I was wondering if anyone has ever used a make of film called Washi?
They make a few different films:
Washi 'A'. 35mm 12 ASA mono ortho film.
Washi 'S'. 35mm 50ASA mono "sound" film, with special 'anti halation' layer.
Washi 'D'. 35mm 500ASA panchromatic 'Aerial' film.
I'm not advertising them. I'm asking if anyone's ever used them as the descriptions on the lomography website are quite interesting but a little confusing.
If you have used any of those films could you please tell us what you think of them?
Some aerial films are coming from Agfa Gevaert in Belgium. Most popular are the Aviphot 80 E1 and Aviphot 200 E1 also sold under Rollei Retro 80(S) and Rollei Retro 400(S) = (S)uperpan 200. In color they have such a film too, Rollei Digibase CN200, without Orange mask. The (S) stands for Synthetic, clear Polyester layer, E1 = 100um thick. Both the 135-36 and 120 roll film format have the 100um because it is coming from one the same master roll. Then you have the Rollei RPX-25, also on clear Polyester layer, probably a lower speed version of it. Then you have the Agfa Gevaert Copex micro films: In Ortho, extended Red sold under Adox CMS and Rollei ATP 1.1 and in the old version sold under Blue fire Police. The company SPUR is very active to make some dedicated developers for them and of course then sold for big money under Adox and Rollei label.
I've never used any type of 'special' film. Can 'Aerial' and 'Ortho' film be processed at a lab that works with mono film, or would the phtographer have to process it?
Those aerial films are NIR so with a RG695nm or RG715nm filter you can use them for I.R. film. Just a regular development however they tend to a higher contrast. For the micro films you need special low contrast type developers.