It’s hard not to compare Color Plus 200 vs Gold 200. There really aren’t too many color films being produced, so the fact that there are two consumer-grade, 200-speed films from Kodak sets the stage for a rivalry. It’s easy to see why – no other company produces anywhere near as many options of C-41 color film as Kodak. With a total of eight (8) different 35mm color films currently available, Color Plus is a great fit within the lineup.

We’ve even heard people compare Kodak Color Plus 200 to the ever-popular Portra 400. While this might be a bit of a stretch, we can see where they’re coming from. Type of Photography: If you will be shooting portraits, Kodak Gold is a good choice due to its natural color reproduction and good skin tones. If you will be shooting outdoor or snapshot photography, Kodak Ultramax with its vibrant and punchy colors is a good choice. Kodak’s T-max films are downright modern compared with the historically powerful Tri-X. They have rich mid-tones and super fine grain, coupled with excellent exposure latitude. This warmness I keep mentioning gives an effortless and unmistakably vintage quality. That sounds like a redundant thing to say when talking about a camera film, but hear me out. Also, this is just my opinion. Last in the Portra line is Portra 800, Kodak’s higher speed color negative offering. In some ways, Portra 800 is a bit redundant considering Portra 400’s exposure latitude covers nearly all of Portra 800’s effective range. But Portra 800 is another spectacular option when light gets really low, and I find Portra 800 shines particularly when used for this intended application.What I mean there is, new offerings like JCH Street Pan 400 are great – they really are – but they’re new. And while Ilford films have a grand history, I don’t imagine many 1980s holidaying housewives were loading HP5 into their Canon Sure Shots. Kodak ColorPlus 35mm film performs best in sunny weather (don’t we all!) It’s sometimes known as Kodak ColourPlus, Kodak Color Plus or even Kodak Colour Plus. You can choose between 36 exposures and 24 exposures. And as with every other type of film, taste is completely subjective. This was proven to be true when a recent Reddit thread asked a similar question: if you had to choose between Colorplus 200 and Gold 200 to regularly shoot, which would you choose? Ektar is also particularly challenging for the novice photographer. The emulsion does not have the wide exposure latitude of Portra 400 or even Ultramax 400, and shifts colors slightly based on slight over- and under-exposure. Self-scanning Ektar is also a pain with consumer-level scanners. Ektar benefits greatly when processed and scanned through professional level machines by those with extensive experience with the emulsion. Having said that, there is a certain vintage look to the photographs, which makes sense if we’re shooting with an older emulsion. This look is helped by that yellow hue but also brought on by the contrast you get and the grain, which is noticeable but never overbearing, in my opinion.

Though it is arguably Kodak’s best emulsion in about twenty years, I would not recommend Ektar for every situation. Ektar shines in bright daylight and in colorful scenes, but will need some extra post-processing work when dealing with overcast and low-light scenes. It’s also a challenging emulsion to use for portraiture and general people pictures as the emulsion tends to emphasize reds, which in certain situations can make people look Oompa Loompa-ish. While the latitude is there, we’ve found that we usually prefer Kodak Colorplus 200 when exposed as accurately as possible. You can see straight away that Ultramax is indeed more sensitive to light, across the spectrum - which corresponds to it's higher ISO. And you can also see that the shape of the yellow curve is slightly more uniform across its peak. But there are also lots of similarities - the broad shape of the curves, the wavelengths where each of them peak - these indicate that the look you'll get from your images will be pretty alike in comparable lighting.Many photographers think of Kodak as the most important manufacturer of film, especially when talking about color. Kodak Gold 200 is another film that won’t break the bank and brings that ISO 200 too, but it’s still not as cheap as the ColorPlus. Kodak has a long history of making incredible slide film, and recent history has seen the brand reintroduce their well-loved Ektachrome ( to much deserved fanfare). Let’s talk about that. Ektachrome E100 Professional films are those that are typically manufactured with a specific application in mind. Whether these be formulated for wedding or portrait photographers, or made to work best with landscapes, pro films usually do one job exceptionally well. Of course, this comes at a cost. Pro films are often double or triple the price per roll of consumer-level films. Highlights from that include recommended exposure times for different weather and light conditions, a guide to which filter and exposure adjustments to use when shooting under different types of fluorescent light, and a table of features and benefits of the film.