AshigrainColour print · Print film
Gevacolor Positive 953
Gevaert's inverted-layer colour print of the late 1950s.
A labelled surrogate of Gevaert's late-1950s print, built on Agfa CP30's curves, from the 1950s Gevacolor negative it prints by default. Original vs Ashigrain.
At a glance
- Introduced
- c. 1958
- Process
- Gevacolor positive process (unnamed)
- Maximum density
- ≈ 4.0
About the film
Gevacolor Positive Film Type 953 was a three-colour chromogenic colour print film made by Gevaert Photo-Produkten.
The Timeline of Historical Film Colors dates it to about 1958, and Louis Meeussen described it in the Journal of the SMPTE in January 1964. Meeussen wrote that it was designed to improve definition and colour saturation. Compared with earlier Gevaert print films it had an inverted structure: the blue-sensitive layer with its yellow coupler lay at the bottom, under a red-sensitive cyan layer and a green-sensitive magenta layer on top. The bottom layer was silver bromide and the two upper layers silver chloride. It had a removable carbon-black antihalation backing and used magenta and cyan dyes that disappeared in processing. Its successors in the Gevacolor print line were Types 9.85, presented in 1971, and 986.
Sources for this history
- The Gevacolor Positive Film Type 953 (Louis A. Meeussen, Journal of the SMPTE 73(1), January 1964), abstract, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
- Gevacolor Positive Film T 9 53, Timeline of Historical Film Colors, University of Zurich
The look
Gevacolor Positive Film Type 953 was Gevaert's colour print film from about 1958, designed for better definition and colour saturation. It inverted the layer order of earlier Gevaert print films. Ashigrain's version is a labelled surrogate, a model inspired by the print rather than a reproduction.
Best for
- European colour features of the 1960s
- Saturated release-print colour
- Comparing Gevacolor print generations
Compare print films
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 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. On this two-colour print (a labelled surrogate) every colour falls between blue-green and red-orange: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and which lights keep their hue.
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 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. On this blue-sensitive black-and-white print the colour negative turns grey: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how dark the reds and greens print.
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. On this blue-sensitive black-and-white print the colour negative turns grey: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how dark the red neon and skin print.
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. On this black-and-white print the colour negative turns grey: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the coloured lights and skin translate to grey.
The same Vision3 500T night frame on each print film. On this blue-sensitive black-and-white print the colour negative turns grey: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and how the coloured lights and skin translate to grey.
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. On this two-colour print (a labelled surrogate) every colour falls between a blue and a red dye: how deep the blacks go, how the highlights roll off and which lights keep their hue.
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.
- Kodak Vision Premier Color Print Film 2393
- Eastman Color SP Print Film 5383
- Eastman Color Print Film 5384
- Fujifilm Eterna-CP 3521XD
- Du Pont Color Release Positive Type 275
- Fujifilm Eterna-CP 3523XD
- Kodak Vision Color Print Film 2383
- Fujifilm Eterna-CP 3513DI
- Eastman EXR Color Print Film 5386
- Eastman Color Print Film 5381 (1972)
- Eastman Color Print Film 5385
- Agfa CP30 Colour Print Film
- SuperCinecolor
- Cinecolor (two-colour)
- Gevacolor Positive 953
- Gevacolor Print 9.85
- Gevacolor Print 986
- Gevacolor Print 982
- Ferraniacolor Positive
- 3M Color Positive 650
- Fujicolor Positive F-CP 3510
- Fujicolor Positive F-CP 3519
- Fujifilm Eterna-CP 3512
- Eastman Color Print 5381 (1950)
- Eastman Fine Grain Release Positive 5302
- Ansco Color Print 848
- Kodak B&W Print Film 2302
- Svema TsP-11
- Svema MZ-3
- ORWO PF 2 Positive Print Film
- Technicolor Dye Transfer (1997 revival)
- Svema TsP-8R
- Shostka Colour Positive (1950s)
- Technicolor Dye Transfer (Process IV)
- Gasparcolor Print
- Trucolor Print (two-colour)
- Kodak Vision Color Teleprint Film 2395
Science & sources
A labelled surrogate inspired by the print, not a reproduction of Type 953, shown after Gevacolor Negative Type 682. No data of this film is registered: its characteristic curves, spectral sensitivity, MTF and dyes are those of Agfa Print CP30, a proxy chosen from the Agfa-Gevaert lineage, unchanged. Its inverted layer order and removable backing are recorded but not modelled.
Response curves and the evidence behind the model
Compare manufacturer data with Ashigrain’s response on the same axes. These curves show how the model is calibrated to its sources; they do not establish a match to photographed film.
Characteristic response
Model limits
These images show the film model in use. Spectral response, lighting and viewing conditions include approximations. Halation, bloom, grain size, weave and flicker are not fully measured for each film. The look of real film also depends on development and print timing.
- This is a labelled surrogate inspired by Gevacolor Positive Film Type 953, rather than a reproduction of it. Meeussen's 1964 paper was read as an abstract only, and no curve of this film is registered.
- The characteristic curves, spectral sensitivity, MTF and dyes are those of Agfa Print CP30, a proxy, unchanged. Choosing a proxy from the Agfa-Gevaert lineage is an assumption.
- The inverted layer order (blue-sensitive yellow layer at the bottom, green-sensitive magenta on top) is recorded but not modelled.
- The removable carbon-black antihalation backing is recorded but not modelled. No process is named; process is not modelled.
- The neutral aim is an assumed grey-balanced aim (0.994 / 1.000 / 1.004, Status A); the proxy's own aim is not used.
- The source gives no printer lamp or filter spectra. Their spectral response is approximated.
- The available sources do not measure veiling flare during projection. The model approximates its contribution to lifted blacks on screen, so the result is not a measured projection contrast.
Reciprocity: not modelled. Exposure time has no effect on this film.
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
- Characteristic curves: AGFA PRINT CP30 colour print film product info / technical data, 17/10/2011, p. 5
- Process: Meeussen, L. A.: The Gevacolor Positive Film Type 953. Journal of the SMPTE 73(1), January 1964, pp. 18-21, abstract page, journal.smpte.org abstract page (Journal of the SMPTE vol. 73 issue 1, published 1964-01, DOI 10.5594/J15408) as served 2026-10-28, p. 1