The Sport Utility of negative films strong, tough, versatile.
Written: Jul 03 '02 (Updated Jul 03 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: speed, colour saturation and fidelity, sharpness, print-anywhere ease.
Cons: too few to mention.
The Bottom Line: Possibly the best bang for buck film you can use for all-round shooting.
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| gbraun's Full Review: Kodak Royal Supra 400 135-36, 400 ASA (3863313) |
Description
Kodak Supra 400 is a C-41 process film, available in 36 exposure rolls for 35mm cameras. Kodak currently lists this as having the “Finest grain of any 400-speed color negative film” currently available.
This is standard print film that can be developed at any local photo lab.
Strengths
Good speed for general purposes and conditions.
Very fine grain.
Rich, yet accurate, colours.
Weaknesses
The only weakness possible here is that it is not as tailored to specific functions (e.g. low-contrast portraiture, extreme colour landscape etc.) however that really isn’t its aim, so it’s only a weakness if you failed to understand that you would have a very specific requirement.
The colour rendition is a little warm, but not so far as to have me view it as detrimental.
Contrast and Colour
There is a reasonable amount of contrast and a pleasant, if warm, colour fidelity. While (in a typically Kodak way) this film is a bit warm, the relationship of colours is natural and bright. Compared to a more neutral film, this could be viewed like a very mild warming filter effect (one that I like, by the way) that does not emphasize colour shift in any single frequency. The overall effect is natural while vivid, and I’m continually pleased by the “true-ness” of the appearance of prints (even though I’m sure there is some colour emphasis happening I think it must be an appropriate amount of “enhancement”). Some might describe the effect as “eye-popping” colour, but it’s really not that extreme.
Being a negative film it’s better suited to contrasty situations (such as full sunlight) than slide film, and you can be sure that it has headroom for capturing all the highlights and shadows. Yes, it compresses the range on the film in a way that E-6 does not, however as it captures it across a wider available range you can make decisions later during scanning or printing about which “middle” is best for your image (e.g. expose for highlights and print for shadows). It is higher contrast than portrait film, and lower (or at least smoother) contrast than films like Gold Max or Superia.
Grain/Sharpness
True to the Kodak claims, this is extremely fine-grained print film. 16x20 inch prints are reportedly feasible with a pleasant grain level (though I haven’t had occasion to go there personally). At 8x10 the grain level is so smooth as to give you a small thrill at the idea that this was 400 speed film you used.
Overexpose it a third or a half-stop to ensure the tightest grain.
I mention above that I feel this is not a high contrast film. I think some might differ on that opinion, but it may be due to the edge sharpness that’s present in this film. The apparent sharpness, combined with the tight grain structure, produces images that’ll make you proud of your lenses. Try it; you’ll like it.
Reciprocity
No adjustments are required for exposures from 1/10,000 second to 10 seconds. If you’re doing longer exposures you should experiment a little (I’ve not tried it with this film) but given the exposure latitude, you’re probably safe beyond 10 seconds with minor colour shift.
Push ability
This film can be pushed one stop with good results. Bear in mind, though, that a pretty decent Supra 800 exists, and that it’s pushable too. Secondarily, you may choose to abuse the exposure latitude by simply underexposing up to a stop with decent results at normal processing.
Advice: If you need the speed, get 800-speed Supra, otherwise deal with exceptions by “cheating” with some exposure over-ride.
Exposure Latitude
This film allows some pretty messy exposure estimates. That’s good insofar as you can get a useable image from a pretty poor estimate of proper exposure, and bad insofar as you could get lazy about exposure precision. I get enough practice (and frustration :) with slide films, so I’m happy to be able to treat this film with some looseness, trusting to it’s rugged nature.
In Use
Portraits
I suppose that I will continue to use films like NPH and Portra for specific portrait sessions, but if I’m doing candid work and mixed subjects, I happily load Supra. Even if I think a good deal of the frames will be spent on people, I’m comfortable with the results I can get with Supra. This one fact is one of the most important in my consideration of this as a good general-purpose film. I believe that this film is taking the place of photojournalism-targeted films from Kodak, and that many die-hard PJ users are Supra evangelists (though maybe with surprise pleasure given the reportedly lower response in reds than PJ had).
The skin tones may exhibit a slight red-enhancement, but slight overexposure can flatten this out, so shooting at 250 or 320 will result in nice skin tones with tight grain.
Casual People/Snapshot
This a great film for the casual shooter. The exposure latitude, inherent sharpness, and ease of good printing, produce consistently happy results.
Landscape, Still Life
I would suppose that if you had a specific assignment for this type of work you would choose an E-6 film with appropriate characteristics, however if this type of image is required while Supra 400 is in your camera, you have the benefit of its speed while maintaining some wonderful grain and colour. Again, try it: you’ll like it.
Mixed, unusual lighting
Colours look good with this film, and a bit of mixed lighting is actually tolerable. As always, you want to be careful about mixed light sources, but the ease of getting good colour from the lab makes this film a natural for a bit of tweaking.
Scannability
Probably for the same reasons that any minilab, seeming regardless of calibration or standards, can produce good-looking prints from Supra 400, it is a pleasant film to scan (at least on my Dimage Scan Dual II). The profile for it from Vuescan is accurate, and little further tweaking is required.
The Kodak literature refers to an “emulsion overcoat” that is supposed to be designed to make it harder to accidentally scratch the neg. I’m pretty careful, so can’t verify this in terms of how it fares in comparison to other abused negatives, but this a potential plus for the film to digital workflow, if either you feel yourself to be all thumbs, or you send out for a lot of scans.
I seem to remember reading, back when it was introduced, that Kodak had designed this film for scanning, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this were the case.
Rolling it up
In the title I refer to this film as the Sport Utility of negative films, and while I suppose I mean that it’s a great hybrid vehicle, Sport Ute sounded catchier.
There are films better suited to specific purposes (such as portraiture or landscapes) but there are few that deliver so admirably on such a wide range of subject material. I always have several rolls of this film in my bag. Pick some up and see for yourself, and above all:
Take some pictures today!
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Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
gbraun
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Location: Cambridge, ON, Canada
Reviews written: 25
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
"I think not," said Descartes, and promptly disappeared.
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