Agfa Ultra 50

[Acere]

I used this film back in the late 90's looking for C41 version of Velvia 50 and remember making excellent 16"x20" prints. Anyone else remember using this film?

Scanned 4x6 print

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Agfa Optima in 120

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[Acere]

Beautiful photos Alan. I specially like the two boats on the foggy lake.

 

[Roger Cole]

Yes I did. I loved it for appropriate subjects. I was into bicycle road racing from the early (1992) through middle 90s and when my racing was done and the higher categories (faster) guys were racing I'd shoot bike races with it. It made the jersey colors pop insanely. Like Velvia, in bright sun anyway, it was too over the top to look realistic but for some things that was just perfect.

 

[dokko]

yeah, I shot quite a few rolls in the late 90s.
at the time I thought of it as a bit of a gimmick but now I really wish it was still available.

I also used Agfa Optima 100 and Portrait 160, but those were less unique variations.

 

[Roger Cole]

Yeah, I shot some Optima 100 in 4x5. It was a nice film but not particularly remarkable. I think I have a few sheets still frozen but no idea how well it will work now.

But Ultra 50 was unique, kind of like a negative C-41 Velvia, only even more saturated I think. Of course you can just scan now (or shoot native digital) and crank up the saturation if you want. Any damn fool can do that and too many do. But back then you were more limited in ways to get that kind of look. It wasn't for everything any more than it is now, but when it worked it really worked.