Kodak introduced the Ektar series of color negative films for the serious amateur market in the 1980s. According to my copy of The Story of Kodak,by Douglas Collins, Kodak felt that this market stood apart from the general public with their point-and-shoot cameras. The serious amateur and enthusiast photographer possesed a more sohisticated camera, had more understanding of light conditions, and practiced a wider array of photographic techniques. They did not require wide-latitude films such as the Kodak Gold series, and were more likely to benefit from newer grain structures under development. These factors, combined with the sharper edges of the developer-inhibitor anchimeric releasing (DIAR) couplers that were becoming available, led to the introdution of Ektar as a superior line of color print film. As with Kodak's other amateur color print films, the Ektar series was compatable with the C-41 process of negative development.

The first two Ektar films released bracketed an incredible speed range, coming out in a nine layer ISO 25 product, and a twelve layer ISO 1000 product. The magenta layer of these films was comprised entirely of tabular grains, while the yellow layer consisted of a combination of tabular and cubic grains, and the cyan layer consisted entirely of cubic grains. Kodak was unwilling to focus its attention on the experienced photographer for any appreciable length of time, and a year after the introduction of the first two versions, the company released an eleven layer ISO 125 version that would be compatable with point-and-shoot cameras.

Some time following the developments above, Ektar 100 became available. My assumption is that this film was based on Ektar 125, and released in the ISO 100 speed which had quickly become the world standard in film speeds. I have one roll of Ektar 100 remaining in my cabinet, and on the label it is described as an extra sharp color print film, CX 135, CAT 189 7792. My one remaining roll of Ektar 1000 is described as a high speed color print film CJ 135, CAT 189 9046.

My first use of Ektar film was in an extensive "as-found" survey of a nuclear power plant's control panels. An ageing set of 8X10-inch prints from 1985 was no longer of much use, and a set of 4X6-inch prints from several years later was out of date. This time my employer wanted full details of instrument nomenclature, engineering units, major and minor divisions of all scales on analog instruments, and facia details. I had two second hand Canon SLRs and a few Canon lenses available on site. The lenses included 50mm, a macro, and a zoom telephoto in the 70-200mm range. The F1 and AE-1 camera bodies worked flawlessly. Because of the requirement for detail, for a moment I thought of Kodachrome 25. A couple of strong detractors caused me to reject this film. I was not allowed to use flash, and I was concerned that Kodachrome 25 would be difficult to use for long exposures under the existing fluorescent lighting. I also wanted much quicker turn-around than was available in my area with Kodachrome. Most importantly, my employer wanted sets of 4X6-inch prints, not slides. Each set of prints consisted of about 350 different photos of the equipment per set. I had just recently heard of Ektar, and I devoted one night's work to experimenting with a roll. Right away I found the results quite acceptable, and proceeded to do the job with Ektar 25.

About thirteen or fourteen years later I repeated the job above, this time using a Canon EOS DSLR that was purchased specifically for this work at my recommendation. This time the customer wanted high-definition updated images of the same subjects for their corporate network. I estimate the Canon EOS paid for itself by the end of the second night's work, and the 350 time exposures, usually 4-8 seconds each, looked just fine after being loaded on the network.

I refered to this film product as the other Ektar 100 film. I did this because by the late 1990s the Ektar product line I descibed above was no longer available. Then, around 2007, to the surprise of many in the photographic community, Kodak released a new Ektar 100 film. This is billed as "World's Finest Grain" on the box, and is sold under CAT 603 1330. There is no film type number shown near the sprocket holes of the negatives, the simple description found there is "Kodak Ektar 100."

The images below, as well as the background image in this article are from a single roll of the earlier Kodak Ektar 100 film. The film strip edges contain the inscription Kodak CX 100-2 followed by Ektar 100-2. Only the Ektar 25 was listed in Kodak's 1994 Professional Photographic Catalog, and this they described as having high color saturation. This roll supports that assesment. When I scanned it in 2012, the images were highly saturated indeed. This roll was exposed and developed in May, 2004, at which time the film was fully twelve years out of date. Aside from the saturation characteristics, which I tweaked in Photoshop Elements 6.0 to be more realistic to my eye, the noise in the deep shadows was unsatisfactory. I adjusted this distraction, often through the use of Kodak's Gem Professional 2.1.0. filter. I believe this noise problem is the result of accumulated ambient radiation, and probably could have been minimised had I stored the film in lead-lined bags.
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