Lomography Berlin Kino 400

Lomography Berlin Kino 400 is ORWO N74 Plus, the contemporary formulation of the East German panchromatic negative stock that the Wolfen plant manufactured for decades before German reunification and the subsequent collapse of ORWO's film division. Filmotec GmbH now operates from the same facility in Wolfen and produces N74 Plus as a cinema negative. Lomography buys it in bulk and repackages it into 35mm canisters.

The grain is the reason to shoot this stock. It is coarse and has a quality that photographers describe as salt-and-pepper: bright silver halide clusters sitting against darker areas rather than the smooth fine-grain pattern of T-Max or Delta. East German cinema from the 1970s and 1980s carries that texture through every frame because N74 and its predecessors were the available stock. The Lomography marketing leans into that association, but the underlying grain character is real and not manufactured for effect.

Contrast is moderate. Unlike Kodak Double-X, which builds contrast into its curve, N74 Plus renders mid-tones with reasonable separation. The grain adds visual texture without the blocking highlights of higher-contrast stocks. Shot in overcast daylight at box speed, it reads clean and detailed. Pushed to ISO 800 in HC-110 or Rodinal, the grain opens substantially and shadow separation decreases.

Spectral sensitivity is standard panchromatic. No extended red sensitivity, no unusual filtration requirements. Yellow filters behave as expected for sky darkening and skin separation.

The reciprocity exponent of 1.31 is steep compared to modern T-grain emulsions. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second. A nominally metered eight-second exposure corrects to around twelve seconds at the negative. Architectural long-exposure work and nighttime street shooting both require the correction, and the grain character of N74 makes it worth the effort for photographers after that mid-century European documentary look.