ORWOWolfen NC400

ORWO Wolfen NC400 is an ISO 400 color negative film for C-41 processing, sold in 35 mm cartridges and made at Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany. The maker’s datasheet calls it the first generation of its 400 ASA color negative film [1], and retailers relay ORWO’s text describing a palette based on a classic Agfa stock, with desaturated shadows and vibrant greens [2] [7]. Reviews find muted, cool color, low contrast and visible grain.

Look and color

• Muted color with a cool cast is the majority view. 35mmc describes colors that are “muted” and show “a greenish/blueish colour cast which gives them a ‘retro’ look” [3]. A Leica Forum poster saw “bluish cool tones” and compared it unfavorably to Lomography’s Metropolis [5]. Film and Sensor found the color “a little soft” [6].
• One reviewer disagrees on the cast. Speeding Shutter found the tones “a little yellowish” next to an unspecific cool cast, like pictures “that your mom took on a family vacation 40 years ago” [4]. The lab and the scanner probably matter, as they do for other C-41 films with an unusual base.
• ORWO’s own pitch is different. The text relayed by retailers promises “vibrant greens” and “desaturated shadows”, and a film that does not try to imitate current stocks [2] [7]. This is marketing copy, not a measurement.
• Light and subjects. 35mmc advises against blue skies and sunny spring or summer days, and finds it better suited to portraits and buildings [3]. Film and Sensor shot it in overcast and sunny light, and would not use it for portraits [6]. The two reviews disagree on portraits.

Tonality

• Curve. On the datasheet’s characteristic curves (daylight exposure, C-41, status M), the three layers run roughly parallel, with a slope of about 0.55 to 0.6 in the straight part (our reading of the graph). The blue curve flattens earlier at the top than the green and red ones [1].
• Contrast and highlights. 35mmc reports low contrast and good latitude, but whites that “become washed out and lack detail” [3].
• Shadows. A Leica Forum poster calls them limited and muddy, and the film “like a way expired film that was not stored appropriately” [5].
• Effective speed. ORWO gives ISO 400/27° and recommends test exposures [1]. Speeding Shutter found frames slightly underexposed and shot at ISO 200, one full stop over box speed [4]. The Leica Forum poster also needed ISO 200 [5]. Two users are not a measurement.

Grain and sharpness

ORWO’s datasheet gives no granularity, Print Grain Index or resolving power for this film [1], so this page has no grain table. Retailers relaying ORWO’s text say “finer grain” and “subtle grain” [2] [7], while the reviews find the grain visible:

• 35mmc: “grainy but sharp and with decent definition” [3].
• Film and Sensor: not the sharpest film, and its reviewer likes the graininess [6].
• Leica Forum: “extremely grainy” and “surprisingly unsharp”, with a lot of halation that the poster attributes to a missing remjet layer [5]. This is one opinion, and the datasheet says nothing about a remjet layer [1].

The claims conflict: the maker says subtle, users say visible or heavy. Treat the grain as visible until measured data exists.

Names, status and history

• Origin. The film is made at Bitterfeld-Wolfen, where film manufacture has been a tradition since 1910; the ORWO text relayed by retailers says its formula is based on a legendary Agfa stock [2] [7]. The datasheet is published by InovisCoat GmbH, of Monheim am Rhein, Germany [1]. This page did not verify the relationship between the two companies.
• Launch. A Leica Forum thread discussed it in August 2023, and Film and Sensor reviewed a roll in December 2023 [5] [6]. We found no dated ORWO announcement, so 2023 is the year of the earliest sources we read.
• Alien Film NC400 (2025). 35mmc calls it a re-spooled Wolfen NC400, DX-coded at ISO 400 and available through Aperture Printing in London from April 2025 [3]. ORWO has not confirmed this that we know of.
• Coding and labeling. The Analogue Wonderland listing says the film is DX-coded, and reports that a batch carried an expiry date of 03/2025 that the maker said was a printing error for 03/2026 [2]. The Leica Forum poster received loose rolls without boxes and without DX coding, so packaging seems to vary by batch or seller [5]. Speeding Shutter reports a list price of $17 and a $9.99 sale price [4].
• Status. On September 30, 2026, Analogue Wonderland listed it as sold out and Unique Photo as unavailable online [2] [7]. This says nothing about ORWO’s production plans, which this page could not confirm.

Also sold as

• ORWO NC400 (reported) [2]