Kodak Film

Kodak is a company that forever changed the world with its vision of making photography accessible to everyone. While the company has had its ups and downs in the past, they are currently producing some really great products for professionals, hobbyists, and general consumers alike. In today’s post, we are going to take a brief look at all of Kodak’s current film offerings for photography. This short Kodak Film guide will hopefully be helpful to anyone that is new to film and curious about what Kodak has to offer.

Now, just to be clear, Kodak Alaris is currently the company that holds the license to produce and sell Kodak film. Kodak photographic papers and films are still produced by Eastman Kodak, which is a completely different company but sold by Kodak Alaris. All of this came about after Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and gets very confusing. If it weren’t for the creation of the Kodak Alaris company, we wouldn’t have the Kodak films we have today, especially Kodak Ektachrome which was killed off and then only recently brought back.

Kodak Film

A range of films are produced and sold by Kodak. Kodak produces roll film in 35mm and 120 and sheet film in 4x5 and 8x10 inch sizes. You can even customer order sheet film if you need something sized a little differently. Kodak’s films come in color negative, slide (color positive), and black and white. There are a wide range of speeds of film (ISO’s) available from 100 to 3200. To be successful when shooting with film, you need to know the look you’re going for as well as the lighting you’ll be working with so that you can get the best result. Besides the obvious differences in color and black and white film, each type of film has its own grain structure, contrast, and saturation characteristics that need to be considered.

If you’re a hobbyist or a casual photographer, other factors such as lighting or even pricing might play more of a role in helping you decide which Kodak film stock is right for you.

Kodak Slide Film

A slide film is a film stock that produces a positive image rather than a negative. These used to be loaded into those old carousels and displayed at family parties on projector screens. While we don’t use the carousel projectors any longer (well I mean technically there are a lot of them still around and you can still do that if you choose), slide film still brings some amazing characteristics and colors to play with!

Kodak Professional Ektachrome Film

Color slide film is such a small market, Kodak only produces one film stock. Commonly just referred to as Ektachrome or E100, Kodak’s slide film produces vibrant and punchy greens and lots of contrasts. Rated at ISO 100, it loves daylight. In my experience, the more light, the better for this film stock.

Remember the Alamo! I didn’t roll my 120 Ektachrome up tight enough and so I got a light leak across this shot. Ironically, you can see the Kodak branding from the paper in the light leak!

Processing your Ektachrome film requires a different chemistry than color negative film. Kodak Ektachrome has to be processed in E-6 chemistry. While most photographers have no problems tackling home development of their CN-41 film, most film photographers are a little more hesitant to tackle E-6. There are a lot of great labs out there that will handle your Kodak Ektachrome film developing for you however!

A rare self portrait of me. The focus is really soft on this photo, but its because I was using a really cheap range finder that was not terribly accurate.

Beautiful and rich blues and higher contrast shadows are the basic characteristics of Ektachrome E100 film.

Kodak Color Negative Film

Kodak has a much broader selection of color negative films for you to choose from. From some inexpensive consumer films, which I talk specifically about HERE, to some really great professional quality films with different contrast and saturation levels. Before you choose a color negative film from Kodak, you really need to have an idea of the look you are going for as well as how the film behaves. Below you will find all of the Kodak Professional Film available to purchase.

Kodak Professional Ektar 100 Film

Ektar is an amazing daylight color negative film. It has good contrast and more vibrant colors. The grain is fine and great for scanning and darkroom printing. Rated at 100 ISO and balanced for daylight, Ektar produces rich looking images with colorful highlights and still holds lots of information in the shadows. I’ve used Ektar in both daylight and with strobes in the studio and gotten some really great results! Very early on, Ektar was my absolute favorite film type and I used it for everything. I learned very quickly that it does have its limitations. It is not as versatile as Portra and in low light, it does not perform or push as well as some of Kodak’s other films do.

Ektar has been around for a while and there are a lot of great tips and tricks out there for Ektar users. If you’d like to take a look at the technical specs for Kodak Ektar, click HERE to check out or to download the pdf. Everything you need to know about the film is contained in that .pdf.

Film	ISO	Format
Kodak Professional Ektar 100	100	35mm
Kodak Professional Ektar 100	100	120
Kodak Professional Ektar 100	100	4x5

Kodak Professional Portra Film

Kodak Portra 400 Self-Portrait

Portra is Kodak’s most popular color negative film and a favorite for most photographers. This film comes in three different speed ratings and is a much more flexible film that can be pushed and pulled beyond the box speed. Portra is also less saturated and offers less contrast than Ektar, but is no slouch when it comes to image quality. You can get an amazing light and airy look by shooting Portra film one stop under box speed (shoot 400 at 200 and overexpose). From using Portra Film for years I can tell you that it can produce a wide range of results and is more flexible in scanning and printing than Ektar. The grain is fine and this film scans beautifully!

While I originally thought that Kodak Ektar film was the greatest thing ever made, I have since shifted pretty dramatically to team Portra. Primarily, the skin tones are what caused me to switch but since I’ve been shooting a lot more Portra film of all sorts, I’ve really come to love it for a lot of other reasons. One of the secondary reasons I’ve grown to love it more is that its a lot more forgiving that Ektar if you over or under expose. To date, I used this film in every kind of situation imaginable and I’ve been consistently pleased with its results. There is still a pretty decent learning curve with this film, especially if you’re looking for some very specific results, but if you’re picking up a Kodak Professional Film to start with, I’d begin with Portra, specifically Portra 400 in the format of your choice. I’ve gotten some really amazing images out of this film! If you’d like to take a look at the technical specs for this film - click HERE to see or download the pdf!

I could have honestly divided Portra film up into its three different speeds and have done a comparison of each, because each of them do have different characteristics. But I was hoping to avoid getting too very technical in this post. I will be saving that for a future post!

Film	ISO	Format
Kodak Professional Portra	160	35mm
Kodak Professional Portra	160	120
Kodak Professional Portra	160	4x5
Kodak Professional Portra	160	8x10
Kodak Professional Portra	400	35mm
Kodak Professional Portra	400	120
Kodak Professional Portra	400	4x5
Kodak Professional Portra	400	8x10
Kodak Professional Portra	800	35mm
Kodak Professional Portra	800	120
Kodak Professional Portra		Custom

Kodak Black and White Film

While Ilford black and white film seems to be a lot of people’s go to black and white film, I prefer Kodak’s selection of black and white films over Ilford, any day of the week! Kodak actually offers a nice selection of black and white films, which cover every possible range of your needs. Just like with the color films, you will need to know what sort of look and lighting you are going for to select the right film.

Kodak Professional TrI-X Film

This is my absolute favorite Kodak film. I’ve shot hundreds of rolls of this stuff. To me, it seems to be a little grainier and grungier that the T-Max films. This film can be pushed and pulled like crazy and is really really easy to develop and print at home. Its great in bright light as well as dark rooms and even when you have bright/hot spots from using a flash indoors, it doesn’t totally lose the information from the darker corners in the image. I’ve pushed this stuff to 1600 and gotten really great results in really dark rooms. Tri-X has a more editorial/documentary kind of look to it, it doesn’t have as artsy of a look to it.

If you’re looking to use Tri-X, you basically get one speed, but the film can be pushed and pulled so easily that you don’t really need any other speeds. If you’re using 35mm or 120, you get the film in 400 but if you’re using 4x5 or 8x10 sheet film, the speed is 320 (not a real difference). You can also purchase Kodak Tri-X 400 in 35mm in 100 foot rolls, just in case you want to roll your own!

Film	ISO	Format
Kodak Professional Tri-X	400	35mm
Kodak Professional Tri-X	400	120
Kodak Professional Tri-X	320	4x5
Kodak Professional Tri-X	320	5x7
Kodak Professional Tri-X	320	8x10

Kodak Professional T-Max Film

The final Kodak Photographic film we are going to talk about in this post is Kodak T-Max film. The T-Max film family boasts a really fine and very scannable grain. The images have slightly less contrast and are not as punchy as Tri-X films. You get beautiful prints and scans out of T-Max with a lot of range. T-Max comes in a wide range of sensitivities also. Ranging from 100 to 3200, you can do a lot with T-Max. I’ve only used it occasionally but the results have always been pleasing. I’ve shot about 3 rolls of 3200 and the results from those rolls have been spectacular considering the super low light conditions I was shooting in. With the P3200, you are actually pushing the film, so there’s a few things to take into consideration when using that particular speed, but its not hard to use at all.

Film	ISO	Format
Kodak Professional T-Max	100	35mm
Kodak Professional T-Max	100	120
Kodak Professional T-Max	100	4x5
Kodak Professional T-Max	400	35mm
Kodak Professional T-Max	400	120
Kodak Professional T-Max	400	4x5
Kodak Professional T-Max	P3200	35mm

Where can I buy Kodak Film?

If you’re looking for Kodak’s cheaper consumer films, then I’ve got a blog post for you! You can pick up most of this affordable consumer film at Walmart.com, Target, as well as at Amazon. If you’re looking for the good stuff, Kodak Professional film, when then you’re going to have to more than likely ordering it online. B&H Photo, Adorama, several other online retailers carry it. Amazon carries it too. Unless I find a retailer that’s having a sale, I normally just buy all of mine from the same place as the pricing does not vary much from one retailer to the next.

Where Can I Buy Kodak Film Locally?

You should definitely check around to see if there are any camera/film stores near you. Some major cities have retailers that keep stock on Kodak professional film. If you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth or East Texas area and want to pick up some Kodak Film to try out - contact me and see if I have any extra in stock - I do sometimes keep stock on a lot of different professional Kodak films that I do not advertise on my online store.

Remember friends, life is short - shoot film!