My first foray into film for over 20 years. My father had owned a Nikon F3 and back in those days I had gone down the Canon AF route, but do you know I always hankered after my Dad’s camera, only ever managing to borrow it once for a day out in Brighton – it was a love affair for sure.

Fast forward some, oh 24 years, I had been shooting digitally with Nikon equipment for over a decade and had a nice collection of toys, but something was missing. Shooting film was that something. I used to love the whole experience, it had a tactility of its own which was absent from digital somewhat. Kind of akin to spinning a vinyl record compared to selecting your MP3 track.

I missed the loading, the shooting, the feel of the crank lever as you wound on a new frame and then of course the developing and printing process too, or even the anticipation if you shipped a film off. So I set about rectifying that, found a Nikon F3 in Japan which was as new and shipped it in, coupled the pair and thought about film stock.

I had read good thoughts about Kodak Ektar, I’m was always a mono guy because of having my own darkroom but thought I would run some colour film for a change. So my fiancee and I hit the beach at Tankerton in Kent on a very horrible day to give the camera some time and I was really quite pleased.

Completely flat light, terrible weather and quite possibly, ILFORD HP5 PLUS would have been a better choice for this. I enjoyed it nevertheless, it was great to be out and even greater to be shooting film again. I took in some of the beach huts, indeed sheltered there too for a while and explored a little bit of the coastline I had not spend much time on. The camera/lens/film combination performed really well, I did ok too, all things considered, and I came home with some reasonable images.

~ Chris

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7 responses to “5 Frames… From my first roll of film for 20 years: Kodak Ektar 100 (EI 100 / 35mm / Nikon F3)”

  1. welcome back to the film club 🙂 These are great, the colour palette really suits Ektar (which anyone will tell you I am a huge fan of), you chose some great subjects.

    1. Ed. I’ve just started using Ektar after exclusively using XP2 Super for a number of years. I found rendition very accurate and a pleasing tone to boot. Have now acquired a polariser so waiting for really good light to try it out. It’s comments like yours that led me to try this film stock, although some have mentioned that it’s not a good film to use on Caucasian skin? Have you encountered this or possibly seen such comments?
      I use a pair of Leicaflex cameras (1965 & 1967) with pre R Elmarit lenses. My meters don’t work so I use handheld meters and take incident and reflective readings, averaging out between them. (Matrix metering?).

  2. Castelli Daniel Avatar
    Castelli Daniel

    The flat light has its own unique characteristics. Even in the light you were working in, the film produces nice color & tone.
    I feel in love w/your seaside huts. Watched a diy show over here in Connecticut from the UK. I want to build one! Look so cool.
    Nice pics. Who got the cider/ale(?) and who got the hot drink?!

  3. These photos are excellent. Ektar is known as a “sunny” film but you’ve shown that great images can be taken in less than ideal light.

  4. Chris, welcome back to analog/film! My best experiences with Kodak Ektar 100 are in bright sunlight. I wrote a similar “five frames” article on 35mmc.
    https://www.35mmc.com/14/07/2019/5-frames-with-kodak-ektar-100-and-a-hasselblad-503cx-by-peter-samson/

  5. Antony Shepherd Avatar
    Antony Shepherd

    Ah, that good old fashioned English seaside weather!

    Always been fascinated by beach huts.

 

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