn out with a wide range of tones. There is heavy grain, as expected from any 400 ISO film. This film can’t be developed C-41. It’s a true black and white film, so it can’t be processed at your local Ritz/Drug store. Read more about this film after the jump!

I schmoozed my boyfriend into buying my first pack of Lomography Lady Grey 400 at Urban Outfitters for a hefty $25. After getting over the cost, I was pleasantly surprised at the 3 rolls of 36 shots packaged within. I put it in my Nikon N60 equipped with a Quantaray Tech10 50mm 1:2.8 and started to shoot my first roll.

Day one was cloudy, freezing with fresh snow on the ground. I shot on a farm and had to keep wiping the fog off my lens.

The camera and film sat under my car seat for a few weeks before I pulled it out again. This time, it was a sunny afternoon on an unusually warm day in March. The sun was pretty harsh and as I suspected, it overexposed the background of most of the day’s photographs. I was relatively pleased at the contrast in these few shots. The blacks are dark and the whites are hot.

The last few shots I rattled off were on a bright morning in April down on a Wharf in Baltimore.

The fiasco started when I had to get my first roll developed. There isn’t a lot of info on the packaging or on the site about what kind of film it actually is, nor what kind of processing it uses. At my current college, I don’t have access to a darkroom, so begrudgingly I had to take it to the local Ritz for processing. I should have known better. This film is a TRUE BLACK AND WHITE so it can not be processed by your local CVS, Ritz, Walmart, etc. Ritz had to ship it out to their other processing lab. I had to wait over 2 weeks to get my roll back, which was a pain because A) I’m not patient, and B) the photos were being used in my book for Art House Co-Op's Sketchbook Project 2012 which has a deadline at the end of April.

When I finally went to pick the photos up, it cost me way too much money. After being spoiled by school darkroom use, I had no idea it would cost that much to get them developed and printed. Know before you go.

All in all I’m moderately happy with this film. It’s a little too grey and far too grainy for me though to be completely honest. I think next time I’ll try out Earl Grey. As far as processing goes, ship it out to one of Lomo’s recommended labs. I just sent out a roll to Old School Photo Lab for $10 plus $5 for prints. I had fun though, and smile whenever I see these pictures. They give off a cozy feeling of tangibility, which is a nice reminder that we actually exist within this digital age.

Lomography’s Lady Grey is a lovely black and white 35mm ISO 400 film that will add class and elegance to your photos. For capturing action and great low-light shots, Lady Grey is your best bet. See our selection of Lomography films here.

written by sayslex on 2012-04-27 #gear #film #developing #review #lomography #processing #user-review #lady-grey #b-w-400-35mm