Lucky SHD 100

Lucky SHD 100 is what happens when a Chinese state-era film factory finds a second life serving hobbyists. Lucky Film Corporation in Baoding shut down most consumer production around 2012 when digital killed demand. They quietly relaunched SHD 100 in 2017 on a revised base at roughly 5 euros a roll, and rebuilt small overseas distribution through Reflx Lab and a handful of European sellers.

The defining feature is what is missing. There is no anti-halation layer on the back of the emulsion, the way Fomapan 100 has one and Kentmere 100 has one. Point light sources bloom around the edges in a way that reads as either dreamy or sloppy depending on the frame. Backlit subjects glow. Streetlamps spread. If you want clean technical separation, this is the wrong film. For a soft 1970s look out of a fresh roll, it is among the cheapest paths to it.

Grain is fine for the price tier and the gray values are pleasant in the mid-tones. The film cannot match T-Max 100 or Delta 100 for resolution, and it loses to FP4+ on shadow rendering, but at half the cost per roll the comparison is not really the point. Rate at box speed in flat light. In contrasty sun, pull a third of a stop and the halation gets more controllable.

Develop in D-76 1:1 for around 12 and a half minutes at 20C. Rodinal 1:25 finishes in six and a half. The Luckyfilm-branded developer on Chinese sites works but is harder to source outside Asia, so D-76 or ID-11 is the practical default.

Available in 35mm 36-exposure cassettes and 120 from Lucky directly, and through Reflx Lab internationally. No sheet format. Bulk loading is possible if you can find the 100-foot tins.

Reciprocity exponent is 1.31. Zone Light Meter applies the correction past one second. A metered 30-second exposure becomes about 90 seconds at the negative. The lack of an anti-halation layer matters more for long exposures than you might expect, since any bright light source in frame blooms more aggressively the longer the shutter stays open. Frame accordingly.