What *is* Ektapress?
Just Another Deckchair on the Titanic
it, but what exactly *is* Kodak's Ektapress? Having used it quite a bit
lately (see below), it feels an awful lot like the normal Kodacolor
Gold (at least the ISO 100 and 400 versions) without all the consumer
packaging, but the people who sold it to me didn't seem to be too well
clued-up on the details - and Kodak's tech line number seems
permanently unreachable from here at work.
Whatever it really is, it's quite a bargain, and for what I used it
for, it worked perfectly. I used it a lot during the Berkeley People's
Park riots and disturbances, where it performed brilliantly - the ISO
1600 version pushed to ISO 3200 used under normal street lighting at
2:00 am produced grainy, low contrast, but surprisingly detailed and
sharp prints. The ISO 400 version coped very well with the evening
light and fast action shots and survived being enlarged to 11x14; the
ISO 100 version was also quite forgiving (1.5 stops in either direction
still produced acceptable results) and had nicely saturated colours.
(All prints on Kodak RA4 papers processed with the Jobo CPE2 and
Besseler RA4 chemicals).
Anyway, whatever it is, I whole-heartedly recommend it for 35mm action,
street life, candid, and general photography (though I think I'd use
Ektar for landscapes, still lives, etc, and Reala for portraits).
Hamish
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Hamish Reid Sybase Inc, 6475 Christie Ave, Emeryville CA 94608 USA
+1 510 596-3917 ham...@sybase.com uunet!sybase!hamish
Al Goldis
> I'm sure this is now a candidate for the FAQ list, if not already on
> it, but what exactly *is* Kodak's Ektapress? Having used it quite a bit
> lately (see below), it feels an awful lot like the normal Kodacolor
> Gold (at least the ISO 100 and 400 versions) without all the consumer
> packaging, but the people who sold it to me didn't seem to be too well
> clued-up on the details - and Kodak's tech line number seems
> permanently unreachable from here at work.
There was some discussion about Ektapress a while ago. A lot of
people said it's just repackaged Kodacolor Gold. Not so. According
to Kodak literature, Ektapress is T-grain film (at least 400 and 1600
are; for 100 it doesn't say one way or the other). This means it has
grain and detail roughly equivalent to film that is two stops slower.
Ektapress 1600 is really amazing stuff!
Ektapress is also designed so you can push it. This is not the case
with most process C-41 films, including Kodacolor Gold. Also, rumor
has it that Ektapress films are lower contrast.
(Sidebar: Kodak recently introduced a new version of Kodacolor Gold
400 that is also a T-grain film, but I don't know anything about
its pushability.)
--
Al Goldis gol...@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu
Mike Axman x78992
>I'm sure this is now a candidate for the FAQ list, if not already on
>it, but what exactly *is* Kodak's Ektapress? Having used it quite a bit
>lately (see below), it feels an awful lot like the normal Kodacolor
>Gold (at least the ISO 100 and 400 versions) without all the consumer
At the risk of divulging "secret information", I happen to have worked with
one of the senior engineers on the Ektapress film projects. They are essentially a marriage between Vericolor and Kodacolor Gold, with a few
incantations and tweaks. Not necessarily any "breakthroughs" in technology
(although they do utilize T-grains) but more a film aimed at a niche market.
I use them alot myself when my filmbuilding buddies are feeling generous.
(gotta love that free film :-) )
Sorry I don't have anything more scientific, but I don't have a lot of freedom
in what I can share about our products beyond what's published in the datasheets. :-(
mike
Doug McDonald
In article <87...@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> gol...@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Al Goldis) writes:
>There was some discussion about Ektapress a while ago. A lot of
>people said it's just repackaged Kodacolor Gold. Not so. According
>to Kodak literature, Ektapress is T-grain film (at least 400 and 1600
>are; for 100 it doesn't say one way or the other). This means it has
>grain and detail roughly equivalent to film that is two stops slower.
>Ektapress 1600 is really amazing stuff!
>
>Ektapress is also designed so you can push it. This is not the case
>with most process C-41 films, including Kodacolor Gold. Also, rumor
>has it that Ektapress films are lower contrast.
>
For what it is worth: The actual data panels on the data sheets for
Ektapress 1600 and Ektar 1000 are identical, except the Ektar sheet
omits pushed processing. I have measured pushed Ektar 1000 and gotten
the same curves as they publish for Ektapress 1600, within
my somewhat larger experimental error.
What is interesting in this, of course, is that they sell two films
with apparently identical density-versus-exposure curves at different
speed ratings. Of course, the speed of Ektar 1000 is described as
"ISO 1000" and Ektapress 1600 as "EI 1600". Hummmm......
************************************************************************
The followin conclusion is not excluded by the data: Ektapress 1600
is Ektar 1000 with a speed, hype, and price boost from Kodak's
marketing department.
Doug McDonald
Just Another Deckchair on the Titanic
>> I'm sure this is now a candidate for the FAQ list, if not already on
>There was some discussion about Ektapress a while ago. A lot of
>people said it's just repackaged Kodacolor Gold. Not so. According
>to Kodak literature, Ektapress is T-grain film (at least 400 and 1600
>are; for 100 it doesn't say one way or the other). This means it has
>grain and detail roughly equivalent to film that is two stops slower.
>Ektapress 1600 is really amazing stuff!
Yes, the 1600 is amazing - pushed to 3200 it's *still* quite sharp,
with unobjectionable grain. The hand-held night street scenes look very
good indeed; similarly, the ISO 400 version seems to hold up well
against ISO 100 and 200 films; I now use it for all street scenes that
need higher shutter speeds but reasonable depth of field. (But then
again I haven't tried the Fuji NHG yet...).
What I'm really curious about is why I've seen so little publicity for
Ektapress. It's a gem, a really useful all-purpose family of relatively
cheap (when bought in the 5-pack) high quality films for serious
amateurs and professionals - and the first I heard about it was when
the store clerk said "try it" a few months ago.... Oh well, I guess I
may not be as well-informed as I thought.
>Ektapress is also designed so you can push it. This is not the case
>with most process C-41 films, including Kodacolor Gold. Also, rumor
>has it that Ektapress films are lower contrast.
Yes, it seems to survive a lot of pushing; and yes, the apparent
contrast seems lower than Gold (but not a lot). This is actually very
useful, as we still have Ektar for the high-contrast work.
David Rounds
: In article <87...@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> gol...@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Al Goldis) writes:
:
: Yes, the 1600 is amazing - pushed to 3200 it's *still* quite sharp,
:
: >Ektapress is also designed so you can push it. This is not the case
: >with most process C-41 films, including Kodacolor Gold. Also, rumor
: >has it that Ektapress films are lower contrast.
:
: Yes, it seems to survive a lot of pushing; and yes, the apparent
: contrast seems lower than Gold (but not a lot). This is actually very
: useful, as we still have Ektar for the high-contrast work.
A couple of questions on pushing the film speed and getting the film processed;
1> Can most labs process this film? (i.e. is it process C41?)
2> Can most labs handle the push processing of this film?
if not, how easy is it to find a lab that does?
3> how much pushing can be done , i.e. 1 stop, 1.5 stops, etc
Dave
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David R. Rounds | ...!uunet!bcco!dave
Barber-Colman Co. | da...@bcco.com
Loves Park IL | (815) 877-0241 x3945
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The views presented here are the author's and do not reflect an official
position of my employer or of any other party.
Just Another Deckchair on the Titanic
> [...]
>The followin conclusion is not excluded by the data: Ektapress 1600
>is Ektar 1000 with a speed, hype, and price boost from Kodak's
>marketing department.
Except that Ektapress 1600 is *cheaper* than Ektar 1000 (at least where
/ how I buy it) and, in contrast to Ektar, almost completely
unpublicized....
Just Another Deckchair on the Titanic
>ham...@umberto.sybase.com (Just Another Deckchair on the Titanic) writes:
>: Yes, the [Ektapress] 1600 is amazing - pushed to 3200 it's *still*
>: quite sharp [...]
>A couple of questions on pushing the film speed and getting the film processed;
>1> Can most labs process this film? (i.e. is it process C41?)
Yes - it's designed for a standard C41 process; most labs will not
notice anything unusual at all.
>2> Can most labs handle the push processing of this film?
> if not, how easy is it to find a lab that does?
I'm not sure whether most labs can do it (I doubt that it's difficult,
it's just that it's probably a pain to reset the machines for a few
rolls of film). I had some of mine done by Fuji (Anaheim) who seem to
be able to cope with this; the others were done (rather expensively) by
a local custom lab.
>3> how much pushing can be done , i.e. 1 stop, 1.5 stops, etc
The Ektapress 1600 seems to be quite happy with a 1 stop push; I've
heard of reasonable results from an even greater push, but I haven't
seen them.