Kodak Ektachrome 100 First Impressions.

Kodak dropped a bombshell a few years back hinting they were bringing slide film back from the dead. After a lot of social updates and teases, E100 was released in 35mm form to much jubilation amongst film photographers. Kodak bailed from the category back earlier this decade due to slowing sales leaveing Fujifilm the last company standing selling slide film. That's changed, Kodak is working carefully to formulate a 120 verion of this film and we should see later in the fourth quarter, pity, I would have loved it for my annual Muskoka trip.

Ok, what's this film like to work with. I must confess, I don't shoot slide film much. There's no pro grade lab in Toronto with a dip and dunk operation, the last one was Toronto Image Works and well, I didn't like working with them. My E-6 lab of choice is Labatoire Borealis down in Montreal, Rachel LaBreche's team do amazing work, their turn around time is pretty quick and their pricing is reasonable.

Shooting slide, you're going to get a much contrastier image, and the latitude is nowhere near as forgiving, you expose for the highlights like you do when shooting digtially. That said Kodak baked in a bit more latitude into E100 compared to say Fuji Velvia which doesn't suffer fools. Scanning and processing in Lightroom is different than C-41. I had to adjust a little bit because I'm not projecting my slides but will be using them in photo zines at a later date. It's not cheap, a roll of E100 will set you back around $18 CAD if you shop smart, and tack on another $10 plus return shipping, this can get very expensive very fast. I plan on using this for special projects.

So, why tulips in August? I was a little slow to getting these scanned, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.


Camera: Nikon F4, Nikkor Ais lenses.
Film: Kodak Ektachrome 100 (E100).