darktable preset inspired by ORWOWolfen NC400

What the style changes

The style sets six darktable modules. It follows the majority of the reviews summarized on the ORWO Wolfen NC400 film page: dull, cool colors with a green-blue cast, low contrast, muddy shadows, washed-out whites, visible grain and some halation. The datasheet gives only characteristic curves read by eye, so none of its values set the tone curve, which follows the reviews. All figures below come from renders made with darktable-cli 5.6.0 at 1000 px, measured in CIELab. No t3mujinpack reference exists for this film.

• Muted colors. The color balance rgb instance named “film” lowers global saturation by 18 %, and the color equalizer lowers blue saturation by 18 %, cyan by 10 %, yellow by 5 % and red by 3 %. On photo 0775, chroma of the whole image drops from 21.4 to 13.8 (−36 %).
• A green-blue cast. The “film” instance tints the shadows toward 150° and the midtones toward 145°, with barely magenta highlights (285°, a very small dose). rgb primaries pushes greens and blues toward cyan. Sky and sea hues move toward cyan on photo 0775: 273.6° to 248.6° and 270.1° to 226.5°.
• Low contrast, raised blacks, washed-out whites. The tone curve starts at 0.03 and ends at 0.955. On photo 1014, contrast (Lsd) goes from 30.7 to 29.6, the darkest 5 % from L 2.6 to 4.5 and the brightest 5 % from L 87.9 to 85.6.
• Skin paler, not drained. Skin hue hardly moves (44.2° to 45.1°) and chroma falls by about 29 % (16.4 to 11.7).
• Halation. A blur instance named “halation” adds a red halo around clear highlights at 22 % opacity. It is the same construction as the Wolfen NC200 style, at a higher strength (14 % there). On photo 0989 it shows as a thin red edge along the blue door against the white wall. It was judged by eye, not measured.
• Visible grain. Coarseness 2500 and strength 36, a little finer than the Wolfen NC500 style (2800 and 40), with a midtones bias of 55.

Next to its neighbors, this style is less muted than the Wolfen NC500 style (chroma of 0775: 13.8 against 8.4), but cooler in skin and with raised blacks where NC500 crushes them (L5 of 1014: 4.5 against 1.0). It is cooler and duller than the Wolfen NC200 style, whose blues stay at hue 272 (249 here).

What it leaves alone

• Your base development. The style contains no exposure, no sigmoid or filmic, no white balance and no LUT. Those settings stay as you made them. In particular it does not reproduce the underexposure that some reviews report: a style should not change exposure.
• Your color balance rgb and your “halation” blur. The style’s color balance rgb (“film”) and blurs (“halation”) are separate named instances: they are added next to yours, which stay untouched.
• But not your rgb primaries, color equalizer, tone curve or grain. When you apply a style from the lighttable or the darkroom, each of its modules replaces the instance of the same module with the same name, if the photo has one, and is added otherwise. These four modules carry no instance name, so they replace any settings you had already made in them. Your earlier settings remain in the history.

Exporting with a style, or rendering with darktable-cli, works differently: every module of the style is added as a separate instance. Our measurements were made that way, on darktable’s default rendering. The details are in Install and apply darktable styles.

Limits

• An interpretation, not an emulation. The datasheet only gives characteristic curves, read by eye; no curve value tuned the style. Everything else comes from reviews.
• Few reviews, often negative and subjective. Some concern other ORWO films. Take the style with caution.
• Color cast. Most reviews report green-blue, one reports yellowish. It depends on the lab and the scanner. The style follows the majority.
• Halation and “extreme” grain. One source each, and the grain claim contradicts ORWO’s own text, which promises subtle grain. The style takes visible grain, a little finer than the NC500 style.
• Magenta highlights. A single, unread source: the style applies a very small dose.
• Not the NC500. Reviews comparing the two are rare, and the manufacturer’s text blocks are shared between them.
• Provisional test photos. The measurements use temporary photos and will be redone on licensed ones.

Tips

• Portraits and buildings over blue skies. The reviews find the film better for those, and the style mutes blues accordingly.
• Watch bright edges. The halation acts on clear highlights against dark areas. Reduce the opacity of the “halation” instance if it is too visible.
• Apply it early. If you plan to fine-tune the rgb primaries, color equalizer, tone curve or grain yourself, apply the style first: it would replace those settings if you made them before.
• Everything stays editable. Each module the style sets is an ordinary module instance: you can adjust or switch it off afterwards, for example the grain strength or the “film” color balance rgb.
• Installation: see Install and apply darktable styles.