Ready to take your film camera on your next epic summer road trip? Shooting film outside can be a grand adventure, full of future nostalgic moments, incredible landscapes, and a way to savor the rich colors of the world around you. There are so many film stocks available, which should you buy?
That's where we come in! We're Berty and Emily Mandagie, Pacific Northwest photographers who capture travel and landscape imagery. We spend our careers outside capturing our beautiful corner of the world, and we've had six years of experience shooting film in countless weather types, light conditions, and environments.
In this post, we're sharing six of our favorite color film stocks that we think every landscape photographer should try. We're covering the features of each, in what situations they’re appropriate, and offering tips on nailing that perfect landscape shot. We'll take some of the guesswork out of choosing a film, so you can spend less time online and more time outside. Let's go!
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a popular film for landscape photographers, known for its fine grain and high quality. The low contrast and high color saturation are incredibly challenging to replicate on a digital camera, making this a unique film for photographing landscapes. Though it's not as flexible as Portra 800, you can still push or pull this film by one stop. Sometimes tricky to find due to its huge popularity, once you are able to get your hands on this film, you won't be disappointed!
Kodak Portra 800
Kodak Portra 800 is a high-speed film, perfect for photographers who are trying to capture moving subjects. It's an excellent and versatile film to use if you are photographing events with lots of motion, or in low-light environments, such as aerial flights, golden/blue hour, festivals, or natural events, such as waves, storms, and so on.
This film provides sharp images, fine grain, and natural skin tones if there are people in your images. Kodak Portra 800 is different from other Portra films (160 and 400) due to its flexibility when pulled to ISO 400 or pushed to ISO 1600, depending on the environment you're photographing. Though we haven't fully tested it, some may even say that you can go to ISO 3200 to truly push this film. So, go ahead and test this one at blue hour!
Kodak Gold 200
Kodak Gold 200 is a widely available and impressively affordable film, perfect for the landscape photographer on a budget. For big summer road trips, we often stock up on Gold 200 because it does so well in bright, sunny places. This film has a bit of a vintage feel, with its warm undertones and rich colors. If you're trying to capture a sense of nostalgia, Kodak Gold 200 is it.
Kodak UltraMax 400
For rich color saturation and fine grain, Kodak UltraMax 400 is a great film for landscape photographers who love being in the mountains—it works really well in a variety of lighting situations. UltraMax 400 surprises a lot of photographers with its versatility in low-light conditions, so don't be afraid to shoot with it during golden hour.
Kodak Ektachrome E100
Ektachrome E100 became available again, in 2018, after being discontinued for several years. Once widely used by National Geographic photographers because of its true-to-life color, it’s now simply a great film stock with which landscape photographers can challenge themselves. As a slide film, it takes a little bit of time and practice to understand how to expose properly, but when you do, it creates iconic images that feel like a window straight into nature. When using a slide film, you have to nail the exposure right on the head, and you can't underexpose or overexpose this film like you can with negative film, such as Kodak Portra and Gold.
Also, keep in mind that because it is a slide film (also called a color transparency film or reversal film), it requires E-6 processing, versus the more common C-41 processing for negative films. The E-6 process might be a bit more expensive and you’ll have to look a little harder to find a lab to handle it, so keep that in mind as you are calculating your overall costs.
Kodak Ektar 100
Kodak Ektar 100 is one of our favorite color films to take on midday adventures. With bright light, it can produce vivid colors and make images visually interesting, with high saturation and crisp captures. Kodak Ektar 100 can even work well where we are in the rainy Pacific Northwest—like this trip to Rialto Beach below. Despite its slower speed, it’s a solid choice for outdoor shooting in daylight.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed our recommendations for your next landscape photography adventure. What are some film types you might try on your next adventure? Tell us about it in the Comments section, below.
For more Pacific Northwest photography, follow us at TheMandagies.com and on our social channels below.
- Instagram: @TheMandagies, @bertymandagie, @emilymandagie
4 Comments
Kodak Ektar 100 also works for early morning. I created a three frame panorama, probably an hour and half after sunrise.
https://flic.kr/p/dRtfdP
Thanks for the tip, Ralph H. Since photo hosting websites are blocked from here, we're unable to see your panorama, but we are sure it's lovely. We appreciate your long-time participation on Explora!
I notice you've only mentioned Kodak films. Are you receiving sponsorship money for this article? Many landscape photographers swear by Fuji Velvia. On a cloudy day, with a slight warming filter, it's tough to beat.
B&H Explora did not receive sponsorship money nor payment of any kind for this article. We approached Berty and Emily Mandagie about writing an article for our ‘Film Photo Week’ campaign, specifically asking for them to write about some of their favorite color film stocks. We had no editorial say in which film they chose. That being said, we are big fans of the Mandagies – as well as creative partners - and completely endorse their subjective choices. Also, we encourage you to visit the Mandagies' website, where they regularly extol the virtues of several different brands of film, including FUJIFILM.