Who has results with Kodak Ektachrome 100D S8

[Juergen]

Hi,
for my articles in schmalfilm magazine I would be interested to get some informations about your results with the new Kodak Ektachrome 100D in the Super 8 cartridge. I am always reading about people questioning if their camera will read the notch of the cartridge correctly. But where are all those Super 8 filmers that already took the chance to try this new film? What Super 8 camera model did you use, was the exposure fine? What about the colors and the grain? Any problems? Please let me know - in the thread or by private message.

[Blue Audio Visual]

It works fine in my 1014XL-S, and the grain is very good compared to 64T, but it is VERY high contrast and tends to look excessively red, though nothing that can't be sorted out in post.

...in my opinion...

[etimh]

It works fine in my 1014XL-S, and the grain is very good compared to 64T, but it is VERY high contrast and tends to look excessively red, though nothing that can't be sorted out in post.

...in my opinion...

That's good to hear about the 1014XL-S--I didn't have much doubt about it but I just picked up a couple and one is going to go through my 814XL-S, which should produce similar results.

The other I'm going to try in various other cameras (R10, 801m) to test. The very high contrast will be pleasing to me, but the excessive red might be curious, since I don't do anything in "post." :?

Tim

[Blue Audio Visual]

Hi Tim,

I'm going to experiment with a cooling filter next week, as I prefer to project too.

[Davideo]

I'm shooting a test on my Nizo S800. Will report results when it's done.

So far, bright sunlight pushes the meter's f/stop readings past f/22 so will use ND filters to correct this.

David

[avortex]

I've shot it with a Canon 1014XL-S and a Leicina Special.
With both cameras, the film was well exposed (specially with the Leicina) but it's not a very sharp film and the colours were too warm for my taste. I like high contrast and saturation, but this is simply too much...
Also, skin tones were awfully rendered (red, red, red,...). Not much more natural than Fuji Velvia...
Perhaps the best scenario for this film is a cloudy day. I'll test it...

[MIKI-814]

Perhaps the best scenario for this film is a cloudy day. I'll test it...

I agree with this comment. It's a very contrasty film definitely not for the summer sunny days, at least here!

For me colours are terrific in cloudy days or underexposing it a litlle, specially greens and reds. Graininess very good for a Super8 reversal.

[Shanec8mm]

I have shot 2 rolls of this film so far with my Minolta D6. This camera will not meter properly, but with the help of a few members here I think I have it correct now. I shot roll on Father's Day that was mostly underexposed do to the camera metering for 160ASA T film. A few of the shots in the sunlight looked pretty good. From the scenes that turned out I liked the colors overall. The grain structure is the best I have seen! Much better than 64T. I also shot a roll on the 4th of July and I am waiting for that film to come back from Dwayne's later in the week. I made some adjustments when I filmed on the 4th. For one I used a ND filter that reduces the light by 2fstops. I also made some manual adjustments. I will see how it all turned out. I filmed at a swimming pool and the meter really went crazy with the light and reflections from the concrete, etc. I think I had the meter pretty close. When the film returns I will look at it upon projection and post my results here. My first underexposed film looked really good projecting, mainly the scenes that did expose correctly. It sure seems to be a tricky stock but one that gives some challenges I am willing to put up with. Makes filming quite interesting to say the least.

[Shanec8mm]

The tip that I learned here in an earlier post was to do the following when the camera thinks the film is 160ASA. With the cartridge inserted into the camera, meter an object with the orange #85 filter in place, then lock that exposure. Before pressing the trigger take off the #85 filter or retracting screw, and then start shooting. I ran some camera experiments outside, without film, by using this method, along with the use of my ND filter. The fstops I observed seemed to be correct for a stock of this speed. Now theses experiments were not exact and without film, however I feel more confident that when I shoot my next roll of film, next week at the beach, the results will be much better.
During this experiment I decided to use an external screw on type #85 filter instead of the internal one. With the Minolta D6 the #85 filter is kept in the "out" position by a filter retracting screw. I found screwing and unscrewing the #85 filter was much easier. Also the internal filter may have faded over time so a newer external filter will probably yield better results. This is only my opinion of course. The idea here is to reduce the sensitivity of the film by using the #85 filter. I observed about an fstop difference when using this method.

[marc]

Shane, You also might want to consider using a gray card to take readings before shooting. That pool incident that you spoke of is a good example why. Put the gray card up to your subject and take a reading off of that.

[lealar]

Here are a few samples I posted using different cameras, thanks.

Beaulieu 3008S with an ND4 filter and manually exposed at 25ASA:
http://vimeo.com/11367580

Nizo S560 auto exposure:
http://vimeo.com/11550421

Canon 1014 Electronic Auto exposure shot during on an overcast day:
http://vimeo.com/12555685

Canon 310XL filmed on a very sunny day with Exposure Control Plate in the "up" position and an ND4 filter placed in front of the lens:
http://vimeo.com/13298398

[Blue Audio Visual]

Hi Lealar,

What are your thoughts about my comments about excessive red tones and contrast?

[lealar]

Hi Bart:

I definitely agree, it seems very contrasty to me and reds seem to bloom with oversaturation. Before Kodak released this, I always looked upon 100D as a stock I would use if I wanted the images to look warm. I based this on the results I got using Spectra's 100D:

http://vimeo.com/4530359
http://vimeo.com/4530359

Both of these have a certain warmth or orange hue to them that I'm not finding with Kodak. The one thing I notice the most and is more important to me is that the Spectra film is not as prone to overexposure or clipping as the ones I've tested from Kodak.

I spoke to Doug last week at Spectra about this, and I swore to him that I find his film very different. He was surprised to hear it. Since the film is supposedly the same, the one thing he mentioned may be a factor is the way its being developed. He mentioned the chemicals and the time involved in the processing may be a factor.

I can't say how true this is. I have absolutely no experience, knowledge or practice in the developing of film. For me, it seems I was getting more predictable results using Spectra's 100D. I can even say I liked it. I can't say the same for Kodak's. Turns out very different for me each time.

I may get two rolls, shoot the same scene with the same camera, then send one off to Spectra and another elsewhere to prove or disprove this theory, but at the moment I'm not too inclined to do so.

Once again, and I never thought I would say this...I'm going to really miss Ektachrome 64T.

Art

[VideoFred]

Once again, and I never thought I would say this...I'm going to really miss Ektachrome 64T.

I have always noticed, from the beginning, the wonderful colors of E64T. I have done some Wittner 100D tests a few year ago, and I did not like the colors at all. I am preparing a new Kodak 100d test and we will see... Perhaps Wittnerchrome V50D or F64T could be both an alternative? It's actualy a Fuji Velvia slide film but the colors should be very very good.

Fred.

[avortex]

Yes, Fred: the colors of Ektachrome 64T were terrific when using the correct Wratten 85B filter. Natural and vibrant at the same time. Bur it had that awful grain...

I find that Fujichrome 64T is now the best reversal stock out there for sharpness, low grain and neutral color reproduction. In fact, I'm moving to single-8 right now just for using this stock, as well as the Velvia and the amazing Orwo in Black and white.