New Lucky 200 Film Review: Color, Latitude, and Low-Light Performance by Raufan Yusup

Written by Raufan Yusup

Lucky isn’t new to the film photography world. They’ve actually been around for quite a long time. But recently, they’ve made a comeback with the release of the New Lucky 200, and I got my hands on it, both in 35mm and 120 format. Big thanks to my friend Kota, who helped me get it straight from China.

From what I’ve read, this is a newly produced color negative film emulsion, and one of its standout traits is its strong, clean reds. It’s a different color signature compared to Kodak’s warm yellows or Fuji’s signature greens, which makes it quite interesting to try out.

I spent the last couple of weeks testing it out in different locations and shooting conditions to get a better feel for how this film performs, and to figure out where its strengths.

Find Lucky 200 film at REFLX Lab.

The Look of Lucky 200 Film

I tested shooting New Lucky 200 on foggy days, sunny days, and even in low light conditions. I also shot both 35mm and 120 versions under the same lighting to give you a direct comparison.

Overall, I’d say the colors lean pretty neutral, with a noticeable red cast — just like they claimed.

Lucky 200 Strength #1: Fine Grain

From the rolls I tested, Lucky 200 delivers surprisingly fine grain and solid sharpness for a 200-speed film. Grain is well-controlled, contrast is punchy, and overall rendering feels very clean.

In practice, it can go head-to-head with Kodak Gold 200 in my opinion. Given the current pricing in Japan (imported directly from China), I can genuinely see myself mixing Lucky 200 into my Gold 200 rotation.

Strength #2: Dynamic Range

For a budget film, it has surprising latitude. It retains decent detail in both highlights and shadows, provided it is shot in daylight. Both 35mm and 120, if metered correctly, can produce a good results.

Strength #3: Surprisingly Good in Low Light

This one honestly surprising to me. In low-light conditions, Lucky 200 produced results that were cleaner and sharper than I expected, especially in 120.

The medium-format version holds detail well, stays sharp, and renders skin tones nicely, even as light drops.

The 35mm results were less convincing in the same conditions, but that’s likely down to my setup. I shot it with a point-and-shoot, which limited exposure flexibility and pushing options.

On 120, though, Lucky 200 feels almost spot-on for low-light work.

Lucky 200 Weakness #1: Dullness in Some Conditions

On cloudy days or in flat lighting, the film loses its “pop” and can look muddy or grayish without significant post-processing.

So you need to be smart to choose when to click the shutter when using this film.

Weakness #2: Narrower Latitude

I am used to a Kodak film lineup like Gold 200 or Portra 400/160, where I can freely pushing the film up to 3 stops and the results still forgiving most of the times.

While Lucky 200 has decent dynamic range for a budget film, it is less forgiving than Kodak films. Highlights can blow out faster, and shadows can get “crunchy” if underexposed even slightly.

I even tried to push the shots 2 stops on a sunny day, and I noticed the highlights and shadows felt a little washed out, not as punchy as I expected.

So based on what I tested, I think overexposing it more than 1 stop also potentially ruined the results.

My Takeaway

Personally, I think this film performs best in sunny conditions. The colors pop more, and the overall feel is cleaner. On foggy days, though, I wasn’t too impressed. The results looked a bit dull and flat to me.

With its price point, I think Lucky 200 is designed to be a “binge-shooting” film. It is cheaper than Kodak Gold or Portra, making it ideal for casual everyday shooting or testing new cameras. But at the same time, it is also has a narrow latitude that require us to be a bit careful when shooting.

But, when shot and metered correctly, I think this film is more than worth it. Good enough for me to confidently say that I’ll start to rotate my Kodak film purchase with this.

That said, the return of Lucky 200 feels like a genuinely positive sign for film photography enthusiasts. 2025 brought a lot of encouraging news. New cameras, new film stocks, and better self-scanning tools, showing that the medium is still very much alive.

Here’s hoping that momentum continues into 2026. Wishing all film photography enthusiasts a great year ahead, and happy new year!

Thank you so much, Raufan! Raufan is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out more of his work on Substack, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Leave your questions about Lucky 200 film below in the comments, and you can pick some up for yourself at REFLX Lab.

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Raufan Yusup

Raufan Yusup specializes in landscape, travel, and documentary photography. He is a regular contributor for Shoot It With Film, and you can find his other articles here.

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