Color film emulsions: Tabular grain?

[Brad Deputy]

I've often wondered which of the currently available C41 color films are based on tabular grain emulsions. Portra and Ektar state it clearly on their packaging, but how about Gold 200? ColorPlus? And how about (no longer available) Fuji 100/200/400 from Japan?

It's not as easy to tell when examining the grain under a loupe, since we're more or less looking at clouds of dye vs. grain structures. Kodak TMAX entered the market in the mid 80s, and presumably their color cine stocks (EXR?) incorporated the tech. But how about their consumer lines of film?

 

[miha]

I guess the answer lies herein: http://www.makingkodakfilm.com/

The very first was Kodacolor VR.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Are there any not utilising tabular grain? Doubt it.

 

[Brad Deputy]

Are there any not utilising tabular grain? Doubt it.

This is what I suspected. Thanks for the link and info.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

T-grains were used in color films long before they made their debut in B&W films. If I remember right, the Tmax B&W films, which were the first T-grain B&W films, came out in 1988. I think the first use of T-grains in color film was around 1980.

 

[koraks]

Are there any not utilising tabular grain? Doubt it.

Me too. The exception being perhaps Inoviscoat. It's conceivable they rely on cubic grain silver halide.

 

[Prest_400]

Me too. The exception being perhaps Inoviscoat. It's conceivable they rely on cubic grain silver halide.

That would be interesting to investigate. Regarding the Orwo color films released, they are in some way drawing from the legacy of Agfa and there are references to Agfa XT320 being a basis on formulation. Googled a bit and found this post, from which I quote:

Agfa was one of the first higher-speed stocks to incorporate a T-grain-type design into one of its layers. This was one reason why the XT-320 was so popular when it came out -- many people thought it was less grainy than 5294, the 400T Kodak stock available. Plus it had a wider exposure latitude (it was a lower-contrast stock.)

 

[koraks]

That would be interesting to investigate.

Certainly, and to be very clear: I haven't! So it was just a very wild guess.
Your post suggests that I may very well be wrong.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Today, essentially all colour C-41 emulsions use high aspect ratio crystal structures (of which t-grains are one form, Agfa etc had their own too, etc), but some also use advanced 3D crystal forms (Portra 160) in some emulsion components & others may utilise advanced epitaxial structures (Fuji, possibly Harman - we'll find out on Friday).

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I find T-gain tend to scan better.

 

[real_liiva]

Me too. The exception being perhaps Inoviscoat. It's conceivable they rely on cubic grain silver halide.

As grainy as they are, i don't think even inoviscoat films are cubic grain. I've shot actual cubic grain color film (ORWO NC19) which despite being a 64 iso film AND being overexposed and pulled to iso 3 to overcome the fog has really coarse and apparent grain. Doubt the cross process in cold c41 alone would be enough to kick up the grain so hard, must be inherent to the film.