Kodak Ektar tips please

LJR69 · Joined: 09 Aug 2011 Posts: 11

I've purchased some 120 roll Kodak Ektar 100 film for my Bronica ETRSi. I've been reading a number of reviews about it and there is quite a bit of contradictory information, at least it seems that way.

I wondered if anyone here has had much experience using it and can answer some of my questions below, or just give some general tips.

1) Some reviews are saying that they get more natural results when they shoot at ISO 64 as opposed to ISO 100. There's a tendency for over saturation, especially in the greens (I also read a review that said greens were not well saturated)

2) I'm really new to film photography and am using an old, but simple, Vivitar 35 lightmeter which only measures reflected light. So I'm still learning to average my readings in contrasty situations. What's the tolerance of this film for people like me Smile

I read somewhere it had the tolerance of slide film which is a bit worrying

3) When shooting at its rated ISO 100 a couple of reviews indicated that in overcast situations the colour temp looks a tad on the cool side. This is not apparent in images shot in bright sunlight (apparently). Can anyone confirm that?

Any advice gratefully received.

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

In my experience - it's pink not cool, the latitude is OK. I think slight over exposure results in greater contrast/saturation, while slight under exposure in less - and this is for ALL color print film, so Ektar isn't the only one. Overall Ektar is too temperamental for me (color rendition wise), I like things simpler, I'm a simple man Laughing

But I hope others with better experience an tolerance will add to this, and probably contradict what I just said too Laughing

The light meter you have is fine, just become conscious of what you point it at - sometimes a general reading is fine (which is what you'd get from a center weighted TTL meter), but since it's in your hand already, point it where you'd like the mid tones to be; or in high contrast situations it helps you decide - you can average the high and low light readings, or you can meter for the shade, or meter for the highlights.

FWIW I've shot with real slide film, without a meter, and the photos have come out right. Although there is a 'technically correct' exposure for film and digital, that isn't always the photographically correct one!

Gonzoo · Joined: 29 Mar 2010 Posts: 231

I tried Ektar 100 by myself. I can confirm that you better use it at Iso 64 than 100. Underexposed it will give you an overall magenta-blue cast which is hard to come by in digital post.

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

As an example of the color cast - these are low contrast scenes, obviously, shot with an ES-II (auto center weighted metering), SMC Tak 35/3.5, at ASA 100:

EKtar Fog by Nesster, on Flickr
I didn't correct the color cast on this one very much, the 'as scanned by CVS' ones have a slightly stronger cast... The one below I corrected for truer gray in the fog:

breakwater, Newport, Jersey City, NJ, the title of commas by Nesster, on Flickr

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

I was disappointed with it. At 100ASA the whole roll was over saturated. The sun was low but the reds are far too strong, also shadow areas blue. Shooting at 64 might be worth trying.

Straight from the scanner:

LJR69 · Joined: 09 Aug 2011 Posts: 11

Thank you all. Seems like I'll try the first roll at ISO 64. I really don't want over saturated reds.

I'll post a few shots when I get them developed.

Thanks!

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Speaking of reds, here's a shot of Ektar 100 taken on a mostly sunny day:

I don't regard any of the colors in the above shot as being over-saturated.

Here's a shot of the same subject, but from a different angle. Note that the grass is more saturated in this shot.

Here's a shot of a night-blooming cereus bud. Note how the background OOF areas tend to have a purple cast.

Here's the same shot with the purple cast removed. This shot's colors are closer to reality.

The purple cast is something I've noticed I get when I scan Ektar with my Epson 4990 scanner. It's easy enough to correct in post processing, but this purple cast is unique to Ektar, I've found.

I also removed the purple cast from the caboose images.

All of the above images were taken at box speed. Shot with my Nikon F2 with meterless DE-1 finder and Gossen Luna Pro F as the meter.

I consider the images to be correctly exposed and really don't see any need to decrease the ISO, although I do know this can often be advantageous with color print film.

LJR69 · Joined: 09 Aug 2011 Posts: 11

Those images are superb. Well I have 5 films of Ektar so I think I'll try a roll at 64 and a roll at 100 and see what I get. Love the reds in the carriage you posted!

womble · Joined: 28 Sep 2009 Posts: 987 Location: Hertfordshire

I use Ektar all the time and haven't had these issues. I do, however, send the film to a "pro" lab who may well dealing with the issues (both print and scan) before I get the film back although I am only paying for the basic lo-res scans. Here are some examples:

FED2, Industar 26m lens

These ones were taken using a Pentax MX and a variety of K and M series lenses.

Ektar has become my most used colour film.

Best wishes, Kris.

LJR69 · Joined: 09 Aug 2011 Posts: 11

Wow! Those photos are stunning!

I'm 4 exposures away from sending my film off to Peak Imaging. I'll let you know how I get on.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

I wouldn't be too quick to blame the machine. The Costco local to me uses a Fuji machine and it does okay. I don't know anything about these machines, but apparently they have settings that can be -- erm -- set, for particular types of film. And I recall reading right after Ektar came out that some processors were having problems because their machines didn't have settings for Ektar. So, I'm thinking -- and this is just a guess -- that these machines must have software or firmware updates that can be done periodically to help the processors stay on top of things. So perhaps this woman who had never seen Ektar before might not have known how to set the machine up for Ektar?

I know there's a sizable difference between Ektar and other color neg films besides this slight purple cast I mentioned above. For me, it happens when I shoot duplicates of color neg film with my dupe rig and DSLR. I can reverse Fuji and Kodak Gold, etc. just fine in software, but Ektar gives me fits. I can get somewhat close, but my reversals of Ektar dupes still look far from natural, and it's frustrating. Especially since I like the film so much.