{"id":5110,"date":"2019-01-28T20:20:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T19:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=5110"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:13:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T13:13:18","slug":"ektachrome-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=5110","title":{"rendered":"Ektachrome Returns!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I followed with interest the hype surrounding the re-release by Kodak Alaris of Ektachrome 100 slide film, announced in early 2017, after having been completely phased out by 2013. Honestly, initially I wasn’t that interested, but as time wore on I become more intrigued as to what the slide film might offer. When the long-awaited and long-delayed release finally happened on September 25, 2018, I was ready, having pre-ordered from Freestyle Photo.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Quite possibly the first rebooted Ektachrome to arrive in Madagascar. Oct 26, 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unlike many photographers out there who have reviewed the film, I suffer from logistical delays. My film shipped on September 26, and arrived weeks later. But this film wasn’t cheap, so I waited for the right opportunity to shoot it, over the course of December. And then shipped it off to Blue Moon Cam<\/a>era in Portland, because E6 chemicals only appear to be available in liquid form, meaning I can’t get it in Madagascar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in the 70s, and I remember adults shooting slide film. I remember the jokes about being invited to look at others’ vacation slides. But I never shot slide film myself. So I was curious what was so special about it – other than the fact that it’s positive film, not negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Condemned\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
A condemned storefront in New Orleans, Louisiana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"W<\/a>\n<\/div>
The W Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the film arrived in late January, neatly framed in slide frames just like I had seen growing up, holding the slides up to the light, I was impressed by the bright colors. None of the faded colors I sometimes see with underexposed negative film – I always feel like I need to process the scans with software to make them “pop” – in the case of these slides, every single photo was as bright and as vibrant as I remembered from the day I had taken the photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Nightlife\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
New Orleans’ French Quarter at night, Christmas 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"Blur\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Jazz Club in New Orleans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was especially impressed with the night shots – even the ones that were blurred because the shutter was forced to stay open too long. Blacks were black, neon was bright and crisp, not blown out – and there was none of the noise and grain that so often disappoints when I shoot color (or black and white) film at night and I think, “it seems like there’s probably enough light, I’ll just risk it.” And firing the flash did the trick – no blur, and none of the overdone highlights like I often get with negative film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Dancers\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
Same scene as above, but with flash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I chuckle as I think of folks from my parent’s generation, who have been trying for years to figure out what to do with their slides, and wishing there were a cheap service to convert them all to digital. Because now I have two 36-exposure rolls of slides, neatly mounted in frames and stored in transparent sheets. And unlike the previous generation, I have no projector for them, no idea where to get one, and even if I did, I can’t imagine the reaction I’d get if I invited friends to come and “look at our vacation slides.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Preferred<\/a>\n<\/div>
Rajoelina supporters just ahead of Madagascar’s 2018 election<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"Two<\/a>\n<\/div>
Malagasy Girls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So what should we look forward to from the Ektachrome re-release? Can we expect a resurgence of slide projectors (currently only available from eBay and other vintage resellers)? What are people going to do with their slides?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Storm\"<\/a>\n<\/div>
My dog Storm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"Rock\"<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One thing is for sure – the consistent, bright colors offered by Ektachrome aren’t offered by any other film on the market today. Unfortunately, it costs over $12 per roll, and then there’s the development cost if you haven’t invested in the chemicals. And you end up with a product that takes up space but has to be scanned back to digital if you want to share it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"Shop\"<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So what’s the point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know – there are a lot of “cons” – but regardless, Kodak Alaris is gearing up to release Ektachrome in medium and large format sizes.<\/a> And I have no idea what I’md do with it once developed, but I’m looking forward to ordering some as soon as it is!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I followed with interest the hype surrounding the re-release by Kodak Alaris of Ektachrome 100 slide film, announced in early 2017, after having been completely phased out by 2013. Honestly, initially I wasn’t that interested, but as time wore on I become more intrigued as to what the slide film might offer. When the long-awaited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2003],"tags":[1988,239,872,1999],"class_list":["post-5110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-tests","tag-alaris","tag-film","tag-kodak","tag-new-orleans"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6129,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5110\/revisions\/6129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}