Following a generous offer by a fellow filmwaster, a few of us have been recently trying Kodak's new Ektar 100. Available in both 135 and 120 formats, Kodak claims it has the `World`s Finest Grain`. First to arrive was a Pro Pack of 120, duly distributed to fellow
buroni shooters:
A man who told me this jinbo was not his most expensive. Yashica Mat 124 at
f3,5.
The results are very nice. Putting aside the technical aspects of grain, and latitude and stuff like that, it has a very
film-like presence, and an overall glorious rendering of colors. With film use now being a selective choice for photographers wanting to distance themselves from the dry bright sameness of digital photography, perhaps Kodak said, 'Lets make a new film that has results that look unmistakably film-like... '
Greens, blues, and yellows are all softly represented. Reds and oranges get a bit more pump:
Both above Yashica Mat.
Greens particularly nice:
Bessa R3a, 21mm.
From Artsyken's Yashicaflex. More from Ken:
Technical stuff? Well I shot this at ISO400 by mistake:
Realizing my error, I reset my ISO and shot similar again at the proper ISO100:
So, I think it is safe to say Ektar 100 has a nice latitude... Grain? This was scanned at 300dpi at 300%:
Summary: the little color I shoot I usually use Fuji Film's FujiPro400 (PN400N). I use the FujiPro as it too as a very obvious film presence, with a moderate grain too. The Ektar has a similar presence, but is certainly a lot smoother. If you shoot color, and enjoy interesting results, then a few rolls of Ektar to compare with what you normally shoot would be a good start. It would also be interesting to see the results from a flash-equipped point-and-shoot device too.
The only shortcoming I have been unfortunate to discover, is though it is a conventional C-41 process, one lab chain in Japan has issued the directive to all its stores they are NOT to process Ektar. As most labs in Japan use a variation of the Fuji Film C-41 lab, this may be the result of pressure from Fuji. Or, it may just be because the film is new the lab has not verified appropriate tolerances in their machines to support. No idea really, but it was annoying in trying to get a 135 roll processed this week.
Time will tell perhaps, if Fuji Film feel compelled to release a similar low-grain film...
See ya! I am off...
Bessa R3a at 1/15s.
