Bi Rite Night; Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16, Kodak Ektar 100
With most people raving about the new Kodak negative film, Ektar 100, I got a 5 pack of it in 120 format when it became available. However, I ended up not being very happy with it in daylight conditions; I prefer Portra 160VC for negative films, or slide films in general, I'm finding. Thus I found myself with extra Ektar 100 to use for experimentation. One experiment I decided to do with it was long exposure night photography in color.
Tri-Cycle Alone At Night; Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16, Kodak Ektar 100
I found little information about reciprocity failure with Ektar on the web, but what little I did find indicated that exposure, at least, was not too badly affected. So, I took my folding Nettar, a mini-tripod, cable release, and light meter, and set out to do some night shots. I rated the Ektar at EI 64 instead of 100, since most people seem to prefer over-exposing it a little. For each frame I wanted, I tried to take 1 shot as metered, 1 with 50% longer exposure, and 1 with 100% longer exposure. Time constraints meant that I couldn't always do the very long one, but luckily, it turned out not to be needed.
Fillmore Skyline; Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16, Kodak Ektar 100
As I found out, the shots I took as metered (Gossen LunaPro F) came out fine in terms of exposure, with very little difference from added exposure time. The shortest exposure I had was 4 seconds, and the longest 30 seconds, before correction, and both of these looked fine. Color shift is another matter, but if I cared about that, I would take long exposure black & white shots! When scanning, I was able to get the colors to my liking in any case, and part of the fun of night photography in a city is all the different colors as compared to daylight.
Waiting In The Bus Shelter; Zeiss Ikon Nettar 518/16, Kodak Ektar 100
My conclusion? I may have found a new use for some of my other rolls of Ektar. I'll be sure to save a few for other experiments though.
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