Kodak · ISO 200 Color negative
Kodak Gold 200
Kodak Gold is treated like a beginner stock. It is not. Gold 200 is a budget consumer color negative, true, but it is also the warmest color emulsion Kodak still sells, and that warmth has driven a quiet revival in Brooklyn and Tokyo over the past five years. The look is unfashionable, which is what makes it look honest. The look is unfashionable, which is what makes it look honest, and it survives the kind of mixed daylight that wrecks more clinical emulsions.
Pull it back and the math gets interesting. Gold 200 has a contrastier curve than Portra and a more aggressive yellow bias. Skin reads sun-tanned even in flat light. Greens read warm. Skies have the slightly cyan tilt that color negative film carried for decades before Portra 400 was reformulated in 2010. If you are shooting documentary or vacation work, that is exactly the look you want.
The reciprocity exponent is 1.20, slightly steeper than Portra. A four-second meter reading climbs to about six seconds at the negative; Zone Light Meter handles the correction past one second.
Box speed is honest. Rate it at 200. Some people pull-rate it to 125 to soften contrast, but the warm shift compresses; the look gets muddier rather than softer.
Available in 35mm and 120 (the 120 was reintroduced in 2022 after years of 35mm-only). For everyday color work that does not need Portra's neutrality, Gold 200 is the best stock at its price.
How the app handles this stock
- Box speed: ISO 200. Picker exposes pull/push chips so you can shoot it at any speed you want and the meter follows.
- Reciprocity: Above one second the app raises metered time to the power of 1.20.
- Expired film: if you load an old roll, set the expiry year and storage in the app and the ISO scales for you. Color negative decay rates are baked in.
Frequently asked questions
What ISO is Kodak Gold 200?
Kodak Gold 200 is an ISO 200 color negative film from Kodak. You can rate it at box speed or push and pull it; set the speed you actually shot and the meter follows.
Is Kodak Gold 200 still in production?
Yes. Kodak Gold 200 is a current film you can still buy new.
Does Kodak Gold 200 suffer from reciprocity failure?
Yes, on exposures longer than about one second. Its reciprocity exponent is 1.20, so a metered 10 seconds becomes about 16 seconds. Zone Light Meter applies this automatically.
What formats does Kodak Gold 200 come in?
Kodak Gold 200 was available in 35mm, 120.