a film guide to ektar 100
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ISO: 100
Sizes: 35mm, 120mm, 4x5, 8x10
Process: C-41
Best for: natural daylight, bright light, landscapes, blues and greens
I’d definitely say one of the questions that I, as a Film photographer, get very often is which film is my favourite to shoot with. A lot of the time, I’ll answer that it depends on the type of work I’m doing, and what my vision is for projects. I’ve also gone through quite a big shift in the films I like more than others. However, there is one that has stayed pretty constant and has featured in all of my favourite projects, and that film is ektar 100.
Introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1989, the original ektar came in a wide range of ISOs and was marketed as a semi-professional film. However, this film was discontinued in 1997 and replaced by Kodak’s royal gold until this line was equally discontinued seven years later. The ektar we know today was re-launched in 2008 with the promise of fine grain, high saturation and vibrant colours. These features make ektar stand out from other films, especially those in similar price range such as portra. Despite this, ektar always seems to be one of the mainstream films people tend to gravitate to towards the least. So I’m here to talk about ektar, it’s strengths and weaknesses and how you can use it to its best advantage so that maybe one day it may become your favourite film too.
Projects shot on Ektar 100: Paradise in Devil’s Isle, memories from marseille, Dalmatia on film
Built for blues
Because the majority of my travel and lifestyle work centres around coastal living; blues, greens and yellows are always colours that are really important to me. Film stocks such as gold and porta do a really good job of getting hues and tones, however, I never really felt like they could get the balance you would in ektar
Unlike the true-tone quality found in portra, ektar was built to bring out the vibrancy in colours. it thrives in colourful and bright settings, making it an indispensable film for travel and landscape photography. For those who really love those ‘filmy’ colours, this is probably the film stock for you.
I find that ektar works especially well in bringing out the blues and greens of an image, making it my personal favourite film to use when travelling to tropical or beach destinations such as Bermuda.
Ektar is equally brilliant at bringing out red in an image, creating a strong contrast to its green and blue counterparts. However, the vibrancy found in the reds in ektar can also become quite a significant problem once we consider its effect on skin tone. Indeed, I find that skin tones are often over-saturated and gain a slight reddish tone. Although this can be modified whilst editing, I tend to consequently stay away from using ektar if I’m doing portraits. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use ektar for portraits, this is just my personal preference and something to keep in mind if you use this particular stock.
SO fine you woulnd’t know it’s film
Despite having the film “effect” in terms of colours and tones, Ektar may not be the film I would recommend if grain is the look and feel you want for an image. Advertised on the box as having “the world’s finest grain,” Ektar is not lying: the images are so sharp and clear you often wonder if you are even shooting film at all. Ektar is built to give you the definition and precision that the naked eye would see.
The reason that Ektar has such a fine grain simply comes down to its low ISO which is rated at 100. Obviously you could push or pull the film but unlike its other counterparts such as portra, I think ektar works best when you use it at box rating.
Because of its low sensitivity, Ektar only really works in very specific settings, specifically where there is an abundance of light to work with. It means that it can be your best friend when working in bright sunny days or spaces with loads of reflective light, and your worst enemy when it comes to low light and night-time settings (unless you don’t mind using tripods or having motion blur).