Re: Elite II and Ektachrome E-100 films

[Fred Ward <fward@erols.com>]

response to Dick:

I left Kodachrome 64 a long time ago because of its excessive contrast. 
I love the resolution and grain, but used to find the manufacturing and 
processing standardization left much to be desired. And the filmıs 
contrast was just too much to deal with. Dark blues always went black.

So, in searching the world for a good film that would reproduce the 
delicate hues of gemstones (an area I specialized in for the last 14 of 
my 28 years shoooting for National Geographic and now with my own Gem 
Book Series), I found Ektachrome 100 did the job. Kodak said when 
introducing the film that it was neutral in color, and I found that to 
be so. When working on my Pearls article and then my book on pearls, I 
fould that no other film was able to reproduce the whites, creams, and 
pale pinks of pearls accurately. Fuji introduced its own colors and the 
other Kodak products always seemed to drift one way or another. But 
Ektachrome 100 worked well almost all the time.

I now use the Professional version of the film for that small, extra bit 
of control in color accuracy. And I am using the 
Kodak/Kodalux/Qualux/Kodak lab in Rockville, MD to process my material. 

I recommend Ektachrome 100 strongly where accurate color and good grain 
and resolution are important. 

Fred Ward