Film lovers have been pretty excited with the re-release of Kodak’s Ektachrome, and have been anxiously awaiting their shipments to give it a try. I placed an order as soon as the FIND lab started taking orders and received five rolls in the first shipment. The day job delayed shooting a bit, but work took me to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and I finished my roll of Ektar which was in the camera and then shot a roll of Ektachrome. Here are the results.
Let me preface this by saying that there is no science or technical expertise in this comparison. I am not in any way an expert in comparing cameras, lenses, or film stocks. I like to try different things, and if I like it, I keep shooting it. For both rolls, I shot my Canon EOS 1v with the Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens, with both rolls shot at box speed. Both rolls were processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab.
There are no direct comparison shots, although there is some overlap in time and place. My first impression is that I unintentionally underexposed most of the Ektachrome shots by up to one stop. The negatives are on their way back from the lab, so for now, I’m looking at the scans for the comparisons. The Ektachrome shots were richer in color than the Ektar. In the comparison shots below, the Ektachrome is on the left or top, and the Ektar is on the right or bottom.
When shooting at the marina, the sun was very bright, so there was a lot of contrast in the scene making proper exposure difficult. However, I noticed that I underexposed again when shooting under cloudy skies, as seen in the coffee shop scenes below. I err on the side of underexposure with slide film, but on the next roll, I’m going to try to overexpose a bit.
Overall, the Ektachrome shots are extremely saturated and heavy in blues and greens.
The Ektar strikes me as more representative of what I was seeing when I shot the scene.
I shot a bit of fall color with the Ektachrome as well.
I have plenty more rolls on hand to get used to shooting it, but my first impression is that I will be bringing Ektachrome to the Caribbean when we travel there in January. I think the ocean will look amazing on Ektachrome.
I’ll post again with a few more trials. Are you enjoying the new Ektachrome?
hi !
I am wondering if the Ektar film is a little overexposed. unlike other negative films, the Ektar should not be overexposed (just like slide film) in order to retan it’s vivid colors.
I did shoot at box speed, and it’s the same camera. Perhaps it was just that I was comparing it to the Ektachrome that it looked less saturated.