I received my roll of Kodak Ektachrome E100 back from the developers last week, and I’ve put together a few samples for you to check out. Funny, but it appears the Darkroom (in San Clemente, CA), are using the Fuji Velvia profile for scanning the Kodak film, because the Ektachrome scans look almost identical to Fuji Velvia I’ve had developed from them in the past, see sample below. I order scans from them just in case the film gets lost in the mail on the way back. As a side note; I’ve had good luck with the Darkroom for developing my E-6 film, but they don’t seem to be able to correctly scan images for shadow details, they’re almost totally black, so I always do it myself at home using the Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED with Hamrick Vuescan software and in this case set to the Kodak Ektachome E100 profile. I did no ‘color jacking’ for the pictures below.
I used the excellent metering and sharp Nikon 35Ti camera in aperture priority mode for the most part, usually near F/8 for most of the pics here. I do notice the new Ektachrome E100 seems to need no negative exposure compensation; as opposed to Fuji Color transparency film where I usually set the EV to about -1/3 to -2/3 stops to protect the highlights; of course using the exact same camera.
Kodak Ektachrome E100 color is definitely biased green when compared to Fuji slide film, and resembles the more subdued Provia color palette more than Velvia with its electric greens, although both have a magenta cast. Other than color, the characteristics are very similar between Kodak and Fuji. I’ve only used one roll, but anecdotally I think the E100 has a slightly broader dynamic range.
I like the Ektachrome colors better than both Fuji emulsions, but that’s just me. I’ll probably order another roll of 35mm, then wait for the 120 rolls to come out (let’s cross our fingers). As of this post, Ektachrome is on a long back-order, so get your notifications when in stock from reliable sources such as B&H Photo.
Here’s some info from Kodak about Ektachrome E100: go here for the complete white sheet.
The information above on the lighting conditions, shutter speed and lens openings looks a bit off to me, it’s about one stop slower from what I used for the images below.
I used the Nikon 35Ti and exposed at ISO 100. Scanned on a Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED. Pictures are sized are 4000 pixels wide.
Click pictures for larger versions.
Summerhaven in the fall. When held up to daylight, this scan resembles the actual color of the slide.
Here’s the Darkroom scan just as they sent it. Notice it’s more magenta and ‘Fuji’ looking than the Ektachrome at the top, and the shadows are black with no detail. Unfortunately, this is what you’ll probably get when you have someone else develop and scan your film together through high volume roll machines.
Backyard in the afternoon, the colors have a very natural appearance.
Fall colors in the shadows, F/2.8, 1/30s.
Blazing a trail through the driveway, I like the reds, and they match the actual car color perfectly.
Colorful back-lit Aspen.
Mountain colors.
Greenish Geometric home. Notice the clouds are not blown out, and the shadows still have detail present.
That’s is for this post; I only ran one roll through the camera, so when I shoot more I may write up a proper review. Get your Kodak Ektachrome E100 film here, (B&H, Amazon, ebay)
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