AshigrainColour print · Print film
Agfa CP30 Colour Print Film
Agfa's rem-jet-free print for worldwide releases.
Agfa CP30: a cinema print. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Introduced
- c. 2003
- Process
- ECP-2
- Maximum density
- ≈ 4.0
- Base
- Polyester
About the film
In its 2003 annual report Agfa-Gevaert said demand for its colour print film was still growing, because distributors wanted each new film to open in as many cinemas around the world at once as possible.
Agfa Print CP30 was the film for those release prints, a successor to CP20; by October 2005 Agfa's website offered CP30 in 35 mm and 16 mm on polyester. It is built on Agfa's Controlled Light Diffusion technology, in which coloured gelatine interlayers and an antihalation layer under the emulsion take the place of the black rem-jet backing other print films carried. With no rem-jet to strip off, laboratories could drop the prebath, brushing and rinsing stages, which Agfa said saved water and reduced the chemicals in the effluent. Agfa said CP30 gave deeper blacks than CP20, and gave it a new blue-sensitive emulsion two to three printer points faster and higher in contrast. It is coated on a 120 µm Gevar polyester base with a permanent antistatic layer against dust, and its bottom layer protects the polyester during laser subtitling. By 2010 Agfa reported that cinemas were speeding up their move to digital projection, helped by the success of 3D, and its revenue from the business was falling. In 2013 Agfa called itself one of the few remaining suppliers of colour print film, with most of the world's cinemas already projecting digitally.
Sources for this history
- AGFA PRINT CP30 colour print film product info / technical data, Agfa-Gevaert N.V.
- Technical Data CP30 Colour print film (18/10/2003), Agfa-Gevaert
- Agfa Print CP 30, Agfa-Gevaert
- Annual Report 2003, Agfa-Gevaert
- Annual Report 2010, Agfa-Gevaert
- Annual Report 2013, Agfa-Gevaert
- Agfa Motion Picture page (3 December 2002 capture: Agfa Print CP 20 only), Agfa-Gevaert
- Agfa Motion Picture page (10 February 2003 capture: new Agfa Print CP30), Agfa-Gevaert
The look
Agfa Print CP30 is Agfa-Gevaert's colour release-print film, built without rem-jet on a polyester base. It is processed in ECP-2, with blacks reaching about 3.8 to 3.95 density. It is the default print for the three Agfacolor negatives, and any colour or black-and-white negative can print on it.
Agfa CP30 against Kodak 2383.
Agfa negative and Agfa print.
Best for
- Printing Agfacolor negatives
- Comparing CP30 with Kodak 2383
- Gentle European release-print looks
Among the prints
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the colour separates.
The same Kodak Vision3 500T night frame, printed on each film.
Science & sources
A colour print film, shown after Agfa Agfacolor Portrait XPS 160. The result combines the response of the negative and the print. The grey aim is solved to a visual neutral.
Response curves and the evidence behind the model
Compare manufacturer data with the Ashigrain model on the same axes. This shows the calibration to source curves; comparison with photographed film is a separate question.
Characteristic response
Model limits
These images show the film model in use. Spectral response, lighting and viewing conditions include approximations, while halation, bloom, grain size, weave and flicker are not fully measured for each film. A real film capture also depends on development and print timing.
- The Status A grey aim is solved to a visual neutral (owner decision). Printed to the sheet's laboratory aim (1.15, 1.05, 1.05), a scene grey would project slightly green-blue, so that aim is kept only as a reference.
- The dye curves are printed for a neutral at density 3.00 without its Status A values; the model uses that neutral as its dye reference.
- The green MTF is printed as a flat line at about 98 % and is used as printed.
- The source gives no printer lamp or filter spectra. Their spectral response is approximated.
- Veiling projection flare is not measured in the available sources. Its modeled contribution lifts screen blacks; it is not a measured projection-contrast claim.
Film guide: assumptions and practical choices
This preview combines the print film with the named camera negative. In this comparison, the print has no separate exposure index or measured grain response.
Sources
- Process: AGFA PRINT CP30 colour print film product info / technical data, 17/10/2011, p. 2
- Characteristic curves: AGFA PRINT CP30 colour print film product info / technical data, 17/10/2011, p. 5