Today’s Post by Joe Farace
At the 2009 PMA show, Kodak introduced Ektar 100 in medium format and in the process celled it “the finest, smoothest grain of any color negative film available today.” I think that same claim can be made today.
In the past, the Ektar film name, especially Ektar 25, was synonymous with fine grain. but the downside of using any ISO 25 film meant that you needed a tripod for most of your photography with it. Ektar 100 Film ostensibly possesses the same fine grain as the ISO 25 version but tosses into the bargain two additional stops of speed making hand holdable shutter speeds more practical. On top of that’s there’s significantly more exposure latitude. Kodak claims that one stop of underexposure and two stops of overexposure and in my experience shooting a wide bracket of the film certainly bears that out. Like Kodak’s Portra series of films, Ektar 100 uses Micro-Structure Optimized T-Grain emulsions that make it ideal for scanning with a variety of desktop or high-end drum scanners.
Reciprocity may be unknown in the digital world but is a fact of life for film shooters, yet Kodak recommends no adjustments for long and short exposures or even any filter corrections or exposure compensation for exposures from 1/1,000 second to 1 second. For critical applications with longer exposure times, Kodak hedges their bets and suggests that you “make tests under your conditions.” I made my own tests under low light conditions and found with exposures up to five seconds I didn’t experience any problems with color shifts or variance in exposure and even when over or underexposed, the grain structure remained fine, tight, and controlled.
How I Made this Photograph: Red, white and blue colors make this hot rod photograph a patriotic one and show off the color as well as the pure neutral tones from the engine’s chrome that Kodak’s Ektar 100 is capable of reproducing. Image was captured with a Pentax 6X7 that I later sold. I must confess to missing that camera and at the time the Pentax 6X7 was affordable; not so much today although I keep thinking about re-buying another one. Lens used was a borrowed Pentax 75 f/4.5 Takumar SMC with an exposure of 1/125 sec at f/11.
If you enjoyed today’s post and would like to support this and my car photography blog allowing me to increase the amount of coverage for film photography, please consider making a monthly contribution via Patreon. Memberships start at just $2.50 a month, with other levels support of $5 and $10 that include special benefits. If subscriptions are not for you, that same linked page lets you to make a one-time contribution. And if you would prefer to just send some good thoughts my way, that’s appreciated too.