 Yo what up, welcome back to another episode of Let's Cut to the Chase. Baxter doesn't appear in this episode, so it probably won't be that good. Today's episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Well, let's talk about Roly Crossbird. So straight up, you should know right now that while I do shoot and do a half-assed review of Roly Crossbird, I had the roles developed as E6 instead of the intended C41. I'll get into all that in a little bit, but if you're looking for a true blue Crossbird review, this video probably isn't it. However, if you were to ask me, Roly Crossbird kind of looks like Apple Jolly Rancher dog s***. If you were to cross-process it in C41 anyway. But then again, whatever film Crossbird actually is, was never meant for C41. It's actually a color-positive slide film, so it needs E6 chemicals. But what color-positive film is Roly Crossbird and why might it be so special? As Gandalf once said, this is where the fun begins. Let's backtrack a little. Back in 2017, Roly released a very limited run of a color-positive film called Roly VarioChrome for 35mm, and it turned out to be a super limited run because you cannot find that stuff anywhere anymore. Of course, like a Shakespearean tragedy, I fell in love with Roly VarioChrome, only for it to kill itself before we could be together forever. I think that the look that VarioChrome produces is just gorgeous. So naturally, when I couldn't find VarioChrome anymore, I thought, well, I guess that's it. I'll never be happy ever again. Luckily, since then, I found Salvation in Guave la Croix, but we don't have time for a Guave la Croix review. I soon scoured the globe in search of what VarioChrome actually was, in hopes of finding it under a different brand name or something. That search led me to FPP Retrochrome, which is damn near identical in just about every sense. Luckily, FPP Retrochrome had a very detailed explanation of what it actually was, expired government application Ectochrome. Unfortunately, as of late, FPP Retrochrome has fluctuated on and off the shelves, so maybe it was time to get back to the roots, Roly. Roly has another stock that they released called Roly Crossbird, and it's effectively called that because it's an E6 film that's meant to be cross-processed in C41 chemicals. Some people, who I'd call heroes, have actually gone ahead and said, f**k the instructions. I'm gonna grab this s**t by the paper backing and drown it in E6 chemicals. And guess what? Yeah, it looks like it might just be the same stuff as VarioChrome and Retrochrome, but that's what we're here to investigate. Needless to say, I was pretty excited because Roly Crossbird actually comes in spools of 120 medium format. So I nabbed up some of the last three roles of Roly Crossbird on eBay and put it to the test. I met up with Caleb, Hector, and Chris from the photo depth, who I'm still not convinced isn't secretly Jack Antonoff. Brought my plobble Makina 670 and loaded it up. I should try it. I've actually never shot a 6x6. You can shoot with my TLR if you want. Because no one else is. What? You never use it? That was the joke. Oh. You can shoot with my camera because no one else is. Oh, it's a bad joke. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. Just get in there. Everything good in life is a double stroke. Right off the bat, I took this shot and I think it's one of the best I shot that day. So I guess set your expectations pretty low for the rest of the video. We decided to meet up in Malibu. And while generally I kind of look like a sexy hot pocket with my shirt off at the beach, unfortunately, it was too cold to put on a show. So I just shot film instead. And I'm just now realizing that I was wearing my shirt inside out for the whole video. It's a miracle anyone has ever hired me. OK, so to start with, this film has a very warm look. But I think it actually reproduces colors quite naturally. When I scan the film in for whatever reason, I was hit with an overabundance of blue in the shadows, which like Thanos, I felt an obligation to balance. Obviously, you don't need to do this if you like the look. Here's a photo of Chris pointing at something. Here's a photo of Chris pointing at something again. The shot is a bit underexposed, but I actually think the film handles it quite well. Frankly, I think the dynamic range on these is actually not too bad, which really makes me wonder what the hell this stuff actually is. I like this photo a lot. It's a nice, sharp silhouette. Ignore the guy taking a shit over here. When underexposed, this film really leans into the warm look, which is cool. But it's kind of a risky maneuver to underexpose slide film to begin with. Luckily for us, I just happened to be bad enough of a photographer to witness the results firsthand. One thing to note here is that Roly Crossbird is a 200 speed film, and I got to say the results are pretty sharp. The sun was starting to piece out for the day, so I shot a few portraits. Here's Caleb, bathed in golden magic hour light, clutching his sack. And here's Chris not pointing at anything this time. I really dig this shot, actually. The colors are a vibe for sure, a bit underexposed and a shitty scan, but it looks cool, so who gives a crap? But something you should give a crap about is a solid online portfolio of your work, and what better way to do it than through today's sponsor, Squarespace. Squarespace is an all-in-one website hosting platform with a simple straightforward user interface that allows you to build the website of your dreams in the simplest way possible, whether it's for photography, baking or your newfound rap career. I've been using Squarespace for the past couple of years to host my online photography portfolio, because when I have new work to add to it, it's as simple as login, upload and find the perfect placement. Many times have people ask me to see my work, and now it's as simple as just going to my website. Squarespace is also the perfect all-in-one hub to host all my exterior links should anyone need to find them. And on top of that, Squarespace is around the clock 24-7 customer support. So what are you waiting for? If you're ready to build a website, you can start a free trial today at squarespace.com slash grainydays. And if you use the code grainydays at checkout, you can get 10% off your first purchase. So is Roly Crossbird the answer to our expired government ectochrome dreams realized in 120? Gotta say, sadly, I don't think it's the same stuff. It's close. I even thought it might be expired ectochrome or Provia, but I obviously didn't know for sure. I think whatever Crossbird actually is, it renders things a little too normally. Biochrome and retochrome have this super orange yellow, crunchy dried cat piss vibe that I live for. After further research online, a lot of people seem convinced that Crossbird is actually old agforchrome 200 stock. I've never heard of this stuff and I've never shot it. So it's all a bit lost on me. But what else is new? You can actually still buy agforchrome 200 on eBay, but for essentially $30 a roll. Personally, I think I'd want to put my money towards something a little more affordable, like Kodachrome. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I just think that Roly Crossbird is a bit too stable and clean. It's kind of like Mumford and Sons without the dirty ass banjos. That isn't to say that I wasn't happy with the results though. I actually really dig this shot. But why did Roly take this particular film and decided to cross process it? I'm guessing they thought that weird looking film might have some kind of market. And you know what? They're not wrong. There may or may not be a company entirely dedicated to that idea. Yeah, so I'm guessing they just took a lot of this old agfa stock and they didn't really want to rebrand it. So they just said, hey, what if we f*** it up instead? In my own stupid opinion, I think Roly Crossbird might actually be worth it if you process it in E6. That is if you can find it. So because it's hard to find nowadays, I'm kind of sad that I prematurely blew my load already. That being said, would I shoot it again? Maybe. I kind of feel like you can probably get pretty similar results just by shooting ectochrome with a warming filter and calling it a day. But hey, that's just my two pesos. Anyway, that's about it. Did you think Roly Crossbird looked cool with E6? Or more importantly, do you think I should bring back the Fuji blimp? Kind of feels like we're going through a thing with Fuji right now. Well, at the end of the roll. It's a double stroke.