Shooting Kodak Gold 200
Shooting this apple wide-open on my 250mm lens allowed me to easily isolate it from the background. Shooting in direct sunlight gives off very warm tones. 1/250s 250mm F5.6.
I had never shot Kodak Gold before. That’s pretty surprising for someone who’s been so keen on shooting film for the past two years. Kodak Gold is one of the most popular choices for 35mm shooters as it is a great alternative to ColorPlus 200 for shooting on these sunny summer days. However when I originally started out on 35mm I was shooting a lot of Fuji film stocks as well as a bunch of expired rolls I inherited from my grandfather. After that it wasn’t long until I moved onto medium format with my Bronica SQ-A and I saved my Nikon F100 for shooting with the higher quality professional emulsions like Kodak Porta 800 or Fuji Velvia.
This stout and twisted tree trunk is one I intend to return to with my large format camera. 1/30s 100mm F11.
Enter the exciting announcement last year that Kodak was bringing Gold 200 back in 120 format after a twenty five year absence. Not only that but it was going to fill a gap in the market left by the large yearly price increases and clock in at around 25% cheaper than the Portra 160. Now we had a versatile and relatively inexpensive colour negative film to make shooting medium format that much more accessible. So, with all that in mind I simply couldn’t resist and ended up picking up a box of five rolls while on a trip in Berlin. There will be a lot more to say about that in a blog that will be out next month, but for now I’ll stick to the images I shot in the UK on my Bronica SQ-A.
The Farmer’s Wrath. I found these dead magpies strung up in a bush in the countryside. Woe unto those who eat the farmer’s crops. 1s 110mm F13.
It's a Kodak film stock so as expected it has a warmer colour balance, but in keeping with its 35mm counterpart, it has less red than Ektar and less blue than Portra. It really does live up to its ‘Gold’ name. Having a medium speed of ISO 200 it’s quite easy to shoot handheld with a big camera like a Bronica SQ-A in daylight, just so long as you don’t close down the aperture too much. You might struggle with having one less stop than Porta 400 on a dreary winter’s day in the UK, but there’s definitely a good amount of versatility here despite the larger F stop numbers in comparison to shooting with a 50mm F1.8 lens on 35mm.
Even stopping down to F8.0 I could comfortably handhold the Bronica SQ-A to take this shot. Although it is always slightly tricky trying to shoot handheld with a viewfinder that’s mirrored in comparison to what the eye sees. 1/125s 80mm F8.0 with polariser.
I only noticed the small snail hiding under the bracket fungus when I got the film back from the lab. 1/8s 110mm F6.7 with Rotolight Neo 2 @ 5700K.
One of my big questions was detail. This is not supposed to be in the same league as Portra or Ektar, but there’s nothing to complain about here. Images have plenty of depth and detail and you won’t feel like you’ve short-changed your camera for not emptying your wallet on something else. I felt my walk through the countryside gave a good overview of what this film can accomplish, with a mixture of shots in and out of sunlight and from a wider view down to macro. I can quite happily zoom into the grain of a log or the underlying gills of a fungus without being greeted by a mushy mess. Perhaps the dynamic range is not quite as good as Portra (and certainly not Ektar) but it’s not Ektachrome, so it isn’t something to worry about unless you have really heavy contrast in settings with low light mixed with artificial light.
Did the fungus grow around the stick? Or did the stick grow through the fungus? I’ll leave you to decide. The knobbly texture next to the cracked and rotten wood show off the high levels of detail this cheaper film stock can capture. 1/8s 110mm F11 Rotolight Neo 2 @ 5700K.
The colour of the fungi is well replicated here and there’s high levels of detail on the underlying gills. 1/4s 110mm F8.0 Rotolight with Rotolight Neo 2 @ 6300K.
I don’t believe Kodak have released much information on reciprocity failure, it’s never been something Kodak have been good with, but Kodak films normally require a correction factor of X1.35 and I doubt that will differ here. Although it wasn’t something I tested on this particular roll. Beyond that I think Kodak Gold is a great option at the price point it sits at and will allow you to test out and play around with cameras and settings without breaking the bank. I’ve seen a lot of people use it in the studio with flash and, when I get around to doing that with colour film, Kodak Gold will be at the top of my list. For the fungi images I did use my continuous LED Rotolight Neo 2 and the combination of light sources seems to have blended well together. All in all, if you are new to shooting colour film on a medium format camera, this is the place to start. Now if only Fuji could re-release Superia in 120 format. Sadly, at this point we know there’s probably more chance of Kodak bringing back Kodachrome…
I shot this first shot as I would normally do by stopping down the aperture to get more depth of field… 1/2s 110mm F11 Rotolight Neo 2 @ 6300K.
…However I am starting to be a bit braver and shoot wide open to give a greater sense of depth by isolating the subject. It’s not quite a direct comparison as the composition above is slightly shifted, but I still prefer this one. The differences in contrast may be due to the first one being slightly overexposed. 1/15s 110mm F4.5 with Rotolight Neo 2 @ 6300k.
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