Hanalogital LEAK — 135 colour film, 36 exp, ISO 400, light-leak effect

Hanalogital LEAK is an experimental colour film in 135 format, 36 exposures, ISO 400, C-41 process. Its defining feature is that part of it has already been shot: before the roll reached its box, light leaks were applied by hand — warm yellow and red horizontal bands of varying thickness, scattered randomly across the frames.

How the picture looks

What you get is precisely the effect normally called a defect: the light leak of an old camera, a band from a back door that did not quite close, a stray orange flare across the frame. Except here it is deliberate, and it sits on top of a properly exposed, sharp, colour image. The intensity and hue of the bands change from frame to frame and roll to roll — each film is treated by hand and is therefore one of a kind.

What to shoot on it

Anything meant to look found rather than taken: summer frames, a holiday roll, a gig, a party, a portrait of a friend. The effect works better the simpler the composition — in a busy, cluttered frame the bands compete with the subject. Do not take it on a shoot whose results are required: this is film for an experiment, not for a deliverable.

How to shoot it

Shoot it as an ordinary ISO 400 film: the DX code is there, meter at box speed, no compensation. The one thing to keep in mind is that you cannot know where the band will fall, so avoid compositions that hang on a single small detail in a corner. Leave air in the frame.

Processing and scanning

Ordinary C-41 at any lab, no warnings and no special handling required. At the scanning stage, ask for no automatic correction: a scanner may read the coloured leak as an error and try to even it out.

How it compares

Its direct rivals are the effect films from Revolog and KONO!, but those apply either a geometric pattern (Revolog's stripes, dots and lightning) or a continuous tint (KONO!). LEAK comes closest to imitating a genuine film accident. Cheaper and more predictable would be plain UltraMax 400 plus a filter in an editor — but an optical leak on the negative reads differently, and it shows.