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In my 4th post I showed a video I’d made of my travelling to meet Duncan from Silverpan Film Lab. In the video, I talk to Duncan a fair bit about what I’d already learned about the film in terms of how to accurately expose it for the results I wanted. I also shared a whole series of images that I took as I walked around Bristol. The most notable outcome of those shots was how blue-shifted they were. This initially confused me slightly as I was 100% happy that I’d exposed a lot of them correctly and as they’d been shot in daylight, I wasn’t sure how it could be a colour balance issue. That was until Terry commented on the post. We knew that Kodak Ektachrome 100, and E6 film generally, are known for extremely fine grain, and clean colours. And it is the colours that are the first thing you notice when you see the photos. We are really impressed at how the film has handled colour tones. Bright colours like the reds really pop, and natural tones such as the blues and greens remain true to life. If colour accuracy is important to you, then you have to try this film. These days it can be difficult to find labs that process slide film, let alone labs that process it in-house. Here at The Darkroom, it’s one of our specialties! We have been dip & dunk processing E-6 slide film in-house for over 25 years. I could have been more patient and waited for 36 flawlessly lit scenes across a whole week instead of just getting through the roll with the best of what I was given over two days. E-6 was made available to the public in 1975, but only the pro films were available at the time. There were some color stability ("keeping") issues to verify before the amateur films could be released.
To close off this portion of the review, I’ll reiterate my feeling that E100VS was a great film and I highly recommend getting a roll to try out for yourself. Yes, it’s not as super-fine as Fuji’s Velvia, yes, it’s more saturated and yes, it’s discontinued but if you’re happy with the first two points, you’ll love it. That’s a promise. Velvia excels as a daylight landscape film, but not so much for portraits since it tends to oversaturate skin tones. Elite Chrome: There are actually several in this family, but I was never able to find a definitive date when it was introduced, and with no inception date had to leave it off the timeline. I'm probably not Googling this correctly, but I'm confused about Kodachrome and Ektachrome. I love slide film myself and like to use it when I can afford to buy it! So the return of Ektachrome has peaked my interest. But I am a little muddled. As a slide film, Ektachrome is designed to be developed using the E-6 process, which has evolved from the original E-1 process of 1946 via the E-2, E-3, E-4, and E-5 versions.The second was that I preferred my results from higher-quality more modern glass. Taken with the Zeiss 35mm 2.8 ZM C-Biogon Incident experiments October 8: Kodak introduces EKTACHROME 7294 Color Reversal Film in Super 8 format. 16mm format to follow. I’m not going to say it gives you better images because that’s a subjective thing. But if the things this film does well are things you like to see in a photograph, you’re probably going to be very impressed with it indeed. September 25: Kodak Alaris announces the public release of new EKTACHROME E100 in 35mm format. 8mm and 16mm to follow.
The technical differences between Kodachrome type films (there were non-Kodak versions) and Ektachrome type films are and were quite interesting. I just retired and am finally arching my Ektachrome 120 and Kodachrome images from when I was in the Air Force from ‘75-79. I shot the 120 with a Pentax 6X7 and a Yashica TLR. The Kodachrome with a Nikon. I was stationed in California for a little over a year and then Germany for 2-1/2 years. I was all over Europe and the Middle East. It just took me 3 weeks to sort through and semi-catalog each image. Even after discarding 40-50% of the images, I ended up with 800 of the 6×7, 100 of the 6X6, and 300 of the Kodachrome. Of those, I would say about half of each are ones that I am really happy with and worthy of display. So with all things said, the image qualities of Ektachrome E100 really do depend on how well you shoot it. Nail the light and exposure and you’ll love it. Get either of those just slightly off and – as you’ll see if you read on – you might find yourself disappointed.Another fun fact: The name Velvia is a portmanteau of “Velvet Media” (so named because of the velvety smooth image structure), and the edge code you see on the film strip – RVP – stands for “ Reversal/ Velvia/ Professional series” To see what each film could do I tried to shoot Kodak Ektachrome E100 and Fuji Provia 100F in a variety of lighting conditions. E6 slide film is known to have limited latitude compared to colour negative films. As such it is more common to shoot slide film in subdued light where there is less contrast. Personally I love hard light such as direct sunlight so I put the films to the test. Spoiler alert The Super-8 version was exhibited at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, and was named Ektachrome 100D 7294.
Shooting on a point and shoot like we did was always going to be a challenge when it came to fine grain results. That being said, we are happy and certainly can’t fault the film. It handled well and produced some crisp, sharp photos despite the limitations of the camera. (We are really looking forward to try out the medium format and seeing how that compares). A. A colour reversal film not only offers vivid colour and extremely fine grain, but also significantly higher resolution and better sharpness. The finer grain carries through the scanning process, and the slide itself is a colour reference which makes scanning easier. Ektachrome 120 is the fantastic E100 colour slide film from Kodak in medium format glory. Enjoy the unique experience of colour positive film, with the fantastic image area and resolution of medium format. Slide film, also known as reversal or positive film has all the colours looking natural immediately after development. This type of film was created to be projected on a screen (which wouldn’t work with negative film). The projection was useful for creating slide show presentations of yesteryear, as well as for screening movies.
Incident experiments
When I walked out the doors of my local camera store holding an actual roll of new Kodak Professional Ektachrome E100, I was astonished. Those crazy folk from Rochester actually did it , I thought. They revived slide film . Perhaps that’s why Ektachrome was often used for other things throughout its long history. Things like portraits and fashion shoots or landscape and nature work, where you could control the light or just wait for it to be optimal. Would I shoot portraits on slide film again? Absolutely! I plan too. I really like the colours of slide film, specifically Provia and Ektachrome as featured here. Velvia can often be a bit too saturated for portraits but it is not impossible (again see below). Film grain Your reference to aging and color balance of the “Professional” grade films is exactly what I had learned from other, more experienced shooters while growing up. My father introduced me to 35mm photography before I was a teen. As an Army brat, I had access to military photolabs where I first learned to process Ektachrome with E2/E3 chemistry. Even though the E4 process which followed did not require re-exposure of the film after the first development, there were guys that still used the floodlamps because they thought chemical reversal was somehow not as good. I managed a camera shop in the Seventies while working my way through school. The film reps also confirmed that amateur films were expected to spend more time in ambient temperatures, aging along the way. We used to smile at the idea that a year’s worth of family holiday images might be on customer’s single roll of 36 exposures, but it was sometimes true.
When shot well, slide film like Ektachrome E100 should give results that colour negative films would struggle to replicate. Don’t let it worry you too much though. Keep it simple and if the results are less than ideal, learn and adjust for next time. Despite its marketing as a professional film, Ektachrome is not the most capable, most accurate slide film on offer.” Elite Chrome EB: Often just called Elite Chrome 100. Kodak advertises this as “The daylight film is aimed at amateur photographers and amateurs”. There is no verifiable statements or information from Kodak, but it is widely reputed that EB was superior to EB3. Reportedly introduced to the market in 2003, Shah, Saqib (September 25, 2018). "Kodak's retro Ektachrome film arrives after a long wait". www.msn.com . Retrieved September 26, 2018.
1976
What are the advantages of this troublesome film? Ektachrome’s technical data sheet notes a remarkable sharpness and a neutral, but rich color palette, which should result in a truer-to-life image compared with most C41 film. While this is objectively true, it only scratches the surface of what this film really is. Let’s dig a little deeper. After shooting about 6 rolls, I selected about 20 frames for drum scanning. The scenes varied and lenses used were a Voigtlander 40mm Ultron, a Nikon 70-200 f/4, and a Sigma 160-600. My favorite shots tended to be closer to the telephoto and super telephoto range with a shallow depth of field. With high-resolution drum scans, you’re able to truly analyze grain unlike any other scans and with E100, and I was impressed. When compared to a film such a Provia 100F, the grain seemed smaller, more even, and produced slightly sharper images.
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