Shooting family playtime on Kodak Ektar 100 film

The boys and I ventured out for a bit of Daddy Day Care on a lovely sunny day. Perfect to test a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 film in my trusty Canon EOS 30. When it comes to portraits and skin tones, I’ve read different opinions on this film. They range from unsuitable to quite the opposite. So there’s only one way to find out…

It’s no surprise the Kodak Ektar loves the Sun and is contrasty, vibrant and saturated particularly in direct sunlight; none of the soft pastels of Kodak Portra here. The Kodak warmth is definitely there too, and in some cases the ‘reds’ Ektar’s known for really come on a bit strong for my liking. This seemed to be most apparent on high contrast scenes and / or where the exposure was probably a bit off. Where the lighting was bright but even, I think the colour rendering is beautiful.

The negs were commercially batched scanned so, with a little extra care and attention here, the skin tones could probably be improved. For most of the images I de-saturated a touch in Lightroom just to take the edge off the ‘reds’.

Ektar could be a bit marmite for some. Clearly high potential for landscapes, but care is needed where accurate skin tone is important. Anyway, who cares: it’s film and it simply looks gorgeous.

Looking to shoot Ektar? Then check out Wendy Laurel’s article on the film.