A Quick Guide to Kodak Film
We are often asked for film recommendations, so we thought it would be helpful to publish a quick guide.
Consumer film
Consumer film is affordable and versatile. It’s made to work well in nearly any shooting situation and light. For those who are new to shooting film or those who are on a budget, these are the best choice. So let’s talk about Kodak’s consumer-level film types first.
Kodak Ultramax 400
Kodak Ultramax 400 is a film that is cheap and available nearly everywhere, and truly does a great job in just about every situation.
It’s packaged and sold as a consumer film, which completely belies its true qualities as a stellar all-around film. Its relatively quick speed of ISO 400 helps grab those elusive golden hour shots and transitions nicely into low light shots, provided the shooter has steady hands or is using a tripod.
Ultramax 400 is a recommend film to shooters looking for an affordable, reliable all-around film, provided the colour rendition agrees with your personal photographic vision. Buy it here.
Kodak Pro Image 100
Debuting in North America for the first time in 2019, Kodak’s Pro Image 100 is a film packed with saturation and contrast. It’s hard not to recommend Kodak Pro Image 100, especially to shooters on a budget that want try their hand with low-speed films. It doesn’t even come close to Ektar’s sharpness or lack of grain, but it makes up for it by being a combination of both Gold and Ektar films at a very attractive price
Kodak Gold 200
If you grew up between the 1980s and early 2000s, chances are you’ve either shot or had your picture taken with Kodak Gold 200. This mid-speed film has been a favorite of consumers and adventurous professionals alike for its ability to come with great image quality.
Gold 200‘s popularity stems from its remarkably balanced imaging characteristics. It has just the right amount of grain, is sharp and its colours are vibrant. Its speed is just right for an afternoon photo walk. It performs admirably for anybody’s general photography, and in experienced hands it can produce beautiful images.
Gold 200 is a film suited primarily to the novice photographer. This film is a fantastic emulsion to learn on, and incredibly rewarding to shoot if treated with care. It’s also inexpensive, and works well as a backup film, even if it doesn’t have the obvious character of some of the more expensive, professional films.
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Professional film
Professional films are those that are typically manufactured with a specific application in mind. Whether these be formulated for wedding or portrait photographers, or made to work best with landscapes, pro films usually do one job exceptionally well. Of course, this comes at a cost. Pro films are often double or triple the price per roll of consumer-level films.
Kodak makes quite a few impressive pro-level color-negative films.
Kodak Portra 160
Kodak’s slowest speed offering in the Portra lineup is also one of their most intriguing. Portra 160 offers a subtler, gentler colour palette when compared to other colour negative emulsions. Pair this understated colour palette to the fine grain offered by an ISO 160 film, and you end up with one of the best portraiture films on the market.
Portra 160 instead goes for depth and subtlety. This is perfect for images which emphasize texture and detail rather than bold colour and contrast. Portra 160 has become a favourite of wedding photographers, portrait photographers, and photographers who generally prefer a gentler, less saturated, even dreamier image.
Kodak Portra 400
Portra 400 is perhaps the most widely used film in Kodak’s catalog it’s nearly flawless. Its colour palette is one of the most balanced among colour emulsions, its exposure latitude is the widest in photography (about six stops of over-exposure and three to four stops of under-exposure when processed at box speed), and its grain is some of the finest found in a 400 speed film.
Portra 400’s versatility makes it the Kodak film that I’d recommend for every situation. Its wide exposure latitude makes it suitable for the brightest daylight scenes and the darkest low-light scenes, as well as in super high contrast situation. The wide exposure latitude also provides a lot of room for over and under exposure, making it a particularly good film for cameras with slow shutter speeds or slow lenses.
Kodak Ektar 100
Since its introduction in 2008, Ektar has built a reputation as one of Kodak’s premier films. Like Kodachrome, Ektar is slow (ISO 100), fine grained, and has a much sought-after vibrancy in its colour palette. But unlike Kodachrome, Ektar is a C-41 color negative film, enabling it to be processed by any film processing lab.
Ektar shines in bright daylight and in colourful scenes, but will need some extra post-processing work when dealing with overcast and low-light scenes. It’s also a challenging emulsion to use for portraiture and general people pictures as the emulsion tends to emphasize reds. The emulsion does not have the wide exposure latitude of Portra 400 or even Ultramax 400 and shifts colors slightly based on slight over and under exposure.
The colours are about as beautiful and vibrant as old-school Kodachrome and the grain is fine enough to make some truly sharp scans and gigantic prints. For professionals and amateurs who’d like to test their skill, Ektar’s a great choice.
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Kodak Portra 800
Last in line is Portra 800, Kodak’s higher speed colour negative offering. In some ways, Portra 800 is a bit redundant considering Portra 400’s exposure latitude covers nearly all of Portra 800’s effective range. But Portra 800 is another great option when light gets really low.
The film is grainier than Portra 400 and makes a slightly more stark and contrasty image, which makes it work well for moody, dimly lit scenes in which grain and contrast are welcome.
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Looking for a different type of film, medium format, black and white? Feel free to contact us
