As such, I thought I would write a bit of a post summarising my experiences and findings so far, as well as talking a bit about my latest 3 rolls and where I am going next. So just to bring you all up to speed… First experiences Let’s hope that the resurrection of EKTACHROME will turn the tide and create a whole new generation of film lovers. But like all the hardcore segments of any market, these slide film shooters are far outnumbered by casual, everyday shooters. It would seemingly make more sense for Kodak to introduce an easy-to-use, affordable color negative film, not a technically demanding, outdated, niche film. And yet, here we are. In a word, there’s just a lot more depth than I’ve gotten before from even the best colour negative films I’ve shot like Portra 400 or Ektar 100.

Ektachrome E100 with Vitessa L3. This scene was photographed in broad daylight; Ektachrome rendered the concrete slightly cooler than I remember but otherwise fairly accurately, including the skin tones. Specs and development. I’m really happy with the outcome, but I can’t help wondering if the NEF raw files from my Sony A7R3 will give me a bit more room for manoeuvre and/or give me better control. Next stepsFor a long time, even with some of them being rebranded as Elite Chrome, everything was going great for the Ektachrome family of films. Until, like Uncle Kodachrome before it, a new technology started to affect its sales and usage. And this time it was digital. As noted by Kodak in their press release: “Resurgence in the popularity of analog photography has created demand for new and old film products alike. Sales of professional photographic films have been steadily rising over the last few years, with professionals and enthusiasts rediscovering the artistic control offered by manual processes and the creative satisfaction of a physical end product.” A. Colour reversal film has a much narrower exposure range than negative working films -- roughly +/- a half stop. Proper exposure is critical, because that’s not a lot room for error. Meanwhile, there was an Ektachrome E100VS for a while (but now discontinued), and while the colors may still have been different than Kodachrome’s, it had the higher contrast that reminded me of Kodachrome (and shadows tending bluish as with Kodachrome), while Ektachrome E100G and the new E100 have lower contrast (which means greater exposure latitude, though). E100VS was called “VS” for Very Saturated, and so it colors had somewhat more “intensity” than regular E100G/E100, but presumably inspired more by Fuji Velvia than by Kodachrome.

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”

1965

Advice I see for shooting slide film is to do so at box speed in good light and meter for the mid-tones. If you need more guidance, read up or ask people more experienced than me on how to get the best out of it. 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. The first is the most basic and obvious one and is something that is true of anything that exists and doesn’t negatively affect anyone. In the simplest terms I can think of, having this new Ektachrome available to us is just better than not having it. That’s it. That’s the first reason.

I am sure Fuji film is terrific, but I encourage photographers to use American film. If you are scanning to use as digital, then you are going to use Photoshop to perfect it anyway. I decided the only way I could get full use of 500 images was to display them on a large (55”) TV. The Images of Ektachrome 120 looks terrific. I just bought SilverFast Ai Studio/HDR and have a big project ahead of me the rest of the year during Covid. I hope I didn’t give a false impression about ageing a film. Unlike the artificial accelerated ageing processes to assess the life of digital ink prints, the procedure was simply allowing the film to mature naturally in storage. Samples of the film batches would be processed from time to time and their colour balance assessed. Once a film had reached its optimal point it was put into cold storage to arrest further “deterioration”. The film was then released to dealers as the “Professional” version of the film, and who would have the relevant cooler facilities in-store. This extra labour accounted for the higher price charged. Being a 50 ISO film, you already know that the grain is going to be extremely fine, which makes the amount of detail you can squeeze out of Velvia 50 second to none.In my first post I talked about how I made the mistake of thinking I needed to underexpose this film slightly. In the comments and elsewhere it was recommended that I try using an incident meter rather than a basic iPhone meter and guessing. Regardless of the method of metering I was going to use moving forward, I concluded that I should stop concerning myself with hearsay about how to best expose reversal film, and just concentrate on exposing it accurately. My favourite image from my first roll Easy exposure with familiar cameras Kodak Ektachrome E100 film is a professional-grade 35mm slide film that delivers vibrant and true-to-life colours. It is perfect for capturing stunning landscapes, portraits, and any other subject you want to preserve in the timeless colour positive format.

All film is getting increasingly expensive, and seemingly the pandemic only made the pre-existing conditions worse. Kodak, in particular, however, seems to have raised prices more rapidly and to higher overall levels than its competitors; it’s been the subject of blog posts, forum conversations and podcasts throughout the film photography community for awhile now, so no need to rehash that here. To shoot Ektachrome, you really have to want to. For me, it’ll remain a choice that I’ll continue to justify, but it’s getting harder and harder to do so.Perhaps the next time I shoot some Ektachrome, I’ll do all of the above. But for this one, I just wanted to shoot it as normal – and by that I mean as I would a colour negative film – and see how it turned out. Maybe like an experiment to set a baseline for my knowledge of what to do and what not to do with it. 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.