Embracing the blues: tips for using Ektachrome E100

trondsi · Jun 14, 2024

I'm not a pro, but I love shooting with film, and I thought we could share some tips on the use of Ektachrome here in this thread. I used to dislike the blue cast of Kodak's E100 film, but since I love slide film in general, I have started to look for subjects where I can use this to good effect.
One idea is to look for subjects with colors that will stand out against a blue-ish backdrop.

trondsi · Jun 14, 2024

Here's another example of a Joshua tree that I tried to do make it so it stands out a bit. I also think this film likes about half a stop underexposure. Perhaps it's just my camera. Let me know if you agree.

ChrisGalway · Jun 14, 2024

These are great photos, and it's pretty impressive you are seeking out such vistas. Personally, I don't like the "cold" look of Ektachrome, and use Provia 100f pretty well exclusively now ... it appears to have a warmer (purple-ish?) bias, but it's not strong.

Perhaps one of our chemical experts on this forum can tell us whether a little "magic ingredient" could remove or alter the blue-ish cast of Ektachrome?

Nicholas Lindan · Jun 14, 2024

A Tiffen 812 filter is held to work well at producing more neutral results with Ektachrome.

I have the filter, I have the Ektachrome, but each time I go to load them in the camera I think of Kodachrome and I get a catch in my throat. It's like having your friend fix you up with a date before you have gotten over losing your spouse.

skylight1b · Jun 14, 2024

I enjoyed reading Alex Burke's take on E100. The quick takeaway (if you don't want to read it) is that a Tiffen 812 warming filter should do the trick.

https://www.alexburkephoto.com/blog/2022/3/14/kodak-e100-pushing-the-limits-of-slide-film

Edited: It seems Nicholas and I had the same thought at the same time about an 812 filter.

Trail Images · Jun 14, 2024

I use E-100 in both MF & LF. Using warming filters in the field can be very helpful.
Like all films I've ever scanned I post process to my personal tastes. A cast removal process as a first step helps.
To help me obtain a closer outcome I usually set Black point at 15-15-15 White point 242-243-244 Neutral point at 128-128-128. Gets it in the ballpark for fine tuning from there.

trondsi · Jun 14, 2024

ChrisGalway said:
These are great photos, and it's pretty impressive you are seeking out such vistas. Personally, I don't like the "cold" look of Ektachrome, and use Provia 100f pretty well exclusively now ... it appears to have a warmer (purple-ish?) bias, but it's not strong.

Perhaps one of our chemical experts on this forum can tell us whether a little "magic ingredient" could remove or alter the blue-ish cast of Ektachrome?

Thanks! Yes, I like Provia too. It's just been getting harder to find, and I realized that Ektachrome can actually deliver very nice results. Trying to work with it rather than against it if that makes sense.

trondsi · Jun 14, 2024

Shadows will often turn blue, and this is a pretty extreme example. Still, it can make for some interesting effects.

Nicholas Lindan · Jun 14, 2024

Looking at that last one, it maybe that E100 suffers from way too much UV sensitivity.

Open sky has an overabundance of UV compared to visible light, and maybe the reason E100 shadows turn bluer than expected.

I imagine an 812 filter cuts UV. It maybe that using a 'skylight' filter may provide enough respite from the blues. Using one in the mountains was de rigueure.

Alan Edward Klein · Jun 14, 2024

Trail Images said:
I use E-100 in both MF & LF. Using warming filters in the field can be very helpful.
Like all films I've ever scanned I post process to my personal tastes. A cast removal process as a first step helps.
To help me obtain a closer outcome I usually set Black point at 15-15-15 White point 242-243-244 Neutral point at 128-128-128. Gets it in the ballpark for fine tuning from there.

I'm confused. Which is the adjusted photo? The first on the left seems better.

trondsi · Jun 14, 2024

Nicholas Lindan said:
Looking at that last one, it maybe that E100 suffers from way too much UV sensitivity.

Open sky has an overabundance of UV compared to visible light, and maybe the reason E100 shadows turn bluer than expected.

I imagine an 812 filter cuts UV. It maybe that using a 'skylight' filter may provide enough respite from the blues. Using one in the mountains was de rigueure.

Possible. To be fair, I knew that this one would turn out super-blue, since the shadows looked blue even to the naked eye.

Trail Images · Jun 14, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
I'm confused. Which is the adjusted photo? The first on the left seems better.

Alan, it's all personal taste as always. The original is on the left. It has a blue / cyan cast which can be very normal. However, the cast mutes all the other colors. All I did was set color points and remove the cast. I did nothing more from that point and find it is not an image I would spend anymore processing on as the time of day is too harsh. The contrast would require taking into NIK and working some items there too.
Anyway, again, whatever image is a personal preference works in the end.

trondsi · Jun 14, 2024

Trail Images said:
Alan, it's all personal taste as always. The original is on the left. It has a blue / cyan cast which can be very normal. However, the cast mutes all the other colors. All I did was set color points and remove the cast. I did nothing more from that point and find it is not an image I would spend anymore processing on as the time of day is too harsh. The contrast would require taking into NIK and working some items there too.
Anyway, again, whatever image is a personal preference works in the end.

Is that Photoshop you're using? So far I have only cleaned the scans a bit in Gimp. I have used Corel products before (but I need to renew subscription).
If I'm happy with how it looks then my goal in scanning is to match the slide on the light table (some of the above images I'm now seeing are bluer in the scan than in the original).

Trail Images · Jun 14, 2024

trondsi said:
Is that Photoshop you're using? So far I have only cleaned the scans a bit in Gimp. I have used Corel products before (but I need to renew subscription).
If I'm happy with how it looks then my goal in scanning is to match the slide on the light table (some of the above images I'm now seeing are bluer in the scan than in the original).

Yes, it is photoshop.

Alan Edward Klein · Jun 15, 2024

Trail Images said:
Alan, it's all personal taste as always. The original is on the left. It has a blue / cyan cast which can be very normal. However, the cast mutes all the other colors. All I did was set color points and remove the cast. I did nothing more from that point and find it is not an image I would spend anymore processing on as the time of day is too harsh. The contrast would require taking into NIK and working some items there too.
Anyway, again, whatever image is a personal preference works in the end.

The blue sky in the adjusted doesn't seem natural. I did an auto-level adjustment in Elements 2020 and got this.

Trail Images · Jun 15, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
The blue sky in the adjusted doesn't seem natural. I did an auto-level adjustment in Elements 2020 and got this.

Alan, exactly. The image needed more work overall. Yes the sky was off in my post. It's a good challenge to work on scenes like this to practice the processing skills.

YoIaMoNwater · Jun 15, 2024

How were these films scanned? Was the scanner calibrated for E100?

trondsi · Jun 15, 2024

YoIaMoNwater said:
How were these films scanned? Was the scanner calibrated for E100?

Nothing fancy: Epson V800. I didn't do any calibration.

YoIaMoNwater · Jun 15, 2024

trondsi said:
Nothing fancy: Epson V800. I didn't do any calibration.

You'll need to get it calibrated then. I got my E100 calibration chart here http://www.targets.coloraid.de/

Trail Images · Jun 15, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
The blue sky in the adjusted doesn't seem natural. I did an auto-level adjustment in Elements 2020 and got this.

Alan, I took a few minutes to make a few more changes. The time of day is out of my wheelhouse as I only photograph during sunrise or sunset cycles. So, it was worth making the changes just to see how well the E-100 held up to the contrast here.

trondsi · Jun 15, 2024

Here's a simple flower photo where I tried to match the scan to what it looks like on the light table. Also, I will try to look for images like this in other contexts: blue subjects (or a bit magenta in this case) against more neutral backgrounds. The strong blue of the film can make it stand out a bit.

loccdor · Jun 15, 2024

E100 is more "neutral" than blue to me. I have found it works pretty well for general photography.

As with all slide films dynamic range is limited which will render some scenes with more contrast:

I have always shot it at box speed. It was nicer than expected for portraits, when I used it with a scratched up lens that produces bloom from the highlights:

If it's too cool for you, maybe try it with a yellowed radioactive lens? That could be a nice compliment.

Alan Edward Klein · Jun 15, 2024

Trail Images said:
Alan, I took a few minutes to make a few more changes. The time of day is out of my wheelhouse as I only photograph during sunrise or sunset cycles. So, it was worth making the changes just to see how well the E-100 held up to the contrast here.

Nice. I compared E100 with Provia 100 and found E100 has greener greens and redder reds. The red in Provia is more orangey.

trondsi · Jun 15, 2024

loccdor said:
E100 is more "neutral" than blue to me. I have found it works pretty well for general photography.

As with all slide films dynamic range is limited which will render some scenes with more contrast:

View attachment 372296

I have always shot it at box speed. It was nicer than expected for portraits, when I used it with a scratched up lens that produces bloom from the highlights:

View attachment 372297

View attachment 372298

If it's too cool for you, maybe try it with a yellowed radioactive lens? That could be a nice compliment.

Thanks for the examples. A lens hood does wonders for my scratched lens. E100 is not always too blue, but it's definitely blue compared to e.g. the old Kodachrome. I'd say that in poor light conditions, Kodachrome would "fade to gray" whereas Ektachrome "fades to blue". In many cases the blue is actually more attractive (but not always).

DREW WILEY · Jun 16, 2024

E100 is accurately balanced for Kodak's official Daylight of 5500 K. It is not blue-biased with respect to that standard, but neutral. Shadows under a blue sky are in fact blueish. If you want it to look warmer, simply add a warming filter. The Tiffen 812 is kinda the nuclear option; they are worth trying, but might overdo it. Often a gentler 2A skylight filter or 81A warming filter is plenty strong. Experiment relative to your own taste.

Many landscape pros loved the emphasis of old Ekatachrome 64, which was much bluer than E100. That was prior to the Fujichrome revolution, with its saturated greens.

Embracing the blues: tips for using Ektachrome E100

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