Rainbow Road 500T/5219

The Rainbow Road 500T/5219 is a color negative film that is available online. The film material comes from Kodak, although Kodak is only responsible for production, not for sales.

It is offered by AFilm.me from Bangkok. The Thai online shop is offering it in 2024 for the equivalent of around 6.70 euros.

The cartridge contains the Kodak VISION3 500T, a film that was originally developed for cinema film production. This film is usually offered on large spools. For use in 35mm cameras, it is divided into smaller sections and rewound into cartridges.

A special feature of the VISION3 500T is its suitability for artificial light (tungsten). Unlike digital cameras, white balance cannot be performed on analog cameras. In order to obtain realistic colors under artificial light, you therefore need a specially adjusted film like this.

Development of the Rainbow Road 500T/5219

The Rainbow Road 500T/5219 must be developed using the ECN-2 process. The reason for this is a special protective layer on the film that must be removed during processing. If the film is developed using the C-41 process, residues of this coating can render the chemicals unusable.

Some laboratories offer ECN-2 development. It is advisable to find out in advance whether the laboratory you choose offers this service. Alternatively, there are variants of the VISION3 500T where the protective layer has already been removed.

Use in cameras

The Rainbow Road 500T/5219 is suitable for conventional 35mm cameras. Models from manufacturers such as Minolta, Olympus, Nikon, Leica or Konica are compatible, for example. It is important that the camera is designed for the 35mm format.

It is advantageous to have a camera with adjustable film speed or a manual mode to make the most of the film’s properties. One roll has space for around 36 images, depending on the camera used.