The film shows the most contrast and saturation near the shadows while slightly decreasing those qualities as more light gets added to the mix. As seen in Figure 1 above, underexposed photographs are likely to shift towards the blues, whereas additional exposure tends to improve an overall colour balance. Ektar is wonderful for scenes with lots of light that need to produce detailed, well-saturated scans and prints. I’ve had great results taking photos of snow with this film.

Ektar is also particularly challenging for the novice photographer. The emulsion does not have the wide exposure latitude of Portra 400 or even Ultramax 400, and shifts colors slightly based on slight over- and under-exposure. Self-scanning Ektar is also a pain with consumer-level scanners. Ektar benefits greatly when processed and scanned through professional level machines by those with extensive experience with the emulsion.After hiking in the woods of Ralph Stover, with its palette of heavy greens and subtle reds, I decided to test my new film in different settings. I took a roll to the coast of Sea Isle City, New Jersey. Like any shore town, it’s a place loaded with heavy blues and varieties of light pastels, comfort colors. My father and I drove around until we found something interesting to shoot. We pulled over at the foot of the bridge that connects the shore points of Sea Isle City and Avalon. Ektar 100 is best for landscape and nature-based photography due to its very low ISO and saturation. I’d also suggest that it could be good for cityscapes etc as long as there are no people involved. Yes, you can photograph people with Ektar 100 but light-skinned people will have a red hue (which you can correct but it makes it clear that Ektar isn’t the best for this job. By doing this, I was able to make sure the shadows were properly exposed while being confident that Kodak Ektar 100 could handle the overexposed highlights in the sky. Another key characteristic of Kodak Ektar is the extremely saturated colors. Once again, it’s hard to find another C41 color film with more saturation than Ektar.

What is exposure latitude? Exposure latitude is basically how much a picture can be under or overexposed and still be usable. So for instance, Portra 160 and Ektar 100 have very good exposure latitude, which means you’ll get more information from the shadows and highlights.Although I don’t do much of it myself, I can see how Ektar would work as a cheaper alternative to slide film for landscape photography.

I already have a Kodak Ektar film simulation recipe that I published a little over two years ago, but I’ve been wanting to revisit it for awhile. In the article that I published for that recipe, I wrote, “I’m actually a little hesitant to call this film simulation recipe Kodak Ektar 100 because it’s not quite right. It’s close, but a little off. The color palette is slightly askew.” That’s a true statement. My original Ektar recipe is close but no cigar. Since that time Fujifilm has added more JPEG options to their cameras, so would it be possible to get closer to real Ektar on my X100V? Portra 160 on the other hand, (like all other Portras), can kind of do it all, it’s there to be edited but it can also produce pretty beautiful, natural skin tones. Grain A few months after Christmas in 2019, I ran out of film and needed a supply of rolls that would occupy me for a few more months. However, I wasn’t ready to buy twelve rolls at the prices that Cinestill demands. This is when I found Kodak Ektar 100. I was immediately drawn to the idea of a pro-level film at a reasonable price (it’s the only reason I bought it, in fact). And, the rest is history! The first time I shot Ektar 100 was for its exact intended purpose – landscape photography. Everything that I read told me that Ektar 100 was truly meant for capturing landscapes. So, I went hiking with a few of my friends. I found that 35mm Ektar 100 has almost no visible grain when scanned, even at 40MP . Especially when no sharpening is added in post. In medium and large format, you’ll need a drum scanner to see any resemblance of grain.In short, exposure latitude is the amount that you can over or under expose a film photo while still getting a decent looking image. Ektar has a low exposure latitude, meaning that it cannot handle much over or under exposure. The original Ektar recipe isn’t an exact match to the film, and I believe that this new recipe is closer. The two recipes each produce a different look, and perhaps they both have a place, depending on what exact aesthetic you are after. This new recipe was a collaborative effort, and I want to give a special “thank you” to Thomas Schwab for all of the time and effort he put into making this a reality. It’s much appreciated! You already know, Kodak Ektar 100 is best for landscape, nature and wildlife. Its low ISO and saturated colours make for beautiful landscape pictures that are very clear and sharp. You can shoot any out-of-date film but there are quite a lot of things that come into play when you do that.