ORWOWolfen NC500

ORWO Wolfen NC500 is a color negative film for C-41 processing, made by ORWO at Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Germany and announced in 2022 as the company’s first new color film in decades [2]. ORWO says its formula is based on an Agfa stock last used on the film Out of Africa, and it is sold in 35 mm rolls at ISO 400 despite the “500” in its name [1] [3]. No datasheet exists for it, so every description of its look below comes from ORWO’s announcement and from reviews, which do not always agree.

Look and color

• Muted color is the consistent finding. Casual Photophile describes colors “muted across the range, but especially so in the blue tones” [4]. Analog.cafe reports “very little colour saturation” and a flat, desaturated look in overcast weather [3]. ORWO itself pitches “desaturated shadows” and a film “famous for their greens” [1].
• The color cast: the reviews disagree. Most reviewers see green and yellow. Casual Photophile found lab scans “very green and very yellow” and needed correction [4], Analog.cafe also reports a greenish mask [3], and OldNewStock notes a bias toward green in the shadows [7]. Bob Prendergast, in a deliberately contrarian review, describes a cold rendering instead [5]. filmphotography.eu describes “cooler green tones” [8]. The scanner and lab clearly matter: the film has a greenish base tint that Prendergast says conversion software often mishandles [5].
• No remjet layer. The film has none, so standard C-41 processing applies, and the orange mask is missing, which is part of why scans need white balance work [4] [8].
• Light matters. Analog.cafe finds results improve markedly in warm sunlight [3]. During golden hour, Prendergast found yellows and reds “very punchy and pleasing” [5]. OldNewStock says it is not a film for low light [7].
• Skin. Analog.cafe found it “very good at reproducing” the author’s skin color after correction [3]. Khürt Williams, who adjusted white balance extensively, was not satisfied and does not plan to use it again [9].

Tonality

• Contrast: the reviews contradict each other. Casual Photophile calls the film “low in contrast” [4] and filmphotography.eu mentions a flatter contrast curve [8]. OldNewStock says the opposite: “a very contrasty film, with low saturation and deep blacks”, and compares it to a bleach bypass look [7]. Both readings can be true if the shadows are lost while the midtones stay flat.
• Shadows fall off. Prendergast writes that “the shadows really fall off rapidly, and the detail is almost completely lost”, and sees a lack of dynamic range between sky highlights and shadows [5].
• Latitude. Analog.cafe estimates about 7 stops (EV 7 to EV 14), well short of Portra films, in the author’s words [3]. This is one reviewer’s estimate, not a measurement.
• Effective speed. Casual Photophile found it slightly underexposed at box speed and suggests overexposing by one to two stops [4]. OldNewStock also judges it underexposed at 400 and puts the true speed nearer 320 [7]. Analog.cafe reports some users metering at ISO 200, though its own testing was inconclusive [3].
• Pushing. Matt Murray pushed it one and two stops (to ISO 1250) and found better color and contrast than at box speed, with grain about the same and blacks that could crush [6].

Grain and sharpness

ORWO publishes no Print Grain Index, RMS granularity or resolving power for this film, so there is no figure to compare with other films, and this page gives no grain table. Reviews are consistent that the grain is large:

• Analog.cafe calls it “chunky” and the grainiest new color film its author has tried. The grain is sharp rather than cloudy, crunchy in the midtones and quieter in the highlights [3].
• Casual Photophile calls it “heavy and exaggerated”, and says it “does tend to diminish some of the detail” [4]. The same review says ORWO’s Wolfen NC400 has finer grain [4].
• ORWO’s own announcement lists “enhanced grains” among the aspects it embraces [1].
• Prendergast says he has “yet to come across a film with such a specific look” in its grain [5]. Murray found it about the same when pushed, perhaps higher in underexposed areas [6].

Names, status and history

• Origin. The film is made by ORWO at Bitterfeld-Wolfen, where film manufacture has been a tradition since 1910. ORWO says its chemical formula is based on an Agfa stock last used on Out of Africa, and that it does not try to imitate current films but to offer “something with different characteristics and a different palette” [1]. PetaPixel, and reviews such as Analog.cafe and OldNewStock, name the Agfa stock as XT320 [2] [3] [7]. This page has not verified that name with ORWO, and it is not a relabeled film from another maker [8].
• Announcement (2022). ORWO announced it at the end of May 2022, alongside its Wolfen NP100 black-and-white film, as a limited edition with pre-orders from June 1 and shipping expected in July [2]. Wikipedia says the maker’s parent company Filmotec announced NC 500 in 2022 as a color cine stock [10]. Reviews from 2023 discuss it as a still film sold in 35 mm cartridges.
• The name and the speed. The launch coverage called it 500 ASA [1] [2]. ORWO’s product text and every review used here say 400 [3] [4] [8]. We treat 400 as the box speed, and note that some reviewers measure lower, near 320 [7].
• No DX code. The cartridge carries none, so cameras that read DX codes need the ISO set by hand [8].
• Status. filmphotography.eu listed it as available in January 2026 [8]. This page has not checked current stock with ORWO, and the film was launched as a limited edition [2].
• Price. Reviewers paid about $16 to $20 for a 36-exposure roll in 2022 and 2023 [3] [4] [9]. Current prices vary by retailer.

Also sold as

• ORWO NC500 (reported) [8]
• ORWO Wolfen NC 500 (reported) [3]