If you’ve stopped into any film camera stores in Japan, you’ve probably seen film by a company called Marix. Similar to Cinestill, their popular respooled motion picture color films include 100D, 400D and 800T. With greater availability and a lower price than Cinestill in Japan, is Marix a worthy alternative?
We’re going to talk about the experience of shooting two rolls of 400D. This review won’t get into 100D or 800T.
Here’s what you can expect:
- Reasons to try Marix film
- Shooting, scanning, and editing
- An image quality review
- Troubleshooting and investigation
- Contacting Marix support
- Conclusions and recommendations
Let’s get right into some samples from the first roll of 400D. I was traveling around Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. It was the peak of fall season and gorgeous.
Why Marix?
Marix, a company based in Osaka, Japan, has been around for years selling products for the film photography community. They also sell scanning equipment, development chemicals, and even DX code stickers.
While most of their products are available online, only their film seems to be distributed and sold at retailers, including big-box stores such as Kitamura and Yodobashi.
Marix offers an alternative entry point into respooled cinema film
Cinestill may be the most recognizable brand that respools motion picture film. I had seen reviews of popular Cinestill film like 400D and 800T and wanted to give one a try.
After a little research, I learned Marix color film is similar to Cinestill’s – respooled Kodak Vision3 motion picture film with the remjet layer removed. In practice, this just means any bright, near-white areas of the developed image will show a reddish glow around them called “halation.”
While watching countless YouTube reviews of Cinestill 400D, I noticed how every reviewer’s results looked completely different in terms of the look and feel of the images. I could not get a feel for what this film actually looked like. Spoiler: I’d later find out why.
Marix is competitively priced when compared to Cinestill
The price of Cinestill in Japan is nearly double that of most other color film. Cinestill 400D is about ￥3,800, while Marix 400D is around ￥1,850 to ￥2,100 depending on the outlet and promotions.
For reference, Kodak Gold 200 is around ￥1,800, and Kodak Ultramax 400 is around ￥2,050 at the time of writing.
Buying, shooting, developing, and scanning Marix 400D
The film
The first roll of 400D was purchased from Kitamura Camera, while the other came directly from Marix. Both rolls were used within a month or two of purchase.
The camera
The Konica Lexio 70 – a point and shoot style compact film camera with a zoom lens. I’ve passed plenty of rolls of film through the camera before and after with no issues regarding exposure or light leaks.
Development and scanning
The first roll of film was developed and scanned by Marix directly. They offer incredibly cheap mail-in development and scanning services. They use a Valoi Easy35 to do camera scans, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately the scans were inconsistent and sloppy.
To test this, I took the same roll over to my favorite lab in Tokyo, National Photo, for a re-scan of just a few photos using a Noritsu scanner. Where Marix scans were sloppy, the Noritsu showed greater clarity and detail despite the lower resolution.
I developed and scanned the second roll of 400D at National Photo, skipping Marix services.
Editing
All images have been tweaked in Lightroom to my preferences. This includes white balance, exposure, and curve adjustments. All film goes through a development process and scanning process. That means, by definition, there is no such thing as unedited film scans.
400D is motion picture film, so editing and grading is part of the process. However, I’ve never had to fight film scans this hard just to look acceptable.
Disclosure
I have no relationship to Marix, Cinestill, or National Photo.
Reviewing the results from Marix 400D
Reviewing the first roll
So far, we’ve been looking at images from the first roll. They look fine! It doesn’t have any particular outstanding characteristics. I was surprised how often the color rendering felt different frame to frame. Luckily, nothing that couldn’t be corrected with while balance adjustments.
The film responded well to warm and sunny scenery. Visible grain isn’t a strong point for this film if that’s what you’re looking for.
Most of the images suffered from a lack of clarity. Some of this is due to how the Konica resolves details, especially when focused to infinity. However, using any other film has given me more consistent and clear results.
Some images showed light leaks but they were not overly intrusive. Some images showed blue lines along the right side, which I later learned were caused by static discharge. More on this later.
Reviewing the second roll
Let’s have a look at the second roll of film purchased from Marix online. This time, around Tokyo, Miyagi, Iwate, and Aomori prefectures.
As you’re about to see, the results were completely different to the first roll.
This roll showed low contrast and alternating purple and green color casts. Some could be corrected, but most were beyond reasonable efforts.
The red light leaks were far more frequent. There was an extraordinary amount of debris visible all over the film.
Finally, yes, those are fingerprints on many of the images.
Setting expectations and due diligence
I wanted to take a step back and check my expectations coming into this experiment.
For the film’s look, I wasn’t sure what to expect other than “filmic” but relatively clean images. I expected warm tones and red halations all over the place.
I also wanted to check if I just missed some vital information about the film that may have been stated for customers before purchase. Let’s have a look at the Marix homepage at the time of writing.
The text is in Japanese but here’s the translation of the text regarding the film itself.
You can enjoy the unique film-like quality of the movie film.
MARIX Color movie NegaFilm 400D
Japan brand MARIX
Last image: The spool at the end of the film is not taped but inserted, so there is no joint.
Please specify C-41 CN-16 for the development process. (C-41 is Kodak’s designated development method, while CN-16 is Fujifilm’s designated development method and is equivalent to C-41. Either or both can be specified in a general lab.)
The product page for 400D shows plenty of clean sample images similar to any standard color film. No light leaks. No mention of any irregularities or risks to be aware of. It’s just as I remembered it.
When I bought Marix 400D, there was no additional text or explanation included in the box.
Next, let’s have a look at other retailers carrying Marix film. Here’s Kitamura Camera’s page introducing Marix film.
There is a subheading called “撮影時の注意事項” which translates to “things to note about shooting this film.” This page includes a note about how cinema film is extra sensitive to any stray light and can lead to red light leaks, including from a camera’s film information window. They recommend covering it with black tape.
Yaotomi’s retail website advertising Marix 400D has additional information.
Their page notes a few interesting details. First, 24 exposure rolls will actually result in 23 exposures, and 36 exposure rolls will result in 35 exposures in automatic winding cameras. Another recommendation to cover the film information window. They also state that the first few exposures may be exposed to light. Finally, they recommend loading and unloading the film in a dark place.
Last, let’s look at Cinestill’s support page diagnosing and explaining some of the visual defects that may occur when using respooled motion picture film.
Cinestill explains the issues with cinema film compared to film designed for stills. Once again, new information. They explain how rapidly cinema film ages which adds to color casts and fogging. They explain how static can appear on film as red or blue lines or waves.
On this Cinestill support page, they repeat the advice I read on Japanese retail websites regarding blocking the film information window and changing the film in a dark room.
Contacting Marix
After seeing the disastrous results of the second roll of Marix 400D I had to reach out to Marix directly. I felt like I just wasted quite a bit of money. Remember, the film price is around ￥2,000, with scanning and development around ￥2,100 at my chosen lab. Not to mention, the cost of lost memories and time.
First, I reached out to Marix using their online contact form and received no reply.
Next, I checked the order confirmation email for any contact information and found an email address. Here is our exchange, translated from Japanese to English.
Hello, I tried to contact you via the contact form on your website but didn’t receive a response, so I’m contacting you again by email.
I recently developed and scanned two of your 400D color negative films. While I understand that these films are known for having red light leaks, the second film I developed and scanned here in Tokyo at National Photo in Sangenjaya also had a strong green color cast with many fingerprints and other visual defects all over the film.
I am happy to share the scanned images with you to show you these results. Please reply as soon as possible. Thank you.
I received a reply the next day.
Thank you for your inquiry.
We apologize for not responding to your previous message.
The green color cast is a phenomenon observed in film that has had the carbon layer removed for use as movie film. This makes the film more susceptible to exposure from the back, and light entering through gaps in the film canister can cause this issue. It may also occur when the film is extracted using a film picker. To mitigate this, we recommend developing the film immediately after shooting while the leader is extended.
Currently, we are working on improvements to the film cases, but it is difficult to eliminate this issue entirely.
As for dirt on the film, this is an unavoidable part of the process due to the re-spooling of the film, though we are continuing to make improvements to minimize this during manufacturing.
We are aware of individual variations and are actively working on improvements, so we ask for your understanding in this matter.
We sincerely apologize that the scan quality did not meet your expectations. We will consider whether it can be improved in the future.
I replied.
Thank you for your reply. I can understand some imperfections in the film, as it can add a sense of charm to the experience and results. However, I think this should be clearly explained so customers can understand before purchasing the film. This is especially important considering that the film is sold at a cost that is higher than reliable, consistent film such as Kodak Gold.
I can personally accept some imperfections on the film, however I think it is unacceptable to have fingerprints on the film, as this simply ruins the photos. On my film they are clearly visible.
It’s wonderful that your company can continue to help people enjoy film. I sincerely hope that the quality control issues can be improved as well. However, I will no longer purchase your products because of the lack of disclosure about the imperfections and lack of support or offer for replacement of defective film.
Thank you again for your reply.
I received no reply after this message.
I can speculate about the reasons why Marix did not want to see the defective film. The bigger point is that they took no steps to rectify the bad experience. This is bad customer relations.
Providing reasons for the film’s shortcomings by email instead of upfront, before or at the time of purchase, sounds more like making excuses for a low quality product.
Conclusion: buy something else
Pros
- A cheaper alternative to Cinestill 400D in the Japanese market
- If you like unpredictable, wildcard results, this is your film
Cons
- Wildly inconsistent, sometimes unusable results
- Poor quality control and support by Marix
- Requires a lot of research to use the film and precautions to protect the film (any cinema film respool)
- Cost equal to or more expensive than well-established, reliable color film
I don’t recommend Marix 400D, or Marix as a company.
First, Marix 400D provides a low-quality experience and results. It relies entirely on the buyer to take extraordinary steps to research how to protect the film. Remember, this is a film that lines the shelves of major camera stores, right next to major brand names like Kodak and Fujifilm. I’m a film enthusiast with far more general knowledge and experience than the average buyer and I still felt scammed.
Second, the price is much higher than it can justify. If it was ￥1,000 or less, I would understand and even embrace it as fun and eccentric. Unfortunately Marix 400D costs around ￥2,000, roughly equal to Kodak Gold 200, Kodak Ultramax 400, or Fujifilm Superia 400. All of its competitors are uniform and reliable.
You can rely on Kodak Gold for your next road trip with your compact film camera. You can rely on Fujifilm Superia for the editorial photoshoot you planned and hired a model and makeup artist for. I cannot imagine relying on Marix 400D for anything but an experimental film experience.
Sure, the same could be said for Cinestill. However, the company clearly explains all the risks of shooting cinema film and precautions to take. Marix doesn’t say anything.
The problem is with Marix as a company. Their quality control needs improvement. Their marketing lacks transparency and leaves out vital information about the film. Retailers and even a few online reviewers provide more information than Marix does. However, the lackluster response to my messages ensured I would never purchase from them again. The lack of goodwill actions to smooth over an extraordinarily poor film shooting experience breaks the trust between a brand and its customers.
Spend your money elsewhere.