Film Stock Face-Off: Comparing Porta 400, Ektar 100, and UltraMax 400

Film photography is an interesting art form. It takes all of the mathematics of photography with the imperfection and unpredictability of an old medium.

Lots of times, I just point the camera and hope for the best. This time, I’d like to track the film and camera settings as much as possible so we can get the most out of this experiment. It’s time to become a student of the film process.

I have 3 rolls of Kodak film: Porta400, Ektar100 and UltraMax400. In this blog, I’m interested to see how each of these rolls shoots differently and how this effects the final images.

I did a little research on the film stocks and this article explained that the main differences seem to lie in 2 places: film grain and contrast. Porta is the most expensive film out of these 3. It has the lowest contrast and the finest grain. Next is Ektar which has the highest contrast and a similarly fine grain to porta. UltraMax is the cheapest film, so unsurprisingly it has the largest grain. However, if properly exposed this shouldn’t be too noticable. Let’s start taking some photos!

Ultramax400

The first roll I shot was Ultramax400 during a shoot with Gino for his clothing brand Gino Private Label. Gino is the most talented Cut and Sew clothing manufacturer that I know in Sacramento. He is an artist treating each garment like a work of art.

I forgot to track my camera settings for this shoot. I was switching between taking film photos and video clips and didn’t have the time to also note my settings. The film speed is 400, and most were shot at F2. The shutter speed ranged from 1/60-1/250 with 1/125 was the most common.

Porta400

The second roll I shot was Porta400 during my time in Santa Cruz and SLO before my graduation. It was a classic foggy/overcast day in Santa Cruz. Very soft lighting with the occasional direct sunlight.

I went back to UC Santa Cruz campus to check out my favorite spots and enjoy the beautiful views and nature. This is the first frame I took on campus and it’s one of my favorites. The colors are so vibrant!

These are the College 9 and John R. Lewis College dorms. These are the dorms that I stayed at back in 2018 and where I met Phil. These forests are one of my favorite parts of campus, so I’m glad I was able to come back and enjoy them one last time before walking the stage.

Next stop was the music center. I’ve always liked the way the buildings look on UCSC campus. The interaction of nature and man made structures is always something I pay attention to.

This next series of photos are special to me because they give a perfect view into what it’s like to go for a walk through the redwoods.

I finished off the pictures in Santa Cruz with a shot of a sign saying “BE KIND 2 YOUR EARLIER SELF THAT DIDN’T KNOW WHAT U KNOW NOW.” I really like that message. The photo gives a slice of life vibe. It might make the viewer wonder what the focus of the picture is: Is it the sign? Or the greater landscape of cars? The buildings and streetlights?

In the end, I hope the viewer’s eye is drawn to the message on the sign.

The next series of photos are from a hike I did with my friend Jacob. It’s been a while since I did a proper hike, so it was really nice to get out there and break a sweat. And to top it off, the views of the norcal landscape are always beautiful.

Ektar100

Finally, I ended this experiment with the roll of Ektar100 in Carmel. I had just gotten a shutter release cable for my 35mm film camera and wanted to test it out. I went for a walk by Carmel Beach after sunset and took some long exposures.

After walking around for a while, as the sun started to set, I recognized what I wanted to take pictures of for the rest of the evening. This outlook had a perfect view of the cars driving by. The light was a perfect intensity during its transition from day to night.

My final photo of the night took 10 minutes to expose! This is one of the longest exposures I’ve used for a photo and definitely the longest I’ve tried with film. I really like the way the car lights paint the landscape and illuminate the background.