KodakEktachrome E100G

Kodak Professional Ektachrome E100G is an ISO 100 daylight color slide film for E-6 processing. Kodak sold it as the neutral-balance member of a pair with the warm E100GX, with extremely fine grain (RMS 8), moderately enhanced saturation and a lower-contrast tone scale than earlier films [1]. It is discontinued. It is not the current Ektachrome E100, although that film was reportedly based on it [5].

Look and color

• Neutral, moderately saturated: Kodak’s claim. The 2009 datasheet promises “moderately enhanced color saturation with a neutral color balance”, matched color records for a neutral tone scale, and “pleasing, natural skin tone reproduction” [1].
• Not the warm one. The letter in E100GX stands for warm: the same sheet says it has the same saturation “with a warm balance” [1]. E100G carries no warm or golden cast in any source we read.
• The reviews disagree on direction. Emulsive found colors “more muted than I experienced in real life” and “a good bit cooler”, with paler blues and less vibrant yellows, from an expired 120 roll [4]. The Film Photography Project says it “tends to lean a little more to the magenta side”, scans cleanly and needs little correction [3]. Cool and magenta are not the same thing, and both reviews are a single opinion each.
• Ease of scanning. The Film Photography Project says very little post-processing is needed to bring a scan close to the slide, and compares the scan to Portra [3]. Kodak says its Ektachrome films use dye sets that behave alike when scanned [1].

Tonality

• Curve. On the datasheet, the three characteristic curves stay close together, with a D-max of about 3.6 in blue, 3.4 in green and 3.2 in red and a gentle slope. This is our reading of the graph and is approximate [1].
• Lower contrast. Kodak lists a “lower contrast tone scale”, an “extended tonal range from highlights to shadows” and a lower D-min for “whiter, brighter whites” [1].
• Latitude. Kodak gives no figure. Emulsive found the film handled highlights and their “relatively smooth transition to total white”, and called it “definitely one of the more tolerant slide films out there”, while noting that slide films generally have little exposure latitude [4].
• Exposure. EI 100 in daylight or flash, EI 32 with an 80B filter under 3400 K photolamps, EI 25 with an 80A under 3200 K tungsten [1].
• Push processing. Kodak suggests EI 200 with 8 minutes in the first developer as a starting point, and says a short push slightly raises contrast and sharpens highlights [1].
• Long exposures. No correction from 1/10,000 to 10 seconds; add CC10R filtration at 120 seconds [1].

Grain and sharpness

• All values use a 48 µm aperture and a density of 1.0, but Kodak reads a gross density of 1.0, while Fujifilm’s Velvia and Provia sheets measure 1.0 above D-min: close, not identical, conditions [1] [7] [8].
• T-Grain. Kodak credits its T-Grain emulsion technology for the fine grain, “remarkably detailed scans” and “greater enlargements” [1]. These are manufacturer claims; the sheet gives a modulation-transfer graph but no lines-per-millimeter figure.
• What the reviews say. The Film Photography Project describes “very little grain” and bright negatives with crisp shadows and clean highlights [3]. Emulsive could not judge grain from low-resolution scans but saw fine detail in medium format [4].

Spectral sensitivity

The three layers peak at different heights: the yellow-forming (blue-sensitive) layer near 425 nm at about 1.5 log, the cyan-forming (red-sensitive) layer near 650 nm at about 1.4, and the magenta-forming (green-sensitive) layer has a broad top near 545 to 575 nm at about 1.2 [1]. Measured from the green top, the blue-green and green-red crossings sit about 1.1 and 0.85 log lower [1] (our reading of the graph). Kodak publishes one graph for E100G and E100GX together. The Grain Archive style is not computed from these curves.

Names, status and history

• 2003: E100G and E100GX. Emulsive’s timeline says they were introduced, replacing E100S and E100SW [5].
• 2009: end of E100GX. The September 2009 datasheet announces the discontinuation of E100GX by year end or when stock runs out, “due to declining sales volumes”, and suggests E100G as the alternative [1].
• 2012: end of E100G. Wikipedia says Kodak announced on March 1, 2012 the discontinuance of three color Ektachrome films, without naming them [2]. The Film Photography Project names E100G, E100VS and Elite Chrome Extra Color 100 [3]. We found no Kodak notice, so the year is reported, not confirmed.
• 2018: E100 returns. Emulsive says the new Ektachrome was based upon E100G, and quotes a Kodak announcement that “the new EKTACHROME 100 (E100) will be based on E100G”, the finest-grained film of that series [5]. “Based on” is not “identical”: the current film has its own datasheet [6].
• Expired stock. Emulsive’s review used a 120 roll that had expired in 2011 [4], so color observations from it carry the uncertainty of aged film.
• No renaming. We found no verified alias for E100G.