3M ScotchChrome 400

ScotchChrome 400 was the slide film for anyone who could not afford Ektachrome and wanted faster than Kodachrome 64. 3M had owned the Ferrania factory in Italy since 1964, and the Scotch-branded chromes from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s were the European answer to Kodak in a market that did not really need a third option. The 400 sat above ScotchChrome 100 and below the famous ScotchChrome 1000.

In use, ScotchChrome 400 looked like Ektachrome's slightly louder cousin. Reds came out warm, blues ran toward azure rather than cyan, greens were less restrained than Kodak's contemporary chromes. Saturation was nowhere near Velvia, but Velvia 50 did not exist at ISO 400 anyway. Compared with Fujichrome 400D, ScotchChrome ran warmer and slightly grainier. Against Ektachrome 400, it was looser in the highlights and more forgiving in the shadows.

Grain was the honest limitation. At ISO 400 with mid-1980s emulsion technology, you got visible structure in even projection-grade slides. A 16x20 enlargement looked obviously textured. The film was used heavily by photojournalists shooting indoor events because chrome lab turnaround was faster than print processing in many markets.

Process in standard E-6. Daylight balance. Push to 800 produces a contrasty, color-shifted look some photographers chased on purpose. Cross-processing in C-41 gives shifted blues and yellows that are recognizable in zine work from the early 2000s.

3M spun off the imaging division to Imation in 1996, and ScotchChrome 400 was rebadged as Imation Chrome 400 for a few years before disappearing. The Ferrania plant continued producing film under various names until late 2009. Existing stock is freezer-only and well past expiration.

Reciprocity exponent is 1.1, applied by Zone Light Meter past one second. A metered 10-second exposure becomes roughly 13 seconds at the film. For the indoor event work the stock was designed around, that correction rarely came into play; for the occasional tripod city-night frame, it kept the shadows from blocking.