Fujifilm Recipe: Kodak Ektar 100

Ektar 100 is the most saturated color negative film Kodak ever made. It produces vivid, punchy colors with extremely fine grain. This recipe uses Velvia as a base to match that intensity. Credit to FujiXWeekly.

About Kodak Ektar 100

Kodak launched Ektar 100 in 2008, marketing it as the finest-grain color negative film in the world. It was designed for landscape and nature photographers who wanted the saturation of slide film with the exposure latitude of a negative. Before Ektar, if you wanted vivid colors on negative film, you were stuck with consumer stocks. Ektar gave professionals a real option.

The color profile is bold and unapologetic. Reds are deep and saturated, blues are rich and clean, and greens pop with intensity. Grain is essentially invisible at 100 ISO. The contrast curve is steeper than Portra, which gives images a punchier, more graphic quality. Skin tones tend to run red, which is why Ektar is a landscape film, not a portrait film.

Ektar found its audience among travel and outdoor photographers who wanted to shoot color negative but didn't want the muted palette of Portra. When you see those hyper-vivid film photos of national parks, coastal sunsets, or autumn forests, there is a good chance they were shot on Ektar.

When to Use It

Landscapes, travel, outdoor photography in bright light. Ektar lives for blue skies, autumn leaves, ocean water, and anything where you want colors to hit hard.

Tips

Don't use this for portraits -- the saturation is too aggressive for skin. And avoid overcast conditions where there's no color to punch up. This recipe needs good light and vivid subjects.

Camera Compatibility

This recipe uses Velvia as its base film simulation, which is available on all Fujifilm X-series cameras including the X100VI, X-T5, X-T50, and X-S20. The Color Chrome Strong and CC FX Blue Strong settings require an X-Trans IV or V sensor. On older bodies, set Color Chrome to Off and increase the Color setting to +4 to compensate. Grain is set to Off here, so sensor generation does not affect that.

Related Recipes

Ektar pairs well with golden hour shooting, where its saturation really sings. Our guide to golden hour recipes covers timing, white balance tricks, and complementary settings. For a very different approach to strong Color Chrome, the Cinestill 800T recipe uses it for nighttime cinema tones. And for a warmer, more casual take on saturated color, the Kodak Ultramax 400 recipe is worth a look.

Want a premium golden hour recipe with 15 hand-tuned settings and a shooting guide? Check out Golden Light in the shop.