No name is more tied to photography than Kodak. For over a century the company defined what colour and black-and-white film looked like, and today it remains the largest manufacturer of photographic film in the world. If you shoot 35mm or 120, the odds are good that a Kodak emulsion is sitting in your camera right now. This guide walks through every current Kodak stock so you can pick the right one for the job.
Kodak's consumer colour films
Kodak Gold 200 is the warm, nostalgic film most people picture when they think of Kodak. It renders golden highlights and slightly punchy reds, making it ideal for sunny days, autumn light and everyday snapshots. Kodak UltraMax 400 is its faster sibling, one stop quicker at ISO 400, which makes it a better all-rounder for overcast days, indoor light and moving subjects. Kodak ColorPlus 200 is the budget option, an older emulsion with a cooler, slightly more vintage character that many shooters love precisely because it is not perfect.
The semi-professional middle
Kodak ProImage 100 sits between consumer and professional. Originally aimed at portrait and event photographers in warm climates, it offers fine grain, faithful skin tones and excellent storage stability. It is a quietly brilliant choice for outdoor portraits on a budget.
The Portra family
The Kodak Portra line is the professional colour negative standard. Portra 160 gives the finest grain and lowest contrast, perfect for studio and controlled light. Portra 400 is the most versatile film Kodak makes — beautiful skin tones, huge exposure latitude and grain fine enough to enlarge. Portra 800 is the fast option for weddings, receptions and low light. All three share the same restrained, natural colour palette that flatters people.
Ektar: the saturated one
Kodak Ektar 100 is the odd one out among the colour negatives. It is the finest-grained colour film Kodak makes, with high saturation and vivid, almost slide-like colour. It shines for landscapes, product work and travel, but its punchy reds can be unforgiving on skin.
Black and white
Kodak's monochrome heritage runs deep. Kodak Tri-X 400 is the legendary reportage film — grainy, gutsy and endlessly pushable, the stock that shot much of 20th-century photojournalism. Kodak T-Max 100 and T-Max 400 use modern tabular-grain technology for far finer grain and higher sharpness, giving a cleaner, more clinical look than Tri-X.
How to choose
- Everyday and holidays: Gold 200 or UltraMax 400
- Budget shooting: ColorPlus 200 or ProImage 100
- Portraits and weddings: Portra 400, or Portra 800 in low light
- Landscapes and vivid colour: Ektar 100
- Classic black and white: Tri-X 400
- Clean, fine-grain mono: T-Max 100 or 400
The beauty of Kodak's range is that there is a stock for every situation, and they all develop in the same standard chemistry — C-41 for colour, standard black-and-white developers for the mono films. If you want to start experimenting with any of these Kodak stocks, drop by Boston Camera and we will help you match the right film to your camera and your subject.
