Adventures with Ektar 100 - scans

[Lilserenity]

Ektar 100 has been getting some good press and seeing as 7dayshop delivered my pre-ordered stock of it this week, I decided to give it a run through and decided to use my new M2 as a subject.

These pictures were shot with a Canon EOS 3, Ektar 100 @ 100, EF 50mm f/1.8 II (the Plastic Fantastic) and scanned on a pretty old Nikon Coolscan III/LS30 (a scanner from 1998 that I have to run on an old NT box...) -- so nothing too advanced here.

Scan 1: Overall scene (resized to 1280px wide due to my lack of pro Flickr account) -- this is the full negative

1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilserenity/3122884136/in/photostream/

Scan 2: Bit closer in but still resized to 1280px wide. Holding up very well so far.

2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilserenity/3122057759/in/photostream/

Scan 3: Full size crop from original scan size (which is in the region of 3900x2700 I think)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilserenity/3122057995/in/photostream/

My impressions of it are that it is superb. A genuinely warm toned, saturated C41 film that in my impression scans as well as slide and can definitely hold its head high. I will be using this a lot more, to supplement my use of 160NC, 400NC and various slide films I enjoy. I'm mostly a black and white gal but this film is just lovely to work with, very impressed indeed.

 

[navilluspm]

I never thought I would say this regarding a color film, but the grain, on the large crop, actually looks nice.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

The more I use this stuff, the more I like it. And the Coolscan 5000 seems to dig it as well. Just shot a roll yesterday...my color settings may be exaggerating its saturation a bit, but if so, not by much. And yeah, the grain is super tight, but looks really good when you manage to actually see it.

 

[navilluspm]

I can't wait to get my Half frame back from CLA and try this stuff with it. (Of course I need to order some film too).

 

[charjohncarter]

Lilserenity, Good work. I'm also amazed at the lack of grain with this film. And when you finally get to it, it is smooth.

 

[Damaso]

Nice to see such great results!

 

[mich8261]

I shared this photo in another thread. I look forward to my next roll.

 

[myequation]

Looks like a nice film but I fail to see how we can judge film qualities from a 72dpi file,

When shown this small there is no difference between walmart film vs velvia, ektar etc.

Would like to see full scan at 100% crops

just my opinion

 

[Pherdinand]

myequation, that's what the original poster shows us...
did you read his post?

 

[Nigel Meaby]

"did you read his post?"

Ahem, Her Post 😉

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

did you read his post?

her

Here's a crop of my coffee can. Not super sharp but you can see the grain...

 

[Pherdinand]

hehe yes, a "gal". My usual mistake. Sorry, coming from a hungarian background. We don't have a difference between "he" and "she" in that language.

 

[jwhitley]

We don't have a difference between "he" and "she" in that language.

Interesting! I've known native Chinese speakers to run into the same problem, but didn't realize that Hungarian also doesn't distinguish pronoun gender.

 

[DriesI]

How does this film compare to Fuji Reala?
Especially on how colour are reproduced.

 

[charjohncarter]

This my approximate 100% crop of the image in post #5

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

How does this film compare to Fuji Reala?
Especially on how colour are reproduced.

It's more saturated, and the dark areas kind of "bloom" the way they do with, say, Velvia. And the grain is finer. It's definitely not a replacement for slide film, IMHO, but it's a great addition to the palette!

 

[DriesI]

It's more saturated, and the dark areas kind of "bloom" the way they do with, say, Velvia. And the grain is finer. It's definitely not a replacement for slide film, IMHO, but it's a great addition to the palette!

Thanks for the reply!
Is it warmer too?
I like the colours of Reala very much in sunny daylight, but not in cloudy conditions where shadows can be quite cool.

 

[RF-Addict]

To the original OP. You should try exposing Ektar 100 at ISO 64 or there abouts. Your pic seems under exposed by about one stop. I had better success with ISO 64.

 

[Lilserenity]

Sorry for the delayed reply!

In answer to the overall impression I have so far, Ektar is very much a Kodak film in so far as it appears to err towards warmess so rich oranges and yellows, but a little muted on the blues and greens -- that is the main difference I have noticed so far between this and Reala (a big staple of mine, particularly in 120 format) -- Reala is definitely cooler in tone with deeper blues and greens.

How Ektar 100 does with skin tones I don't know yet but should soon. (Although I have some 400NC to shoot first!)

In terms of underexposure, this is a straight scan and to my perception (of what I shot which was dim light, candlelight behind for example) -- it seems about right to me, I must admit I tend to prefer a slightly contrastier/slightly darker tone to my pictures. One thing I would say is anything scanned and viewed over the web is prone to colour inaccuracy given that monitors unless calibrated and of the very highest quality are pretty naff at colour reproduction, particularly cheaper LCDs -- including the LCD in my notebook. I find CRT better for colour depth and reproduction (still!)

I'll give it a shot at ISO 64 sometime though, though for an ISO 100 C41 film, I'd say it lives up to what I had hoped. It's pretty similar to E100VS so far in my estimation, perhaps murmurings of Velvia 100F in it; but it's nothing like Velvia 50/100 from my tests so far. The next job is shooting landscapes, bright day and a polariser. I feel a walk up Amberley Estate/Burpham coming on 🙂

(NB: Photos shot with Canon EOS 3 in Av mode, evaluative metering, wasn't fussing with spot metering this time around, which I tend to only use when shooting black and white which is most of the time.)

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Thanks for these detailed impressions...