Images shot on JCH Street Pan 400 in the Lomo LC-A
I think this will be the last roll of JCH Street Pan 400 – the film put out by Bellamy over at Japan Camera Hunter – I’ll ever shoot. And that would be a shame. Because it’s a film that has always given me results that I like.
For the kind of photography I most enjoy doing – wandering the streets looking for scenes – it’s hard to beat a good ISO 400 monochrome film, and this for me is a good ISO 400 monochrome film.
It’s nice then that I was able to enjoy putting this roll through the Lomo LC-A and come back with some shots that I thought were good enough to post on here.
They’re nothing groundbreaking but they’re what I got, and I’d love it if you were to take a look.
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Shooting this JCH film exactly how I like to
I’m definitely not shooting as much film as I used to these days. That is something I’ve mentioned a few times on this site.
It’s a combination of things.
Like not having as many inherently interesting or inspirational places to go and photograph now I’m in the middle of England and not in Shanghai, and the time it takes to get to the ones I could go to on a day when we do get some good weather.
The cost of film and development these days is also pretty high – a situation that has been documented well enough elsewhere that I’m not going to get into here.
And finally, most importantly, it’s just not the pastime I spend the majority of my weekends on anymore. Not since I got into running. Like, really into it. Training for daft things like this ultra marathon I’ve done a couple of times now is a both a big-time commitment and a big time commitment.
So with reduced time to spend shooting film, I have to make the most of it when I do.
I do enjoy a steady couple of hours trying to find interesting compositions at places like ruined abbeys or country parks, but nothing beats a day of more spontaneous shooting in the city.
And while the Yashica Electro and the Pentax MX are both fine cameras, again nothing beats doing this with something more compact and less conspicuous like the Lomo LC-A.
JCH Street Pan has the sort of look I really like too. A lot of contrast, and not much grain. Especially when the light is on your side.
I know some people get nervous about taking photographs of strangers like this. Some people think it’s wrong too. Unethical. An annoyance.
I’m not going to get into that second point. I can understand it. But the fact I do this kind of photography speaks for itself in terms of how much I let it dictate what I do.
As for getting over any mental barrier of doing this, I have a few things that help. But having a pint is one of the main ones. Some of that liquid courage and confidence-giver.
So yes, I was shooting this roll of Street Pan exactly how I like to. In the LC-A on a sunny day, in the city streets with a couple of pi(n)t stops along the way.
Interesting results from a malfunctioning camera
I’ve loved shooting with this Lomo LC-A ever since I put my first roll through it. It’s always made going out and taking photographs easy, and enjoyable too. On top of that, it’s given me some of my favourite sets of images I’ve ever done.
These from Barcelona, from Mansfield, and from Weston-super-Mare spring to mind, but you can check out the full archive here should you wish.
Nothing there would have had the same feeling if I’d shot them with an SLR, or any other kind of good or proper camera. I just feel like when an LC-A sings, it really sings.
As well as the singing though, mine is now also whimpering a little. It’s in pain. It needs some TLC. The LC-A needs a CLA.
Most of this roll was fine, but I’ve been getting the occasional result like this from the last couple of rolls I’ve put through it.
Frames sometimes aren’t advancing properly and I’m getting unwanted multiple exposures happening.
Sometimes partial ones, sometimes full ones. But none of them are desired.
I first noticed this happen when I shot some Ilford HP5 400 in Paris with it. I said at the time I needed to get it looked at and fixed. I still need to do that.
On this day in Nottingham though, the couple of multiple exposures I got were just about half overlapping. On the negatives, they looked like panoramic shots.
The lab had scanned them as single ones, which is fine as that’s what I’d asked and paid them to do, but I had the idea to stitch them together again in Photoshop. The results are kind of not bad.
I’m not going to call this a happy accident because I’m not that happy about one of my very favourite cameras developing a problem, but… when life gives you lemons and all that.
So these part-multi-exposure-panoramas are the lemonade I managed to get.
One from those shots above, and one from these below too.
A couple of LC-A lower light shots
Another reason to like the LC-A is for how easy it makes it to include some lower light shots in your set – made easier by choosing an ISO 400 film like this JCH Street Pan, of course.
When you half-press the shutter button, there are two red LEDs in the viewfinder that potentially illuminate.
The first, on the left-hand side, is something you want to see every time. This is showing you your batteries are working, which is essential for you to get any kind of images on your film.
If you haven’t put any in there or have dead ones, the mechanical shutter is just not going to open. You’ll probably still hear a clicking sound, which can mislead you into thinking things are working, but trust me – they won’t be.
The second red LED, on the right-hand side, is a low light and subsequent slow shutter speed warning. If you see this, you need to listen for two clicks when you shoot. The first for when the shutter opens and the second for when it closes again.
But if you keep your camera steady enough between the clicks, you can get some handheld lower light shots like these couple.
Why this is probably my last roll of Street Pan 400
Something you’re no doubt aware of if you’re at all interested in film photography is that the line-up of stocks available is constantly changing.
Some new ones come and some existing ones get discontinued, and there have been numerous examples of each of those occurrences since I myself took up this hobby.
If we focus on the big three for a minute, I’ve seen Kodak Ektachrome E100 come back, and Ilford/Harman introduce a few new options in Ortho Plus 80 and the Phoenix line. At the same time, Fuji have withdrawn our C200 and the much-missed Natura 1600, amongst (too) many others.
And that has been the trend with those companies in recent times. The Kodak and Ilford/Harman giveth and the Fuji taketh away.
This means that, unless you’ve kept your ear to the ground, you might find yourself shooting your last roll of a given film without even realising it at the time.
That’s what happened to me with this JCH Street Pan 400. Because it’s not just those three large companies this applies to.
Films come and go from the smaller guys too.
The Street Candy brand is an interesting example of this.
ATM 400 was first introduced in 2018, with MTN 100 following later, by one Vincent Moschetti who used to run the seemingly now-defunct On Film Only website.
In 2022 though, rising costs of everything led to production ending and Street Candy being no more. This was all announced and explained by Vincent himself in a few places at the time.
A year later however, Flic Film acquired the company and reintroduced the stocks.
So in the space of around just half a decade, a film was born, died, and subsequently resurrected.
I’ve searched and searched for a similar announcement about the end of JCH Street Pan 400, but I’m unable to find one.
Perhaps there was one and my Google skills are bad, or Google these days is just bad, but I’m coming up bereft.
What I do know though is that all of the retailers I’ve checked with in recent times haven’t had any 35mm Street Pan for a while. You might find some of the 120 version, but I imagine that is just the selling off of remaining stock with no more to come in.
On top of that, if you go to the Street Pan product category page on the JCH website, everything has been removed. It seems the endeavour has kind of quietly just gone away.
So I’m presuming that unless it makes a Street Candy / Lazarus / Frank Sinatra / Buffalo Bills vs Houston Oilers in 1993 style comeback, or I buy some overpriced expired stuff from eBay, which I categorically won’t do, this will indeed be the last roll of JCH Street Pan 400 I will ever shoot.
I didn’t know this when I was walking around Nottingham that day, so I’m happy it turned out well.
It going away is a bit of a shame, especially seeing the kind of results it has always given me, but all good things come to an end.
And I know I can get a very similar look from some of the Rollei-branded films anyway – like the brilliant Retro 400s – seeing as they’re based on the same emulsion.
I obviously don’t know if Bellamy decided to end Street Pan first or if something happened like the supplier stopped supplying.
But if it has gone for good, at least it was good while we had it. 🙂
If you enjoyed that write-up on my last roll of JCH Street Pan and want to read some more analogue photography essays, why not have a look at some of these:
And if you think others will find this post worth a read, help them see it by giving it a share 😀
