Well I just sent my coupon for the 2 free rolls of E200. I definitly
going to push process on of the rolls just for the fun of it. But I
think some of the comments I read seem to think this is the old
Ekatachrome 200. This is a brand new emulsion. Take a look at the produt
info at:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/e200/e200Index.shtml
The reason I'm so interested in it is that almost every frame I shoot
gets scanned either by me or on a drum. High speed 35mm chromes and
especially high speed print film just looks like crap when scanned
anywhere near 3000 dpi (on a drum or a good desktop). When printing (on
a printing press) a product brochure sheet with an image size of over 4
or 5 inches, most 35mm images just don't look good enough on a 175 to
200 line screen output. That's why almost every studio will always
shoot these with medium format.
As Kodak has introduced it's new line of Ekatachromes the structure of
these films have allowed quality 35mm images to be scanned on drum
scanners such as the Crossfields (and that class of scanner) which will
in many cases work in product photography for up to a 5 inch image or
even larger. I've even seen examples of a full bleed 8.5x11" look
pretty good on 35mm E100S. With the advent of tools such as Photoshop
one could compensate for some grain if the image is extremely sharp with
good shadow detail to start with. Obviously that is the reason I love
the Zuiko glass. There is no doubt in my mind that Kodak is way ahead of
the competiton in this regard. Kodak understands the needs of pre-press
image pros's such as myself much better than Fuji. I would rate Agfa as
a distant second, and Fuji is so far behind that I don't think they are
even aware of the needs of an operation such as mine. All of the
pre-press targets and scan specs for film and film output are made by
Kodak and Agfa. Fuji has really stayed out this (IMO because of their
strategic partnership with Xerox, where I used to work in desktop color
software). These new emulsions by Kodak are really designed to be
scanned for pre-press work. Just remember almost every color
pre-press/print job in the USA is proofed with Kodak SWOP proofer specs.
So just keep in mind that Kodak would not have developed this E200
emulsion if there was a better high speed chrome emulsion out there.
Believe me this emulsion was not created for the amatuer just looking
for less grain in large size photographic reverse prints. However if you
desire the best quality output in 35mm, the film quality is every bit as
improtant as the glass you shoot it with.
For a few years I just shot microprocessors off wafers and in packages)
on 35mm OM macro systems. Every one else shot these on 4x5. I could
produce 50 images in the time that every one else could shoot 5. Most
was shot on K25 and some on Ektar 25. No doubt the 4x5 images looked
outstanding (real works of art) but the cost was very high for much of
the print jobs. Now many of these images are shot on Olympus's
Industrial Imaging systems and saved as digital files. The cost for film
was just to high for most companies because they just produce so many
more microprocessor products than they did several years ago. Before
shooting these images were an art form, now they are done by in house
lab techs who are not even photographers.
Phillip Franklin
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