Film Photography at Night: My First Roll of Amber T800 in Japan

I have wanted to experiment with film photography at night for ages.

If you’ve ever spent any time looking at nighttime film photography online, you’ve probably come across the wonderfully cinematic look you can get from tungsten-balanced films:

glowing neon signs, unusual colours and, most recognisably, those distinctive red halos around bright lights.

So, when I came to Japan for ten weeks, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally give it a go.

For my first experiment, I picked up a roll of Amber T800, loaded it into my old Nikon F60, headed out at night and – definitely with too much confidence in the ISO 800!! – started shooting.

Let’s just say… I learned a few things. 🙂

What Is Amber T800 Film?

Amber T800 is an ISO 800, tungsten-balanced colour negative film designed for artificial light and particularly suited to night photography.

It’s also processed using standard C-41 chemistry, so you can have it developed like regular colour negative film.

The “T” stands for tungsten – basically, this means the film is balanced for the warmer artificial lighting traditionally produced by tungsten bulbs rather than daylight.

This makes it a particularly interesting choice for film photography at night, when you’re surrounded by artificial light.

If Amber T800 sounds rather similar to CineStill 800T, that’s no coincidence:

Both are tungsten-balanced films connected to Kodak Vision3 500T motion-picture film, but they are processed separately and can produce different results.

However, the characteristic I was most excited about is halation, where particularly bright areas can develop a distinctive orange-red glow or halo around them, a look I absolutely LOVE!

My First Attempt at Film Photography at Night

For my first roll, I used my Nikon F60 and photographed almost entirely at night.

Japan seemed like the perfect setting with all its bright shop signs, restaurants and streetlights.

However, I made a pretty big mistake:

I somehow assumed that because Amber T800 is a high-ISO film suited to low-light photography, it would magically make photographing in the dark easy.

It does not. 😂

Yes, ISO 800 is high for film, but you still need light – and unfortunately, I seriously underestimated how much.

One of the many underexposed images on my roll of film.

My Biggest Mistake: Underexposure

A lot of my photographs came back underexposed.

Looking at some of the scenes I chose, it’s fairly obvious why: they were simply very dark, with only a few relatively small artificial light sources.

Because guess what…ISO 800 doesn’t suddenly give your camera night vision!

Knowing what I know now, I would definitely have given many of these photographs more light.

The lack of exposure is particularly obvious in the shadows, where some of my scans have a huge amount of visible grain and coloured speckling.

Now, I don’t mind film grain at all. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I enjoy shooting film.

But in some of these photographs, it’s quite a lot more than I would personally like:

I think I had mentally translated “ISO 800 film suited to low light” into “I can photograph whatever I want at night.”

Well… lesson learned.

If I shoot another roll – which I definitely want to do – I’ll pay much more attention to how much actual light is available and err on the side of giving the film more exposure rather than less.

The Halation Effect

Now onto the thing I absolutely loved: the halation!

Bright lights really do take on that gorgeous glow, and in some of my photographs it creates an almost surreal atmosphere:

It’s particularly beautiful around streetlights and illuminated signs, where the light seems to bleed into the surrounding darkness.

This isn’t necessarily a look you’ll want in every photograph, but if you enjoy dreamy, cinematic or slightly experimental photography, it’s so much fun to play with.

And combined with the colours I got from photographing Japan at night, some of the results almost look like paintings to me.

They’re not technically perfect, but I think they have their own charm!

In fact, that’s probably what I enjoyed most about this experiment. Film photography at night is unpredictable.

I didn’t always get what I thought I was going to get – but occasionally, I got something much stranger and more interesting instead.

What I Didn’t Love: The Grain

My biggest disappointment was definitely the amount of grain – and particularly the coloured speckling – in some of my photographs.

Initially, I assumed this was entirely the result of my underexposure.

That probably didn’t help, but after looking into Amber T800 a little more, I think there might be another reason:

Some reports on the film have noted visible defects, including red dots in some versions of Amber T800, although more recent batches appear to have improved.

So maybe that could have played a part in those tiny coloured specks appearing in my own photographs.

At normal web size, I actually don’t mind them nearly as much. Zoomed in on my laptop, however, some of the images look pretty rough!

So I wouldn’t use my first roll as a definitive test of how Amber T800 performs; I need to give it another chance with better exposures.

What I Learned About Shooting Film at Night

My biggest takeaway is embarrassingly obvious: Low light still requires light. 😂

Next time I attempt film photography at night, I won’t simply wander around looking for anything that happens to be visible after dark.

Instead, I’ll actively look for well-lit nighttime scenes, like neon signs, bright shop windows, illuminated restaurants, or busy streets with lots of artificial light.

I also want to shoot more around dusk, when there is still some more natural light available, like in this one shot I took:

Would I Shoot Amber T800 Again?

Absolutely!

My conclusion after my first attempt at film photography at night is basically: amazing experiment… mediocre photographer. 😂

I don’t think I gave Amber T800 the best possible chance, and there are several photographs where I really wish I’d given the film more light.

But despite that, I got a handful of images I do love:

The halation is beautiful, the colours are atmospheric, and there’s an unpredictability to the results that makes me want to experiment with it again.

And if you love cinematic nighttime photography and don’t mind embracing a little imperfection, Amber T800 is absolutely worth experimenting with.

You can get it here:

Buy on Amazon

Buy at B&H Photo

(Just so you know: These links are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate/partner of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you).

And remember the lesson I apparently needed an entire roll of film to learn: low light still requires light. 😂

By the way…if you enjoy more cinematic-type photography, check out my free cinematic prompts delivered by email: