MT Shooter Loc: Montana

It appears Kodak will be releasing their new issue Ektrachrome E100 positive film in 120 format in the next few months. No word on pricing yet but if its close to Fujifilm Provia 100 I will be playing with some this Spring!

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I may end up sorely missing my Mamiya C330 and it's three lenses.

Carter, what 120 equipment will you use to shoot wildlife?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Perfect timing. Of course, processing expense will have to be a factor. Additionally, I wonder if processing chemistry is available.
--Bob

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Standard E6 processing.

Link:

https://kosmofoto.com/2019/01/ektachrome-120-could-be-released-by-april/?fbclid=IwAR2Z76ifto3Jqzu7VFPbMr81iij0bDe3rKZYgM4aKIkWY-XuHcNJU5XL_c8

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

I don't use MF for Wildlife, only for landscapes. I have a complete Pentax 645 2 camera outfit as well as a Hasselblad 500CM with 4 lenses. I much prefer the Pentax and my Hassy gear will be going up for sale later this year before I retire.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

RETIRE? You can't do that before I get to your store!

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

December 31st will be my last day.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

December 31? That means I've got to get a summer trip planned. Last two summer trips got changed and I didn't make it to Billings.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

I will try some with my 6 x 7 cameras, but I’m skeptical - it’ll have to be better than their previous emulsions to make me switch from Provia or Velvia. I use Fuji-Hunt E-6 chemistry, at least as good as Kodak E-6 was.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I hope it will be available by this summer; I have a project planned and I think this film would be perfect for it.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

In my commercial work, before digital, I used tons of Ektachrome and Fugichrom films. The soon to come re-release of Ektachrome 100, begs a question- Which E100 is it gonna be? The ISO 100 family of Ektachrome emulsion came in 4 types. as follows:

E110-S- Saturated colors- reminiscent of Kodachrome (kinda) and good for general purpose outdoor and studio situations. It could be pushed up to 2 stop withou horrible color shifts.

E100-SW- Warmer saturated colors- good for unpredictable outdoor light- overcast etc. Nice for portraiture. Can be pushed up to 2 stops.

E1000 EPN (Professional) Accurate color with moderate saturation. Good for advertising illustrations etc. Very nice skin tones.

E100 EPP One of my favorite for advertising illustration and art reproduction. Could be overexposed one stop and pull-processed to reduce contrast in art production where polarized ligh and filtration tends to increase contrast and saturation. The +1 exposure and pull process normalizes the contrast and renders excelant shadow detail with accurate color.

Fugi(?) There was a period before some of the professional emulsions were introduced where Ektachrome (ISO64) had a very blue or cyan bias especially with electronic flash and certain daylight conditions, especially where there were high levels of UV. Theses films required significant filtration and even some of the later version of the ISO 100 stock came with filter recommendations which varied form one emulsion batch to another. We had to stock large inventories of one batch and there were different filtration requirements between various large format sizes and roll films. Each batch had to be tested for the filter pack required for color correction. Sometimes, exposure was a nightmare in that filter factor required more light output and longer exposure times to enable practical aperture for depth of field. Add bellows extension and reciprocity law failure and that required even more filtration- a vicious cycle of unfortunate events. So... an ordinary table-top shot of a small product might have required 4,000 watt-seconds with flash or long exposure with hot lights- bad for food photography!

So- I went over to Fugi! One of the types (something designated like "RDP DRP"? as I recall) was perfect. It delivered warm to neutral colors, nice saturation and all this with very little or no filtration. I suspect the introduction of this film woke Kodak up to the fact that Ektachrome 64 and 100 left a lot to be desired among professional photograhers and began to vastly improve their E-6 transparency materials.

Nothing good, however, last forever! The Fugi materials changed and many of their transparency materials tended to produce more saturated and exaggerated colors. At that point, I made the transition to digital and began to do all my commercial assignment in digital. Nowadays, whatever Fugi materials remain in production have different names. I don't know what the Provia 100F or the Velvia 50 are equivalent to in the old or future Kodak selections. You will need to test the film out and make comparisons.

E-6 Processing is still commercially available. There are a number of custom color labs offering the service. The processing chemistry is still available as well. When I was doing a high volume of E-6 work, I did set ip a line in my darkroom. Temperature control is critical as well as immersion times and agitation requirements. I found processing intermittently and in low volume is not practical and in higher volume of production, chemical replenishment is critical and can easily go out of control lead to serious color shifts. It is better to use a lab that does a good volume of work and conducts tight process control and monitoring.

I don't want to be discouraging but I don't see the practically or advantage of getting back into "chromes". It may not be very economical what with the film will probably be sold at a premium prices as well as the processing costs. Ciba and Type "R" print materials are gone. You can scan and print. Personally, I can replicate just about anything I could do with film in digital and I don't feel nostalgic about the darkroom- too many hours in their back in the day. Sadly, most of my favorite films and papers are long gone.

Recently, I have sold most of my old Hasselbald and large format equipment. I do have a mamiya RZ system which I have digitized and of course, I still have the film magazines for it- just in cases! If the Ektachrome comes back on 120 size, I might try out a few rolls. There is only one lab left in my city that still offers E-6 and the do enjoy a niche market. The problem I can foresee is that there is going to be a lack of parts and service for their automatic processing gear and as I alluded to, I can't see them continuing on with a small tank system- time will tell!

Y'all might wanna dust off the old slide projector!

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

From Kodak:
Kodak Professional Ektachrome E100 is a daylight-balanced color transparency film characterized by its extremely fine grain structure, vibrant color rendering, and overall low contrast profile. The lower contrast values contribute to a wide dynamic range and a neutral tonal scale for greater color accuracy, and a low D-min helps to ensure brighter, whiter whites. It has a medium-speed nominal sensitivity of ISO 100/21° when developed in E-6 process and the smooth grain profile pairs with a micro-structure optimized T-GRAIN emulsion to make it especially well-suited to scanning applications.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Thanks for the heads up !

Bigmike1 Loc: I am from Gaffney, S.C. but live in Utah.

I still have my old Yashica-Mat 120 twin lens reflex but this film and processing will probably be out of my financial capabilities. When it comes out let us pore folks know about prices, etc. I wonder, is Kodak trying to revitalize their film industry?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

So that's slide film. "Positive film" made me think, and it's not even 9:00 AM. : )