Ektar 100

[2F/2F]

Well, it looks pretty damned garish and unnatural to me! I was there. I know what the scene actually looked like, and it was pretty far from how the pic looks. It was a pretty standard hazy California sunny 11 day, which most films will render as a bit on the hazy and flat, though warm, side. As I said, however, that is what I wanted for these pix, so I chose my tools and my light accordingly. It is a very contrasty and very saturated film. The film was obviously designed only to replace Kodachrome, IMHO.

[stevebrot]

Well, it looks pretty damned garish and unnatural to me! I was there. I know what the scene actually looked like, and it was pretty far from how the pic looks. It was a pretty standard hazy California sunny 11 day, which most films will render as a bit on the hazy and flat, though warm, side. As I said, however, that is what I wanted for these pix, so I chose my tools and my light accordingly. It is a very contrasty and very saturated film. The film was obviously designed only to replace Kodachrome, IMHO.

I have had similar experience shooting red (non-metallic) cars in full sun with Ektar. I don't know if it is because adjoining chrome takes a deeper value or the value of the red is too high, but it appears that "depth" in the paint job is lost. Here is a similar shot from last summer:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4536831362_5e298929aa_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28796087@N02/4536831362/)

Whether that constitutes "garish", I don't know. The red is not exactly blocked up, but certainly looks flat. Perhaps a little more care with the scan?

Steve

[Q.G.]

Isn't that what people used to call (and love as) "Kodachrome glow"?

[bdial]

Isn't that what people used to call (and love as) "Kodachrome glow"?

That is definitely not Kodachrome. Though to me, Ektar has seemed the closest thing to it, but that red is not a Kodachrome red.

[tiberiustibz]

Bear in mind it will look different if printed optically. Printing optically produces better reds.

[Q.G.]

That is definitely not Kodachrome. Though to me, Ektar has seemed the closest thing to it, but that red is not a Kodachrome red.

Maybe a different red, but Kodachrome had a similar knack of (almost) blocking in reds.

[MattKing]

Steve (stevebrot):

That car in your photo shows a whole bunch of sky blue in the reflections in the chrome and glass and on the whitewalls. In that circumstance, I would be surprised if the red didn't look at least a little flat.

It would be interesting to see what effect a polariser might have.

[Thingy]

It looks like you would benefit from using Velvia 50, or perhaps 100 if thae colour saturation proves too strong. ;)

[Chazzy]

Well, it looks pretty damned garish and unnatural to me! I was there. I know what the scene actually looked like, and it was pretty far from how the pic looks. It was a pretty standard hazy California sunny 11 day, which most films will render as a bit on the hazy and flat, though warm, side. As I said, however, that is what I wanted for these pix, so I chose my tools and my light accordingly. It is a very contrasty and very saturated film. The film was obviously designed only to replace Kodachrome, IMHO.

I agree that it's a very saturated film, but it suits the car. I bet your friend was pleased.

[wblynch]

Bear in mind it will look different if printed optically. Printing optically produces better reds.

It seems nearly impossible to get optical prints anymore. All the walk-in places available to me are scan and digital print.

There are mail order optical labs but it seems they charge up to 5x what a local minilab does.

[GraemeMitchell]

I picked up 20 rolls of 120 Ektar to test, and have shot maybe 10. Overall I'm excited about it, mainly for still lifes and stuff I have specific control over the lighting w/. It is incredibly sharp and grainless and also incredibly easy to scan. W/ that I will continue to use Portra when shooting for skintones.

Here's a sample of Ektar:

http://graememitchell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/flower_100419_002.jpg

[Ihmemies]

Also Kodak stopped making normal saturation papers I think? There are only those digital papers and saturated ultra endura.. Ektar surely looks garish when optically printed. At least while scanning you can reduce the saturation and tweak the colors to look less silly.