Kodak Ektar 100

Ektar gets sold as the sharpest, most saturated color negative on the market, and that is true if you read the datasheet. In practice it is a stock you have to learn to expose. Underexpose Ektar by even a third of a stop and the cyan shadows fall apart; overexpose it by a half stop and the reds bloom in ways no one wants for skin. There is a reason it has been called the slide film of negatives: the latitude is narrow.

For the right scene, nothing else looks like it. Landscapes shot on Ektar at f/8 in good light have a saturation and edge sharpness that even Velvia cannot match, with the dynamic-range advantage of a negative. A generation of large-format landscape shooters has switched to Ektar for the combination of saturation and 8x10 tonality, often after years on Velvia.

Reciprocity is gentle at 1.10, which matters because Ektar in low light is a hard sell anyway. Push it past one second and the cyan shift gets worse. Stick to good daylight and stop down moderately.

Available in 35mm, 120, and 4x5 / 8x10. The 120 negatives drum-scan beautifully. The 35mm grain is tight enough that 16x20 enlargements still hold. If you cannot meter for it precisely, shoot Portra 160 instead and apply saturation in post; Ektar punishes guessing.