Film Friday - March 5th, 2021. Lomography Tiger 110

We’re giving 110 film some love with today’s Film Friday. Obviously most film photographers favor shooting 35mm, 120 or even large format but a modest and committed contingent of analog enthusiasts continue to use their Pentax Auto 110s, Rollei A110s or their favored Minolta Zoom 110. It is for all of them that we are giving some attention to Lomography’s Tiger color negative 110 film today.

110 film dates back to 1972 when Kodak first introduced it to go along with their Pocket Instamatic line of cameras. The 110 format was designed to be simpler, easier and more compact… and it proved quite popular. More than a few of our staff have family photo albums populated with snapshots made with 110 cameras. Kodak produced 110 cartridges loaded with color negative, slide (Kodachrome) and b&w (Verichrome Pan) film. Several other companies also got into the 110 game, most notably Fuji. 110 film started to decline in popularity in the 1980s but continued to hang around. Fuji discontinued 110 film in 2009 and within a couple years Kodak and Ferrania followed suit. That seemed to be that. But rumors started to swirl. First Adox announced a project looking to resurrect 110 film in 2010 and by 2012 Lomography had begun introducing 110 film, beginning with their Orca black and white film. Lomography Tiger came along shortly thereafter and was soon joined by Peacock (a slide film meant for cross-processing) and Lobster (a redscale color negative). Since 2012 Lomography has been the main supplier of the 110 film market. Where they are having it made and what exactly the film is is quite the mystery, and Lomography is famously tight-lipped about it.

Spoiler alert: Lomography Tiger 110 is better than you might think it would be.

Whatever Lomo Tiger is and wherever it comes from is secondary to how it performs once you have it in a camera. While the 110 format is a tiny format - the negatives are only 13mm by 17mm after all, and it is often shot through inexpensive, primitive cameras, the Tiger film performs admirably. The samples we have here today for this post were all shot on a Pentax Auto 110 by one of our staff and then scanned by us (yes, we develop, optically print and even scan 110 film). We did some very minor color correcting with them to remove a persistent yet very slight red cast, but other than that we didn’t doctor these images up at all. The results show a film that has surprisingly good colors, decent contrast and less grain than you’d expect given how small the original negative is. How about a couple more samples.

Jackson, our staff 110 photographer, really loves exploring abandoned places and usually is packing one of his several 110 cameras with him.

One interesting technical note about Tiger 110 is that it is a 200 ISO film, yet due to the design of both 110 cartridges and cameras, the film registers as 100 ISO with most cameras. This means that when using Tiger in your 110 camera you are almost certainly overexposing it by a stop. This is not a bad thing at all. Color negative film is famously forgiving, giving it an extra stop of light has no negative impact on your images at all. Even better, since many 110 cameras have limited exposure control, that extra exposure can help you avoid underexposed results.

We have a suspicion that if you are reading this you might already be a 110 user, in which case we are likely preaching to the choir. But on the off chance that we have you here out of curiosity and not familiarity, let us take a quick moment to make a pitch for joining Club 110. As stated above, the 110 format was devised to be cheap and simple and that is one of its allures. They are also small as the “Pocket Instamatic” name would imply. One of the big joys of most subminiature cameras is their extreme portability. Put it in a pocket, a purse, a backpack, or even tuck it in the top of your sock. But cheap and simple weren’t the only standards followed by 110 camera manufacturers. There are some legitimately high-end 110 cameras out there in the world, with two of the most popular being the Pentax Auto 110 (see below) and the Minolta Zoom 110. You can track down some excellent 110 cameras made by Canon, Rollei and Minox as well. There was even the Astrocam 110, a 110 camera that could be loaded onto a model rocket and shot into the atmosphere. Seriously, there are some cool 110 cameras to play with.

Jackson Keller, a resident 110 expert and the staff member who provided these sample images, laid it out like this: you can get a camera for less than $50 that you can take anywhere you go alongside all your bigger cameras and the 110 cassette makes loading and unloading a breeze. He points that you even have the option of removing the cassette mid-roll if you want to change to another film and you only lose one frame.

Why 110? Just look at how cute the cameras can be!

Bet you didn’t think we could say this much about 110 film, eh? We surprise ourselves sometimes as well, but we are almost done.

We do have one last parting tip regarding using the Tiger film from Lomography. The film has been noted for sometimes producing small orange light leaks scattered across the frame. The general consensus is this is a fault in the backing paper inside the cassette. It is a fairly common thing to run across, so Jackson makes sure to put a piece of tape across the window that is present on almost every 110 camera. Film advance is generally carefully measured by the camera so all the piece of tape obscures is your ability to know which frame you are on, but the tradeoff is no orange light leak spots. Jackson said that you are generally safe quickly peeling back the tape if you want to glance at which frame you are on in case you forget.

So there you have it! A somewhat forgotten format brought back to your attention. If you are a 110 photographer you likely have already tried Tiger, because let’s face it there are not many other options. Despite this reality though the Tiger is a nice-looking color negative film. Maybe you ought to pick up a cartridge and dig mom’s old Pocket Instamatic out of closet and breathe some new life back into it.

Here is a link to Tiger on our website. If you are hitting this on the lucky day of February 14th (Happy Valentine’s Day by the way) you will find that we have discounted this film by 15% for the day!

You can also read up on our philosophy behind Film Friday right here.

Tiger 110 does favor reds and this can be very apparent in skin tone.