Sharpest C41 film ?

[Fujitsu]

I am looking for the sharpest (or "highest resolving") C41 film available. Would that be Kodaks Ektar 100?

How do the C41 b&w films compare?

 

[Roger Hicks]

(a) Yes. Here's a review: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/reviews kodak ektar 100.html

(b) XP2 Super is grainier but significantly sharper than the Kodak competition. And (in my book) tonally vastly superior (no runaway highlights).

Cheers,

R.

 

[kshapero]

Great fan of XP2 Super

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Ektar with a MF Zeiss lens at f/11 and tripod is sharp for big prints... But a good scan of such negative weighs hundreds of Mb's... Wet printed would be even sharper because optics are a lot sharper than 300 dpi printers...

From this point of view MF XP2 or MF PanF+50 in Rodinal can be very sharp wet printed...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[TareqPhoto]

Are we talking about color neg or B&W film processed in C-41?

 

[Fujitsu]

Are we talking about color neg or B&W film processed in C-41?

Exactly both.

 

[TareqPhoto]

Exactly both.

ah ok!
As color, Ektar wins my vote
As B&W, XP2 and BW400CN both can be great, i didn't test them both yet [i have only XP2] but it seems many prefer XP2 over 400CN.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

I thought Ektar might have the finer grain, but Reala 'seems' sharper.

 

[not_in_good_order]

I haven't done any scientific experiements, but two color films that I have found to be rather sharp are Ektar 100 and Gold 100 (edge code 6).

I don't have any 100% crops online, but here are some fairly high resolution images:

Ektar 100:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34653978@N04/3218631391/sizes/o/in/set-72157621798089746/

Gold 100 (edge code 6):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34653978@N04/3617649517/sizes/o/in/set-72157621798089746/

 

[barnwulf]

If you want color film I think Ektar 100 is wonderful. Very sharp, very very fine grained and nice colors. For B&W film I think XP2 is excellent. - Jim

 

[bobby_novatron]

My vote is for Ektar 100. It's probably the best 35mm C-41 film I've ever used. Extremely fine grain, and nice colour rendition ... although it has the typical "Kodak" look, meaning a bit in the warmer part of the spectrum.

Reala is a great film as well. I think it's on par with Ektar, but in terms of personal preference I like Ektar.

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

Ektar has very low grain when comparing it to Portra but I don't know if its sharper.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

My vote is for Ektar 100. It's probably the best 35mm C-41 film I've ever used. Extremely fine grain, and nice colour rendition ... although it has the typical "Kodak" look, meaning a bit in the warmer part of the spectrum.

Jeez. I thought Ektar was 'cool.' I bought a bunch of Ektar when it first came out (135) and only shot a roll or two. Didn't like the coolness, actually, so i stopped, in favor of Portra, which i do think is warm. Maybe i need to try again.

 

[dng88]

May be it is too sharp. I do not like them both. I used them quite a bit for 35mm and now 120. I packed then together with v50 slide even for the 1 month holiday in UK. But somehow I do not these two films. But you asked only for c41 and sharp, I guess there are not much choices.

 

[Tim Gray]

I wouldn't be surprised if another film with more grain was perceived as shaper than Ektar. That being said, the MTF charts for Ektar and Portra 160 look about the same, with the edge going to Portra.

So Ektar might not be the sharpest film, but it's probably one of the sharpest.

 

[Fujitsu]

Thanks for the input, just ordered a pack of 10 rolls and will feed them to my Canon FT. 😉