Back in September last year I signed up to Cool Film Club who provide a monthly subscription box service where you get two rolls of 35mm film for £14.75 including postage in the UK.
What I liked about signing up to this was that I was quite excited about receiving different films each month and the surprise element of not knowing what I’d be getting.
On their website they explain that the films will vary from Ilford Delta, Kodak Portra to expired films and other brands that I may never have tried before.
I’m always up for trying new films so thought the subscription box would be a good way of introducing me to some films I perhaps would have never normally bought.
I received my first box in October which was nicely packaged and I always get a free bag of Haribo sweets. They also provide a letter with each box confirming the films that have been sent to me and a little bit of information about each film to help give me an idea of what style photography they may work best for.
Here is a list of the films I’ve received to date:
OCTOBER:- Kodak Portra 160 and Rollei Retro 80s
NOVEMBER:- Kosmo Foto 100 and Kodak Ultramax 400
DECEMBER:- Rollei Redbird 400 and Ilford Pan F Plus 50
In January I received three rolls of film. The first two were Ilford Delta 400 and Konica SR100 (which was an expired film). The third film I received was Pulse which is a pre-exposed, creative film and the reason I received this third roll was because Cool Film had teamed up with Spektrem Effect who were giving away a bunch of this film.
It seems quite a common thing for Cool Film Club to team up with other companies as there was often a discount code of 10% if I got my film developed at SilverPan Film Lab which was a nice touch.
Some people may feel that around £7.38 is a little bit expensive for each film but this does include postage and I liked the fact I was getting a surprise each month which I found quite exciting. To me, it was like getting a little present (at my expense of course!) on a monthly basis.
I personally really enjoyed the subscription and the different types of films I was getting.
However, this month, I decided to cancel my subscription. The main reason was because I’ve really got into medium format photography so now only mainly use 120mm film. I think if I continued to receive the subscription, the film would pile up in the fridge because I wouldn’t really be using it. Also the £14.75 per month is money I could put towards 120mm film which I obviously get through a lot more quickly since it’s only 12 frames per roll.
I did like the thought of receiving a 120mm monthly film subscription and I emailed Cool Film Club and asked them if it was something they would consider but at this stage it doesn’t look like they will be doing this. I also looked online to see if there was anybody else offering this service but currently there doesn’t seem to be which is a shame.
If I found myself shooting lots of 35mm film again like I used to, then I would definitely reconsider signing up to Cool Film Club.
For anybody interested in possibly signing up to their monthly film subscription, their website is:
Natalie Smart Film Photography 