Rollei CN200 in the Yashica GX
Different films often say ‘load film in subdued light’ but few of them require it to the degree that Rollei CN200 does. Each roll that I have shot so far has had ‘unwanted’ light strike the film while it is inside the canister. I placed unwanted in quotes because I could have been more careful to prevent it if it really mattered to me more. I like the randomness that can occur. What appears to happen is that the tang of the film leader sticking out of the canister works like a light pipe allowing the film to transfer light from outside to inside. The most clear evidence of this is the way that the first 12″ or so of the film is exposed to sunlight in a diminishing fashion.
The reason that this may occur with CN200 is it is an unmasked film. Unlike most negative colour films it does not have the same orange brown color mask but its base is clear as you would see with slide film. An interesting side effect of the lack of the normal C41 mask is that the film can be optically printed with Black and White paper the same as normal Black and White film. A quick check on the Internet as of January 2018 and this film is not available through any retailers I can locate which is a shame. Posts that actually talk about the Yashica Electro GX can be found by a search of my blog here “Yashica GX”
