Lomography Berlin Kino 400 35 mm B&W Film Review with Sample Photos!

June 10, 2026

I always love trying out Lomography’s film stocks. There aren’t many companies out there that produce film, let alone experiment with color, grain and contrast. Lomography has created some of my favorite film over the years, like Lomochrome purple, Lomochrome turquoise and Color Negative 100 and 400. I use the Color Negative 400 all the time. It’s pretty much my go-to film stock because it’s affordable, consistent and perfectly saturated. I have a full blog post about it here if you want to see some sample photos!

These days I stick with color film for the most part, but every once in a while I’ll throw a roll of black and white film in my camera bag and see how it goes. There is truly something special about black and white film. I swear my brain captures images differently when I know that my camera is loaded with it. I see the world in shapes and light, rather than being distracted by color. I always think that I’m going to regret shooting in black and white because it’s not capturing exactly what I see in front of me, but that’s never the case. Oftentimes, my black and white photos are my favorite photos from my travels! I think it’s because black and white film is automatically nostalgic. Maybe it tricks your brain into believing that each photo is special and memorable? It’s more simple than color film, and you really see the moment for what it is. Nothing flashy or over the top. Just a moment in time that might have slipped by if you hadn’t frozen it on film.

(By using the affiliate links and/or codes in this blog post it supports Myles Katherine Photography. We may get a small kick back by you doing so.)

THOUGHTS ON BERLIN KINO 400 FILM

Berlin Kino 400 is an interesting black and white film, in my opinion. It’s definitely super grainy for a 400 film, so it comes across more like an 800 ISO film. I typically don’t like too much grain in my photos, but in this case, it didn’t bother me so much. It’s not an incredibly contrasty film either. It has a fairly minimal tonal range, but still captures a lot of detail in your subjects. It’s not as dynamic as a film like Neopan Across 100 for example (one of my favorite black and white films - check out my blog post about it here!) and it’s not as classic-looking as Ilford HP 5 Plus 400 or Kodak Tri-X 400. By that I mean, the blacks and whites aren’t as intense or prominent. The tones blend together in a soft, natural way that is incredibly moody and gentle. It was a perfect film for capturing my sister’s new baby and the beautiful, quiet waves on the Oregon coast. It definitely makes the images feel a lot more aged than they are, almost as if you are using an expired film roll.

I used the Nikon FE2 for all of the photos in this post. It’s one of my favorite 35 mm film cameras (read more about it here!) and I think it was a perfect match for this film. I wouldn’t use a super cheap film camera with Berlin 400 because you really need a sharp, nice lens to override the grain. The Nikon FE2 is similar to a Canon AE-1 or Pentax K1000, so any of those cameras would be great to use as well if you’re shooting 35 mm. I also shot a roll of Berlin 400 with my Contax 645 which is a super fancy medium format 120 film camera, and I really loved the way those turned out. 120 film is physically larger than 35 mm so it captures more detail and the grain isn’t quite as noticeable. I will say I prefer the way those images turned out than the 35 mm.

WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN?

This is a hard one. While I enjoyed shooting with this film, I’m not sure it is 100% my vibe. Overall, I prefer film that is a bit cleaner with less grain, but I do like the overall mood and nostalgia of the film. It does capture a surprising amount of detail for how minimal the contrast is. I would probably prefer Lomography Earl Grey 100 because it has a bit more intensity, or even Lady Grey 400 which falls more in the middle. Berlin Kino 400 does remind me of Potsdam Kino 100 but with a little more grain, which makes sense because it does come from Lomography’s Kino black and white film family. If you’d like just a little less grain and smoother overall quality, I’d try the Potsdam 100 out. With an ISO 100 film though, I’d recommend shooting outdoors in bright sunlight for best results.

I definitely don’t regret shooting with it, as I do find the photos to be beautiful in a vintage, black and white tv kind of way. I think it would be a really cool roll to make a short film out of using a video camera like the Lomography LomoKino. I’ve actually had one of these cameras for a few years now but haven’t even opened it! It’s on my list to review soon though!

Overall, I recommend giving this film a try at the very least and seeing what you think! You can’t go wrong with any of Lomography’s film stocks. It’s always worth it to experiment and push yourself a little creatively. That’s why I like trying out different film stocks. I get bored shooting with the same old films time and time again. :)

If you’re looking for more black and white 35 mm film recommendations check out my blog post, The 5 Best and Most Affordable Black and White Film Stocks. If you’re looking for 35 mm camera recommendations, make sure to read my post The Top 10 Best 35 mm Film Cameras for Beginners.

WHERE TO BUY BERLIN KINO 400 FILM

35 MM

B&H Photo

eBay

120 FILM

eBay

Amazon

WHERE TO BUY POTSDAM KINO 100 FILM

35 MM

B&H Photo

eBay

120 FILM

B&H Photo

eBay

If you found this post helpful in any way, I’d love it if you considered signing up for my Patreon! For as little as $1 a month, you’ll get early access to all of my YouTube videos, plus tons of photos that I don’t post anywhere else. Depending on which tier you choose, you could also receive seasonal prints and/or discounts! I always use all of the proceeds towards cameras, film & processing.

If you have any questions, I’m always happy to help! You can contact me here, or leave a comment below! Thanks so much for stopping by! You can also check out my B&H Photo storefront & Amazon Storefront for more camera/film recommendations. :) Have a magical day!

<3 Myles Katherine

Blog

June 10, 2026

Lomography Berlin Kino 400 35 mm B&W Film Review with Sample Photos!

June 10, 2026

dubblefilm - jelly 400 35 mm - samsung evoca zoom 115-23.jpg

May 14, 2026

Dubblefilm Jelly 400 35 mm Color Film Review | The Most Colorful and Funky Retro Film for Unique Photos

May 14, 2026

March 2, 2026

Polaroid Now Generation 2 Review & How-To with Sample Photos! The Best Polaroid Camera for Beginners

March 2, 2026

Samsung Evoca Zoom 115 35 mm Panorama Camera Review with Sample Photos | The Best 35 mm Point-and-shoot Camera For Travel

November 6, 2025

This camera. It’s truly something special. When I was planning my trip to England for a 102-mile hike along the Cotswold Way National Trail, I knew I needed to pack light. As someone who is used to bringing at least six different cameras with me on my international adventures, it was a true challenge for me to limit myself in bag weight. When I was researching cameras for my trip and discovered the Samsung Evoca Zoom 115, I knew it absolutely had to come along for the journey. Not only was it incredibly small, it had all of the features I was looking for in a 35 mm camera, and more honestly. I still haven’t utilized this camera to it’s full potential, but all I can say is, this camera is 100% one of my favorite 35 mm point-and-shoot cameras I’ve ever used.

(By using the affiliate links and/or codes in this blog post it supports Myles Katherine Photography. We may get a small kick back by you doing so.)

HISTORY OF THE SAMSUNG EVOCA ZOOM 115

The Samsung Evoca Zoom 115 (also known as the Samsung Fino 115S) was originally released around 1997 and is part of a series of cameras produced by Samsung in the “Evoca” line. They’re known for being incredibly user-friendly, as most point-and-shoot cameras are, but included a ton of other features that made it considered a more “advanced” point-and-shoot for the time period, such as a panorama mode, DX film coding, and a surprising zoom lens. In modern day, this camera isn’t considered “rare” necessarily, but just generally isn’t really talked about. Personally, I’m completely confused as to why people aren’t scooping these up and treasuring them forever. BUT, this also means they’re super cheap at the moment, so get one pronto! You won’t be sorry!

MAIN FEATURES

While the set-up of the camera is pretty basic, this camera has SO many different options for a point-and-shoot camera from the 1990s. When I was hunting for a tiny 35 mm camera for my long-distance hike, there were a few key features I was looking for: a flash, autofocus, a multiple exposure mode, a panorama mode, an affordable price, and a small, lightweight body. You’d be surprised at how difficult it is to find a camera that fits all of these categories, but the Samsung Evoca Zoom 115 does! These days, I’ve become very picky with my cameras, or maybe it’s just that I know what I want now, but when I found the Samsung Evoca Zoom 115, I immediately knew it was perfect. And I’m not going to lie, the fact that it only cost me $23 on eBay was a major win in my book. I had already spent so much money planning for our hike and I had also already purchased a more expensive 35 mm, the Ricoh 500GX (I have a full blog post about this camera here!) which was meant to be my more “fancy” camera I was bringing on the trip. I just knew I wanted a camera that I could use quickly and easily, without too much fuss. A point-and-shoot camera is perfect for travel because it doesn’t require a lot of set-up and is essentially ready to go at all times. I ended up using the Samsung Evoca the most out of all of my cameras I brought on my trip because it was just so simple and convenient to shoot with.

The Samsung Evoca Zoom 115 really does have endless settings you can experiment with. As I mentioned before, it has a panorama mode that you can switch between while shooting a roll of film, which is a setting I learned to love after using my Pentax IQ Zoom 140M (read more about that camera on my blog here!). The multiple exposure setting is super easy to switch to, which is super important to me — there is a mode button that you press that will take you through 8 different settings such as bulb mode, portrait mode, sports mode, and of course, a multiple exposure setting. It also includes a “fuzzy” mode, which is a fancy intelligent mode that helps gauge the lighting and your subject to create the best image for your surroundings. The “interval” mode allows you to take photos over a certain amount of time up to 60 minutes to capture things such as sunsets or motion. A “step” mode lets you take up to 3 photos of your subject at different focal lengths. I haven’t experimented with all of these modes yet, but it will be fun to try them out!

Multiple exposure in Bath, England

Multiple Exposure of Big Ben in London

Then of course, the camera has exposure compensation, red-eye reduction, fill-flash, backlight control, a slow sync flash setting, self-timer, a macro setting, an infinity landscape setting, and pretty much everything else you can think of. I honestly can’t think of a single other setting that it needs. And if you need more in a point-and-shoot camera, then you probably are looking for a camera that is not a point-and-shoot. This is the ultimate point-and-shoot 35 mm camera, in my opinion.

Oh, and you can’t forget it’s crazy 38mm-115mm f/4.1-10.9 zoom lens! Obviously, I wish that the lens had a bit of a wider aperture setting, but for a camera that only costs $23 I’m perfectly content with an f/4.1 lens when it’s a point-and-shoot camera.

THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS

In case you haven’t guessed it yet, I LOVE this camera. As I’m sitting here writing about it, it’s glistening in the fall sunlight on my desk. It has a beautiful, sturdy body with a fun, snappy lens covering that you slide to turn the camera on, a shiny silver-y gold glow, and a roll of film containing photos from my sister’s birthday yesterday. I love vintage cameras so much because of the nostalgia they represent and the classic 1990s aesthetic of 35 mm photography. As a child born in 1989, I miss the 90s and I remember the cameras that my parents used to use so vividly. I’ve always loved cameras, and the Samsung Evoca Zoom 115 did not disappoint. In terms of sharpness of the images, I’m pleasantly surprised. As with most 35 mm point-and-shoot cameras, I recommend shooting with a film with a low ISO so you can get the sharpest images possible - like Kodak Gold 200, Kodak Portra 160, or Lomography Color Negative 100. I’m not always expecting much from point-and-shoots (which is why the Ricoh 500GX was my “fancy” camera for the trip, because it’s known for it’s sharpness) but, much like the Pentax IQ Zoom 140M, the Samsung Evoca Zoom surprises me with it’s sharpness and clarity. Especially because I’m typically on the move when I’m shooting with it, wandering through busy streets or trying to capture something quickly. You would think all of my images would be blurry and ugly and terrible, but somehow, this little camera captured my trip to England perfectly. I’ve already taken it with me on a handful of other adventures, and I’m sure it with go with me a lot more in the future. :)

WHERE TO BUY THE SAMSUNG EVOCA ZOOM 115

Etsy

eBay

WHERE TO BUY THE SAMSUNG FINO 115S

Etsy

eBay

35 MM FILM RECOMMENDATIONS

Kodak Portra 160

Kodak Portra 400

Kodak Gold 200

Lomography Color Negative 100

Neopan Across 100 II (black and white)

Kodak T-Max 100 (black and white)

If you’re looking for more 35 mm film recommendations, you can read more about my favorite black and white film stocks here or my favorite color 35 mm film stocks here!

If you found this post helpful or inspiring, I’d love it if you considered signing up for my Patreon! For as little as $1 a month, you’ll get early access to all of my YouTube videos, plus tons of photos that I don’t post anywhere else. Depending on which tier you choose, you could also receive seasonal prints and/or discounts! I always use all of the proceeds towards cameras, film & processing.

<3 Myles Katherine

P.S. I have a full YouTube video about this camera too! Check it out below!

Minolta AF Tele 35 mm Camera Review with Kodak UltraMax 400 Sample Photos in San Diego, California

June 28, 2025

When I stumbled across the Minolta AF Tele in an antique shop and noticed it was fully functioning, I knew I’d found a gem. I’m always on the hunt for vintage point-and-shoot cameras because they are great for traveling and because they each have their own character and vibe when it comes to the photos. I have another 35 mm Minolta camera, the Minolta Maxxum STsi, which is one of my all-time favorite 35 mm cameras. You can read my full review of that camera here! Before the Minolta Maxxum STsi, I’d never had any experience with Minolta cameras, but I’m started to learn that they are definitely a standout when it comes to vintage cameras.

I decided to take the Minolta AF Tele with me on a recent trip to San Diego and I’m obsessed with how the images turned out. Not only was it incredibly easy to use, the photographs also have the perfect retro film vibe that I wanted for my California photos. I even made a full YouTube video about this camera and my time shooting with it in San Diego! You can watch it here!

HISTORY

The Minolta AF Tele was originally produced in the late 1980s to early 1990s and was created as an accessible camera for beginners and professionals alike. The specific model of the camera featured in this blog post was manufactured in Japan. You can check the bottom of the camera for an imprint to see where yours was produced! The Minolta brand, in general, is a Japanese company, though some of the Minolta cameras are manufactured in other countries as well. I’ve learned over the years that if I see that a camera was produced in Japan, it’s usually a slam dunk. They also typically have a nice aesthetic design and seemingly last forever.

Point-and-shoot cameras really started to gain traction in the 1980s so it was a bit of a competition between all of the major camera companies to produce amazing compact film cameras that were easy to use for the average consumer. The Minolta AF Tele was one of those cameras, though maybe not quite as popular as cameras like the Canon Sure Shot ( I’m still on the hunt for one of these). I find it to be unique and interesting and I definitely never plan to give mine up!

(By using the affiliate links and/or codes in this blog post it supports Myles Katherine Photography. We may get a small kick back by you doing so.)

FEATURES

The standout feature of this camera is it’s dual lens system. While it is a compact camera, the lens has two different focal lengths that you can easily switch between. There is a 35 mm f/2.8 lens and a 60 mm f/4.3 telephoto lens. There are other versions of this camera, like the Minolta AF Tele Super, that have slightly different lens options built into the camera.

The Minolta AF Tele also has a built-in flash, a fill-flash button, a self-timer, auto advance, auto rewind, and a tripod mount. This camera is fully autofocus, so there is no need to worry about taking the time to manually focus. However, this also means there are really no manual features at all, so you’re a bit limited when it comes to creativity.

There is also no option for multiple exposures. There is a film rewind button on the bottom of the camera, but it rewinds the film roll all the way back to the beginning, so you will be shooting over your entire roll. While you can still overlap images in this way, it gives you way less control than a camera with a dedicated multiple exposure feature.

The fill-flash button is also a nice addition to the camera, especially if you are shooting with a subject that is back-lit. The main flash will automatically come on when the camera senses there is not enough light, but it’s nice to have the option to turn the fill-flash on when needed.

The camera will automatically set the ISO for your film as well, as long as the film is DX coded, which most films are.

It takes a Lithium CR-P2 battery or two AA batteries, which is a very interesting feature I’ve never seen before in a camera. But it’s definitely nice for those moments when your battery dies on you while traveling and AA batteries are the only ones you can find.

And obviously, one of the best things about these point-and-shoot cameras is that they are compact and easy to travel with! While the Minolta AF Tele is a bit more bulky that other cameras of its class, it is still a nice, small size compared to 35 mm cameras with detachable lenses and zoom lenses.

Lens fully extended

Back of the camera

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m kind of obsessed with this camera. The dual lens system is just plain fun to experiment with and gives you that little bit of extra zoom when you’re traveling if you see something farther away that you’d like to photograph. I’m also pleasantly surprised by the sharpness of the lens, especially at the 35 mm setting. It seems a little softer when using the 60 mm lens option. I’m a little bit bummed that there is no multiple exposure option, but I usually assume this is the case with most point-and-shoot cameras from that time period. It’s a rare feature that most people didn’t care for, particularly the average, everyday consumer. This camera is somewhat limited in terms of creativity, considering it doesn’t have any manual features other than the fill-flash, but it’s still a super fun point-and-shoot that is great for capturing candid moments with friends and family, and for traveling with a 35 mm film camera that doesn’t weigh a million pounds or take up a ton of space in your bag.

This is definitely one of those cameras I’ll just quickly grab when I’m running out the door for a family day or a night out with friends. I’m sure it will be joining me on many more trips in the future too. If you see this one out in the wild, snatch it up! I got lucky and found mine for $20, but it seems that the average going rate is about $25 to $70. I’d pick one of these up sooner rather than later if I were you, because these vintage point-and-shoots just keep getting more and more popular!

For these photos, I used Kodak UltraMax 400 35 mm film, but if you’d like more film recommendations, make sure to check out my blog post, The Best Color Film for 35 mm Cameras!