Our first film guide will cover Kodak, the most storied of the film companies still producing film. Kodak film offerings have thinned out in recent years, but their roster still includes some of the best and more versatile emulsions on the market. Here are our thoughts on the current lineup. Kodak Gold 200 120 produces the best color tones when sunlight is available. It shines on bright sunny days and during golden hour. The absence of the sun results in cooler, subtly muted tones. Additionally, there is a shift in colors without a direct light source, but the results are still beautiful. This film is ideal for portraiture, landscape, cityscape, travel, commercial, and street photographers. Kodak Gold 200 120 creates the best images with sufficient sunlight and plenty of contrast. The greens and golds are especially vibrant. Landscapes and cityscapes have beautiful, well-balanced shadows with plenty of details. Lighter blues, purples, and pinks make for delicate pastel hues with this film during blue hour. It also creates lovely tones for shooting portraits. Extra Image Samples This makes Kodak Gold a popular choice for portrait and landscape photography, while Kodak Ultramax is popular for outdoor and snapshot photography. NEW in 120 format, this is genius move from Kodak as we think the emulsion is perfectly suited as a significantly different alternative to the more refined Portra 160 and 400.

Yes, if I didn’t have to worry about staying within a budget, I would always go with Kodak Portra 400 because of its incredible colors and its crazy flexible exposure latitude. However, I like to save money where I can with film photography.

Kodak Gold 200 Features

The best way to make sure you’re not underexposing your image too much is to expose for the shadows in the image. For example in this image, I set the camera ASA to 100. Then I used the internal light meter of the Pentax K1000 to meter and expose for the shadows in this image which also means the highlights were overexposed. Our full review of Kodak’s newest film, Ektachrome E100, can be seen here. Here are some snippets from that piece.

Related Article: How to Shoot Kodak Portra 400 Where Kodak Gold Performs Best And Where It StrugglesWondering which film is the better choice for you – Kodak Ultramax or Gold? As two of the most popular colour 35mm films in the world, and cheaper than the premium Kodak emulsions of Portra or Ektar, many people ask us which they should shoot. This post takes a look at each film's features, benefits, and shortcomings so that you can make an informed decision for your creative film photography.

Portra 400 is perhaps the most widely used film in Kodak’s catalog, and for good reason – it’s nearly flawless. Its color palette is one of the most balanced among color emulsions, its exposure latitude is the widest in photography (about six stops of over-exposure and three to four stops of under-exposure when processed at box speed), and its grain is some of the finest found in a 400 speed film ( see the details in our film profile here).But compare it to Kodak’s professional offerings and Gold 200 begins to lag behind. Its slightly more saturated color palette places it firmly in the consumer film category, and will take a little bit of post-processing to get looking absolutely perfect. The film’s latitude also isn’t as wide as Kodak’s other offerings, limiting its usage to daylight shooting.